Dim sum with a difference in a most unexpected place
The rustic kiosk is run by three generations of a Tahitian-Chinese family.
The air outside the rustic red dumpling house on Moorea, in the Islands of Tahiti, is thick with lemongrass, and there's the distinctive sound of meat sizzling on a grill. I'm sitting outside a beachside shack watching as the cook spoons a ball of chicken filling into a circle of dough, folds it into a little bundle and pinches it shut. There's a nearby table of workers sipping coffee and a group of schoolgirls sitting on stools that encircle the cafe. Everyone comes to Snack Rotui for the same thing: the divine little dim sum. While the Islands of Tahiti are best known for the national dish, poisson cru (raw fish marinated in coconut milk), it is this dim sum from Snack Rotui that is the real surprise package.
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We watch as the pretty pouches are lightly steamed and cooked to the ideal tenderness. It's fair to say we would have never discovered this place if founder of Tahiti Food Tours, Heimata Hall, had not steered us here. Hall has been devouring the dumplings from this family-run eatery for decades. "What I love about this snack shop," says Hall, "is that nothing has changed. It's the same stools from 40 years ago and the simple basic affordable food that locals enjoy. And it's right on the water with a mountain backdrop," he says.
The rustic kiosk is run by three generations of a Tahitian-Chinese family who are the descendants of settlers who arrived as migrant workers from the 1860s. The fact the plates of dumplings are served with a dollop of mustard, rather than a bowl of soy dipping sauce, is a nod to the influence the French have also had on the Islands' cuisine.
Two of the pleated dim sum are served per plate and we dutifully dredge them in mustard before popping them piping hot into our mouths at our perch overlooking the blue-green waters of Cooks Bay. It's a classic traveller's tale to enjoy food in unexpected places that tells you a little about local culture and history. And nothing could be more satisfying.
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