Master chef Lian Yun Lee, helped by sous chef Gaurav Agarwal (right), dishes out ‘designer’ dimsums at Chinoiserie at the Taj Bengal, Calcutta

Master chef Nian Qing serves up an instant explanation about why dimsums are such hot favourites with Indian diners. “Dimsums are light and flavourful. You don’t even need to acquire a taste for them, hence the popularity,” he says, serving one of his fluffy creations with a smile.

Chef Qing is the master of all he surveys at Ano-Tai, the Chinese restaurant at Delhi’s Vasant Continental and along with the hotel’s management, he has decided to capitalise the super-popularity of dimsums. They’ve turned one part of the restaurant into an exclusive dimsum lounge done up in maroon and black with Burma teak flooring. The lounge’s look has been created by an international design firm.

You could say that dimsums have become international travellers like pizzas that have gone around the world and dosas that have moved up the sub-continent from south to north.

So, now fine dining restaurants around the country are conjuring up newer and longer dimsum menus as they realise that this is one sure-fire way to bring in customers.

Almost 40 per cent of the menu at The Radisson MBD in Noida is devoted to dimsums

Take a look at Chinoiserie, at the Taj Bengal which has always had an extensive dimsum menu. Now, the restaurant is offering 'designer' dimsums that come in different colours including a tantalising green and a bright orange. Master Chef Lian Yun Lee uses spinach and carrot pulp to produce the different colours. Chinoiserie already offers 15 vegetarian and 15 non-vegetarian dimsums.

Taipan, the rooftop restaurant at Delhi’s Oberoi, has a reputation for top-notch Chinese cuisine and dimsums have always been a key part of the menu

Cross to the Shangri-la Hotel in Delhi where its restaurant 19 Oriental Avenue, serves up a mix of Chinese, Japanese, Thai food. Chef Wang Bing says that the Chinese section is always full and that's partly because of the dimsum menu. To capitalise on this Chef Wang — who is a dimsum specialist — is about to introduce a special dimsum corner.

Chef Bing’s signature dimsums are innovative and slightly different from what diners usually expect. They aren’t the usual shape and look a bit like small pouches made from a flimsy wrapper and neatly tied with fresh chive leaves. The chive leaves add a fine aroma to the dimsums.

(From top) Chef Nian Qing, along with the management of Vasant Continental, cleverly turned a part of Ano-Tai, their Chinese restaurant, into a dimsum lounge; The dimsums at The Shangri-la Hotel in the Capital are innovative and slightly different from what diners expect

One hotel that has always offered dimsums to diners is the Oberoi, Delhi’s popular rooftop Chinese restaurant Taipan. The restaurant has a special dimsum master chef and he’s always turning out striking combinations. The Sunday dimsum lunch menu, for instance, has fascinating offerings like Thai asparagus dumplings, duck, sour chicken and potato siew mai. Taipan has won a slew of awards over the years.

Also working hard on innovative, fine dining dimsums is Master Chef Sim Poh Geok, of RED, the Oriental restaurant at The Radisson MBD in Noida on the fringes of Delhi. At RED about 40 per cent of the menu is devoted to dimsums of one kind or another.

And on Sundays Sim organises a special Royal Dimsum lunch. One special offering that he’ll produce on request is the Ngoh Hiang which has a special stuffing of mince chicken, prawns and crab meat with spices like fennel, cinnamon, pepper and clove all wrapped in a flimsy tofu skin. Most of the ingredients come all the way from Singapore.

Sim also makes an extra effort to turn out exciting fare for the vegetarians who turn up at his restaurant. So you have special items like the black mushrooms and pokchoy dumplings (finely chopped mushrooms and pokchoy). Then, there’s the vegetable dumpling Shanghai style (minced broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, French beans, mushrooms flavoured with ginger, garlic and chillies). Chef Sim adds his own touch to the proceedings by coming out from his open kitchen and chatting with guests and guiding them on what to order.

Everyone is trying their level best to offer authentic dimsums and they aren’t afraid to spend on getting the best ingredients from different corners of Asia. At Taj Bengal, Lee is very fussy about the flour that is used and imports large quantities from China. Lee insists that the base is crucial because that contributes heavily to the flavour.

Similarly, at Ano-Tai, dimsums are paired with aromatic Chinese tea. Alternatively, guests can also choose from a wide selection of wines — both from the old world and the new — and also Chinese and Japanese liquor. At Noida's RED too the dimsum lunch is teamed with offerings from an extensive wine list.

At a slightly different level, in Calcutta, caterer Munna Maharaj is very fussy not just about the ingredients that go into his dimsums but also about the frills that come with them — he even sourced the dimsum baskets all the way from China.

Maharaj says that the menu-card for his high-end customers would be almost incomplete without dimsums as starters. The ace caterer also has slightly different problems from most fine dining restaurants because he has to cater for large numbers. He ensures that he doesn’t have to serve more than 200 guests at a time when it comes to dimsums. “Beyond that it’s impossible as they turn cold,” he says.

The fact is that you can find dimsums in scores of malls and food courts nowadays. And, as the crowds keep coming in, the fine dining restaurants are making sure they stay several steps ahead of the dimsum game.