Dim Sum as a cultural adventure for an auslander

[Sharuf]

An old friend from high school (a looooong time ago) had some extra airline points, so she got R/T tickets from PDX to SFO and came to visit me, after an elapse of a few decades.

After a few days of taking her around to some of my favorite North Bay sights, it was time to relax and take a break. So I asked her if she wanted to go have some dim sum for lunch.

"What's dim sum" she said.

Remember, she's from Portland.

IIRC, Portland has a Chinatown about half a block long.

So, we went to Saigon (Chinese despite the name) in the Richmond/ElCerrito/Albany Asian Mall mash-up area.

We sat, and a cart promptly appeared. Joan was overwhelmed, and started pointing to plate after plate after plate. I had to stop her and let her know there would be more carts coming around.

Anyway, we had a fine lunch, and it only cost us about $20 for the two of us. Now she has something new and exotic to tell her kids and grandkids about.

[shanghaikid]

the food gods must be watching over you. saigon is very reasonably priced and the food quite good. if you dined at daimo and asian pearl, the tab would be much higher.

[Ruth Lafler]

Yup, it's amazing how things we take for granted can be totally foreign to someone we think of as being "like us." I bet I know a few people who live in the Bay Area who would say "dim sum, what's that"!