The pork is not coated in flour and deep fried, lying in a pool of a cornstarch laden sweet and sticky sauce. Sweet and Sour Pork, a warhorse in all Chinese restaurants, is treated with respect here. One cannot imagine how harmonious this is. Best is steamed with ginger, scallion and soy sauce. There is always a variety of live whole fish cooked in a number of ways. The regular menu is filled with the classic dishes of Cantonese cuisine and cooked as they should be. Two subsequent tries were beautiful, a dish that reflects the profoundity of simplicity. The first time we tried it, some of the noodles tasted slightly metallic, the result of the noodles not moving rapidly enough in the wok. It takes a cook six months to master this dish.
The execution of this dish, however, is difficult to pull off well because the speed of the saute in the wok must coat every strand of noodle evenly with soy sauce. Soy Sauce Noodles is a classic Cantonese dish that is a simple saute of thin egg noodles, bean sprouts and chive shoots, bound with soy sauce. The crunch of the pancake and cucumbers with the tenderness and deep flavor of the shank is elevated by a dipping sauce of hoisin. Beef Hind Shank in Pancake is composed of layers of slow cooked shank interspersed with cucumbers, wrapped in a wheat pancake and pan fried. Three kinds of xiao long bao are available, each dumpling holding a spoonful of soup that fills the mouth with the condensed flavor of its ingredients. Some dim sum, because of the clarity of its taste, require no sauce, and none is brought to table.Īfter 11am, a special dim sum menu is available. I've only encountered this in Hong Kong and Guangzhou Province in China. All the better because the appropriate dipping sauce is brought with each dim sum plate one orders. Conspicuously absent on every table is the ubiquitous bottle of soy sauce. The use of fermented black beans in the sauce adds another layer of taste. Here it is cooked to order, and when tasted, an interplay of gelatinous texture and deep flavor mingle in the mouth. Unfortunately, the chicken feet turns darker and darker every time it is reheated. I love braised chicken feet, a staple of every dim sum menu. One can see the fillings clearly, and taste the quality of the ingredients. The rice flour wrappings that hold all manner of seafood and vegetabkes are thin and transparent. What comes to table is what dim sum should be. At Ming Hin, one places an order and the dim sum is cooked to order. It is not for lack of space, but because when the carts return to the kitchen, the dim sum is reheated over and again, which compromises texture and taste. Here, one does not see women pushing dim sum carts through the restaurant. Ju Hua, or chrysanthemum, is chosen to "cool internal heat" and to "cool the liver fire." A pinch of green tea is added to the chrysanthemum to produce a frangrant bouquet and delicate taste. Pu Er, for example, is a black tea that aids in digestion and cuts the grease of oily foods. Tea is chosen not only by preference, but in the medicinal effect it has on the diner.
As soon as one sits down, a server, as is customary, asks what tea you wish to drink. One has a sense of well being in this restaurant.ĭim sum is a revelation here. The words that the servers use to respond to questions and requests belong to that realm where politesse endures as a hallmark of the culture. Tables are spaced well, seating is quite comfortable, and service is impeccable. On one wall of a dining room is etched the characters of the Bai Jia Xing ("One Hundred Family Surnames"), a clear reference to the one hundred most common surnames of the Chinese people. The interior is tastefully decorated, with art and artifacts displayed to evoke the elegance of the culture. There are six dining rooms spread over two floors with two kitchens to serve the guests. The owners of Ming Hin invested some serious money in the interior of the space. Ming Hin, then, aspires to the delicate and refined aspects of Chinese cuisine. Ming Hin (Ming Xuan in Mandarin) tranlates literally as "name lofty." This is a reference to something that is delicate and refined, a name, by the way, that is usually associated with shops that sell calligraphy and calligraphy supplies. After twelve visits, all within the last three months, the following observations are in order. Ming Hin Cuisine is a recent addition to the dim sum and fine dining offerings in Chicago's Chinatown.