Grandmothers always come up when discussing food and authenticity. “I’ve probably made this one dish with my grandma thousands of times,” says Khailing Neoh. She’s talking through the menu of Sum Bar, her dim sum pop-up (and soon-to-be brick-and-mortar) restaurant. Neoh is a first-generation Chinese-American, but a third-generation restaurateur—albeit unintentionally.
When her grandparents immigrated to rural Ohio with Neoh’s parents and opened a Chinese buffet, the intention was to provide the opportunity for Neoh to have a brighter and better future outside of the grueling food industry. In return, she got good grades, went to a good school, and became an engineer.
But the food was always something Neoh cherished. “I grew up in the restaurant setting, and I loved it. All my childhood memories are inside restaurants,” she says. When the world shut down for the pandemic, Neoh, like many others, began to reconsider her purpose in life, and food resurfaced.
“In a lot of Asian cultures, food is how you express love. It’s not physical touch, it’s asking, ‘Are you hungry? What did you eat today?’ You’re always thinking of your loved ones in terms of food,” Neoh explains. That brought to mind the experience of dim sum, which is a natural incarnation of that expression of care. In terms of food, dim sum covers a swath of Chinese small plates. In terms of an experience, dim sum is more akin to brunch: a light-hearted communal experience. “Getting dim sum was always a sacred memory . . . we would wake up on Saturday morning to go with our family, in-laws, and friends. To me, that classic family-style dining is the loveliest thing.”
Sum Bar is the result of all those influences, but it’s not meant to be a nostalgic or obsessively authentic time capsule. It’s a living exploration of Neoh’s own experience as a Chinese-American, an experience that combines her heritage with her own contemporary tastes and interests.
“As I’m figuring myself out, I get to figure out the food, too,” she says. “I think of some traditional dishes—like siu mai—that shouldn’t be touched because I don’t want to mess with perfection, but Sum Bar is also a place to experiment and incorporate the American side of my Asian-American experience. Once you know how to speak the language of Chinese cooking—the saltiness, the sweetness, the umami, the xiaoxing wine—you can play with the ratios and how they sing together.”
A few of Khailing’s favorite dishes:
Siu Mai
Open-topped dumplings are a crucial staple on every dim sum menu. Chewy, extra-thin wrappers and a springy pork-and-shrimp filling create a textural delight in every bite.
Xiao Long Bao
Delicate dumplings filled with savory broth, also known as soup dumplings. Take care not to pop the whole dumpling into your mouth at once. Instead, place the dumpling in a spoon, bite or poke a hole in the wrapper to allow the broth to flow into the spoon, consume the soup and dumpling in the order of your choice.
Zhima Qiu
Deep-fried glutinous rice balls rolled in sesame seeds and stuffed with a semi-sweet filling (think sweet red bean paste). Crunchy and savory on the outside, chewy and sweet on the inside.
Follow @sumbar.gvl to find the next pop-up.
