A few bakeries sell limited dim sum items, maybe cheung fun (rice rolls), ha gow (shrimp dumplings), and siu mai (the steamed pork and shrimp) but I haven’t tried much. They are usually pre-made in little take out boxes, and you can ask them to heat it up for you to eat if you want. I don’t visit the bakeries themselves too often.
The better known of traditional Cantonese bakery is Crown Royal (used to be in Ctown) on Brooks St. There’s a bakery called Seyu Mak Ten on Billings Rd that has decent baked goods, but their dim sum is terrible! Avoid that one for dim sum. There is another bakery called Mei Mei on Brooks St too, but I’ve never tried their food.
Not that many traditional Chinese bakeries left in the North Quincy/Wollaston area. We have bakeries in the 99 Ranch and in Kam Man (past Quincy Center) so people buy buns from there a lot, and the younger generation favor the Tous Les Jour and the Paris Baguette with fancier items.
If you’re going to that area, give Rubato a try. The owner now has had some great publicity with his James Beard consideration and his win on Chopped. He doesn’t do dim sum per se, but he does have modern takes on cheung fun, buns, etc. All these places - aside from the ones on Brooks St - are all fairly close together. You can take the T to North Quincy or Wollaston and walk to all of them. Brooks St is across the street from Wollaston station, but on the Newport Ave side.
