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Yes, the humble dim sim was invented right here in Melbourne.

The Dim Sim was developed by Chinese chef William Wing Young for his restaurant "Wing Lee"in Melbourne around 1945.

A dim sim is a Chinese-inspired meat dumpling-style snack that consists of pork or other meat, cabbage and flavourings, encased in a wrapper similar to a traditional dumpling.

Dim sims are deep-fried or steamed* and differ from typical Chinese dumplings in that they are much larger and have a thicker skin. It should not be confused with the authentic dim sum, although the Australian version's name, ingredients and portions were undoubtedly inspired by its Oriental heritage.

Famous South Melbourne Market Dim Sims

Everyone remembers the South Melbourne Market dimmies. The original South Melbourne Market dim sims were hand-made and sold by Ken (Kuen) Cheng. Since his death in 2006, the dim sims have not been quite the same but still sold as authentic* South Melbourne dim sims.

* Poor ol' Ken would be turning in his grave... his (secret recipe) dim sims were never (ever) fried and could only be purchased in bulk with a password which told you how long to cook them.

Australian's refer to a dim sim as a "dimmy"(or dimmies = plural).

Re Picture at top: We searched everywhere for a photo of an authentic Ken dim sim to no avail. Seems odd really seeing we bought hundreds from Ken (yes, we knew the password). There were plenty of fried dim sims, the odd thick skinned dim sim found in many fish & chip shops, but not the large roundish dim sims that Ken made. The photo shown is Ken Cheng and a dim sim as close as we could find..

The Dim Sim Salute

Ask not what your dim sim can do for you, but what you can do for your dim sim.

We need your help to build a monument to the dim sim, a piping hot beacon to our all-inclusive culture.

Sign the petition at goo.gl/exYvyf

Where to get Dim Sims

We could have had a long list of eateries but in reality, very few make their own, and none would be the original as its recipe* is a secret. We've seen many lists of 'so-call' best and original dims sims but we've yet to find anything remotely close to the famous South Melbourne Market Dim Sims made by Keun.,

South Melbourne Market Dim Sims

In the source links below is a link to: South Melbourne business aims to honour its founder. It reports that Ken's sons plan to open a new shop in the CBD.

The new shop will duplicate the original one in the new location, with its products using the same secret recipe introduced by Ken, and now guarded by his son, Edward. Edward and his brother, Phillip, took over the business in the 1980s.

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❊ Web Links ❊

➼ Dim Sim | Melbourne Icon 

➼ Dim sim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

➼ Aussie Dim Sim

➼ Chicken dim sims recipe

➼ Melbourne Chinese Restaurants

➼ South Melbourne market

➼ Elizabeth Chong - Author and teacher

➼ Market loses its dim sim master | TheAge

➼ South Melbourne business aims to honour its founder






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