Comparison

Talk Dim Sum vs Chinese Recipe Bite

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Talk Dim Sum

Navigate Chinese and Chinese-adjacent cuisine with confidence. Hear pronunciations in Cantonese or Mandarin, search dishes in English or Chinese, and discover over 500 restaurants. Practice your speaking with speech-to-text and AI dish recognition.

Highlights
  • Cantonese and Mandarin pronunciation
  • English and Chinese search
  • Save favorite dishes
  • AI camera dish recognition
  • Speech-to-text pronunciation practice
  • Over 500 US restaurants listed
Read full description

Love dim sum, but don't know what to order or how to order? Bring this app, find what you like, and tap the speaker icon to hear the dish pronounced in Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin) using iOS text-to-speech. I made this app after visiting Hong Kong and trying to crash course learn Cantonese in the food courts. The early focus was just on dim sum and Cantonese text-to-speech and my favorite restaurants, but has since expanded (based on user tips and requests and my own interests) to more broadly cover Chinese and Chinese-adjacent food (over five hundred dishes) and include features such as Mandarin (traditional and simplified), search (English and Chinese), saving favorites, AI camera recognition of dishes, speech-to-text pronunciation practice, basic phrases, and over five hundred restaurants in the US (sorry, I gave up on trying to list every restaurant in the world, it's just not feasible). Tips: If the voice is stuck in Cantonese or Mandarin even after switching the tabs in the Practice screen, go to the Settings app, select Accessibility then Spoken Content and check the Chinese voice. If it's not one of the Siri voices, try selecting Siri in Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan. If you don't hear the Chinese speech 1) check the mute switch on your iPhone and make sure it isn't on. 2) text-to-speech for a particular voice sometimes seems to require an internet connect, at least on initial use (same with speech-to-text, the microphone practice button). 2) sometimes a device will have trouble accessing the text-to-speech voice (it's the Hong Kong Chinese voice used for Accessibility in Settings), so try turning your device off and on. Tapping the speaker icon plays back the Chinese pronunciation at half speed to help you learn. Tap the microphone icon to bring up more options, including adjusting the playback speed, switching between Cantonese and Mandarin, and practicing speaking (the speed and language settings are also in Settings). Aside from the default speed, the speech may sound not quite natural because the app does not play back recorded speech but instead uses iOS text-to-speech functionality, which utters one character (i.e. one syllable) at a time, which may not match how an entire compound word or phrase is normally pronounced (you can hear this effect when using Siri). The home screen shows categories of dishes. Tap each category to see the dishes. Or tap on the Search button at the top left (some vocabulary items like "takeout" are not in categories but available in via search). Talk Dim Sum is developed with: The dim sum icon from Stock Image Folio on Iconfinder.com. The technicat logo designed by Dakota Snow. Restaurant link icons from Simple Icons. Photos from many dim sum excursions. Regional map images from Wikipedia (Creative Commons License from Wikimedia). Swift open source packages: AlertToast, ImagePickerView, LinksKit, Qgrid, SQLite.swift, SwiftUIPager, and SwiftyJSON.

About

Chinese Recipe Bite

Features
Read full description

Welcome to Chinese Recipe Bite, your ultimate guide to authentic Chinese cooking! Discover a world of delicious Chinese recipes that are easy to follow and perfect for home cooks of all skill levels. Whether you're looking for quick Chinese dishes for a busy weeknight or traditional recipes to impress your friends, we’ve got you covered! Explore a variety of stir-fry recipes, dumpling recipes, and mouth-watering noodle dishes that bring the flavors of Chinese cuisine right to your kitchen. Our app features: Authentic Chinese cooking methods with step-by-step instructions A wide range of healthy Chinese meals to suit your dietary preferences Vegetarian Chinese recipes for plant-based eaters Popular dim sum recipes to create your favorite brunch at home Specialty dishes from different regions, including Cantonese and Sichuan cooking With Chinese Recipe Bite, meal prep has never been easier! Each recipe includes cooking tips, ingredient lists, and stunning visuals to guide you every step of the way. Unleash your culinary creativity and turn every meal into an adventure with traditional Chinese food that your family and friends will love! Download Chinese Recipe Bite today and start your journey to mastering Chinese cuisine at home!

Screenshots

Talk Dim Sum4 screens
Chinese Recipe Bite4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Chinese Recipe Bite at none against Talk Dim Sum's 1. Chinese Recipe Bite also leads on iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). Talk Dim Sum's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Talk Dim Sum sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chinese Recipe Bite asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Talk Dim Sum versus Chinese Recipe Bite: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterTalk Dim SumChinese Recipe Bite
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (345 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews70.4% of reviews—
Number of ratings345 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 3 days—
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS26.012.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size115 MB58 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperTechnicat, LLCHimalay Diyora

Bugs and requests

Talk Dim Sum

Reported bugs

7 issues
  • App freezes when tapping on food pictures
  • Speech function has no sound
  • Cantonese voice pronunciations are incorrect
  • Wrong word usage and pronunciation (Mandarin vs. Cantonese)
  • Audio recordings are laughably bad
Show 2 more
  • All dishes displayed in Mandarin instead of Cantonese
  • Sound not working, even when highlighted

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add Boba names and rituals
  • Add conversations for ordering
  • Add more Chinese food items
  • Add various teas

Chinese Recipe Bite

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Talk Dim Sum

One-time1
  • Talk Dim Sum Pro$0.99
None

Chinese Recipe Bite

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Talk Dim Sum free?
Talk Dim Sum is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chinese Recipe Bite free?
Chinese Recipe Bite is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Talk Dim Sum or Chinese Recipe Bite have ads?
Chinese Recipe Bite shows ads; Talk Dim Sum does not.

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