Plan on doing China Town and Dim Sum Sat. morning. From research, I've narrowed it down to either Jing Fong or Golden Unicorn. Question is I'm sort of intimidated on how to do it. Am I going to know how to order and/or what I'm eating? Do you have to be aggressive to get the good stuff off the carts? Any tips?

If you are new to Dim Sum, I would suggest two other restaurants both VERY good, probably better than the Golden Unicorn.

HSF is on the Bowery just south of Canal St, and huge, lots of carts and probably the most extensive Dim Sum in Chinatown. Just ask what the servers have on the cart.

A couple of my favorites are:
Spring Rolls
Shrimp Rice Rolls
Shrimp Balls
Taro Shrimp
Shrimp Dumplings
Chinese Brocolli (with oyster sauce)

My other favorite restaurant is called Mandarin Court on Mott St. Very helpful serving staff, and the Dim Sum is excellent.

Most Dim Sum places serve until 2 or 3 pm.

Have a GREAT time.

I was considering HSF and can't remember why I took it off my list in favor of the others. We'll go there. I was thinking that I was going to have to know the chinese names for stuff- like cha siu bow for pork buns. I've even been studying! So they tell you what items are in English too?

You won't have a language problem, as HSF is well known and will have a mix of locals and tourists. Just ask when you see something that looks good.

In Australia and in Hong Kong, the trolleys go around, you smile and wave them over and ask, 'what do you have?" If you don't know what something is, just ask. I like to look inside the baskets, if I don't know what it is I may like the way it looks! Be adventurous!

For food in the steamer baskets, try:

HA GOW - shrimp dumplings

SIU MY (see you my) - pork dumpling with a bit of crab roe or abalone on top

You can always ask the waitress to lift up the top from the column of steamer baskets and order whatever takes your fancy.

There are hundreds of dim sum varieties, so it's difficult to know what you personally like. Just point and nod or shake your head.

For dessert: try the mango pudding or the custard tart.

For tea: (and this is the most important, for after all you are going for "tea"), try ordering

BO LAY - which is a dark tea, especially to be drunk with dim sum

GOG BO - this is bo-lay tea with chrysanthemum flowers

The tea is to cut down on the richness of the food that you are having. There are a couple of really strong teas which some people order with dim sum:

Tik-guan-yim (Iron Buddha) - to really appreciate this tea, you have to drink it full strength in a tiny cup (somewhat like Turkish coffee) - it'll take the hair off your head! LOL!

Pu-Erh is another strong tea.

I'd suggest going with the Bo-lay or the Gog-bo, which are two of the most favorite dim sum teas.

When your tea pot runs out, just lift the lid and set it to one side on top of the teapot. This is a wordless signal to the waiter that your teapot needs to be filled with hot water.

Enjoy!

The way to do it is fearlessly and with a sense of adventure!!

As others have indicated, when the cart goes by, ask the server what it is and give it a try if it sounds interesting. Lots of restaurants have large tables at which you are seated with other diners. If your other diners speak English and/or are dim sum aficionados, then ask them for some suggestions. Oftentimes, you will strike up a conversation with another family and they will share some unusual treats with you to introduce you to new foods. This is part of the fun of dim sum!

The carts go around and are always refilled so you don't have to worry about having to be aggressive at all. If they don't have it in the cart at that moment, just tell them to go back to your table on their next round.

The cart is filled with steamed food. They have seafood - usually shrimp, pork, and some vegetable dumplings. There are also other dishes like chicken feet and spareribs both in black bean sauce. Depending on how adventurous you are, they are delicious but too bony! Then they have the fried stuff which they go around with on a tray or a cart with glass around it. They have little plates of fried food in them. You may also order from the menu if you like as we do. We usually do an order of noodles or rice of the menu to compliment our dim sum. We love the seafood pan fried noodles and the children like the yang chow fried rice.

The others have given you the best sellers- delicious and easy on the palette! The shrimp dumplings - Har kaw is a whole shrimp dumpling that looks like a transparent shell. Siu Mai is a pork dumpling, my other favorites are the sharkfin, scallop with vegetable, and another vegetable dumpling that has nuts in it and a strong flavor of cilantro if that is your cup of tea! We also like the rice rolls either in shrimp or beef. This comes with a special sweetish sauce. If you like tofu, they have this wonderful tofu skin wraps filled with pork and vegetables. They look like spring rolls but are steamed and have a brown sauce on them. YUM! an order of either steamed or fried pork bun will also be a good one to try. Just look at the cart and if you find something interesting, get an order of it. It's not a lot about 4 tiny pieces per order and if you like it, get more on the next round!

If you like your food a little spicy, ask the waiter for their garlic chili sauce. Put a little of this on your soy sauce and WOW it's good! Just remember a little goes a long way!ENJOY yourselves!

sorry, that should have been steamed or baked pork bun!