When I think of Hong Kong, I think of Yum Cha. Although “yum cha” means “drink tea”, this age-old tradition also involves devouring copious amounts of dim sum and nattering loudly away in Chinese. When I was a small child, my parents would always drag me along to yum cha with family friends and relatives and I used to hate it: I couldn’t understand what anyone was saying, my tea was always too hot, and I was too short to reach any of the good food on the table.

Fast forward twenty-odd years and now my parents need to drag me away from the table to get me out of the restaurant.

What exactly is yum cha?

Yum cha is basically a Cantonese brunch, where small portions (usually 3 apiece) of pan-fried, steamed, and deep-fried dim sum dishes are served in bamboo steamers for the whole table to share. This is all washed down with your favourite Chinese tea.

If you go with a large group, you may be seated on a table with a Lazy Susan. Pro tip: be ready to spin the table your way as soon as your dish comes, otherwise prepare for a standoff for the last dim sum.

Back in the old days, the bamboo steamers were stacked tall on trolleys, which were pushed around the restaurant. When you saw the dish you wanted, you stopped the waiter, they served your dish, and ticked it off on your table number.

Nowadays, most restaurants have a paper menu where you choose your dishes, and they’re then brought out to you. Whilst this stops the wastage of food, it sure makes things difficult if you can’t read Chinese…

You could try ticking a few boxes and keeping your fingers crossed that you’ll like what you get, but if you’re feeling brave, you can order from the waiter using this handy guide to yum cha in Cantonese!

Cha

First, foremostly, and possibly most importantly is the tea! The typical standard will be oolong or jasmine tea. You’ll be given two teapots, one filled with tealeaves, the other with just hot water. This way, if the tea gets too strong, you can dilute it with hot water before you drink it.

Har gow

These are one of my favourite dim sum of all time! They’re little parcels of prawn dumpling wrapped up in a semi-translucent rice paper pastry. When I was little, I loved the pastry so much that I would make my sister give me the pastry from her har gow, as well as eat my own.

Char siu bao

Most people will be familiar with the Chinese BBQ pork bun, but this is what it’s called in Cantonese! Inside the fluffy, white, and slightly sweet bun (“bao”) is the Chinese-style barbequed pork (“char siu”). Char siu is a very popular dish just on it’s own, or with rice and vegetables. If you can’t get enough of it in a char siu bao, you could always give this a try!

Cheung fun

This slippery rice roll is quite unique to yum cha! The rice mixture is spread thinly, steamed, and rolled up tightly to enclose any variety of fillings. This may typically be shrimps, beef, pork, or even fried savoury dough! (I don’t know what the technical name of this is, sorry)

Siu mai

These delectable pork, shrimp, and mushroom steamed dumplings are wrapped up in a thin, yellow pastry sheet (don’t ask me why it’s yellow). I believe the little orange dots are caviar, but are sometimes replaced with chopped carrot. You can find these sold by street food vendors as well as at yum cha!

Gai farn

This literally means “chicken rice”. It’s a little more exciting and tasty than a standard bowl of plain, white rice, but not as adventurous as eating chicken feet (which I believe are cooked in a similar way). A good stepping-stone until you’re brave enough to try chicken feet! 😛

Which dish would you order first at Yum Cha?