The Thousands

For all you budding food photography buffs, a classic trick for turning a stone cold dish into steaming perfection is to microwave some tampons and tuck them under the rim of the plate. Voila – instant plate atmosphere!There’s no need for extra steam with Dim Sum, in fact, I’d venture it’s the pinnacle of this mode of cooking. For the record, in other modes of cooking it’s hog roast for direct heat, Chicago town pizzas for microwaves and donuts for deep frying.

The Dim Sum Trolley provides a quick lunch of well made dumplings for around $5 a plate. Usually anything Asian and this cheap would be pumped full of MSG but rest assured this is an MSG free zone. My accomplice Donna is a coalmine canary when it comes to MSG – she’ll double over with a migraine roughly five seconds after eating the slightest trace of the stuff – but she remained clear headed even after we devoured a tranche of these tasty morsels. Prawn and coriander dumplings, Chinese broccoli with soy, delectable fried squid – and not a tampon special effect in sight.