This at-home dim sum service makes preparing perfect dumplings and fluffy bao at home a total breeze
The background
Ding Dong Dim Sum is a business born out of lockdown and the pandemic when the world really woke up to unexplored opportunities in delivering restaurant food. Husband and wife team Maya and Tom Greenwood-Mears created Ding Dong Dim Sum to bring one of their favourite foods to people’s homes in a way that’s easy to prepare and delicious to eat. Before the pandemic Maya worked in hospitality and Tom in television, but lockdown redundancy gave them the perfect opportunity to explore a concept they’d been thinking about for ages: home-delivered dim sum. Dumplings have to be eaten almost as soon as they leave the steamer, so it’s a tricky food to deliver, and making them from scratch is beyond most people’s gastronomic expertise, so, the answer: Ding Dong has developed kits of prepared, ready-to-cook dim sum to finish at home, complete with sauces and sides.
The food
Ding Dong Dim Sum offers boxes of dim sum for two or four in a selection of varieties including vegetarian, just meat, Ding Dong favourites, a bit of everything or peski (for pescatarians). The meal consists of a generous variation of dumplings including fluffy steamed buns, gyoza, dumplings, carrot slaw, rice and dipping sauces. You can add on extras such as more gyoza and custard buns if you want a bit more. The food is beautifully prepared and extremely tasty. It’s also a breeze to prepare. Ding Dong deliver a biodegradable steamer with every kit and simple instructions on how to get everything ready. Apart from a bit of chopping and grating to create the slaw, most of the rest of the instructions are just timings on when to steam and fry dumplings and what to keep warm. The kits are fun to prepare and create an indulgent meal to be proud of, that will satisfy anyone craving some at-home dumplings. Delivery days are Wednesday to Friday to almost anywhere in the UK and the dim sum arrives frozen, though the rice and sides are refrigerated, so can be kept for a few days before eating.
The bill
A box of dim sum for two starts at £29.50, and a box for four starts at £42.60.
The verdict
For dim sum lovers, this is a gift of a delivery service – the results are vastly superior to bags of frozen dumplings and Ding Dong offers an impressive variety of dumplings, bao and buns to try. The food is really delicious and well prepared and is fun to finish at home.
