is the name for a Chinese cuisine which
involves a wide range of light dishes served alongside Chinese tea
. Yum cha
(literally "drinking tea") is the term used to describe the entire
dining experience, especially in contemporary Cantonese
. It is usually served in the mornings
until noon time at Chinese restaurants and at specialty dim sum
eateries where typical dishes are available throughout the day.
Dishes come in small portions and may include meat
, and vegetables
, as well as desserts
. The items
are usually served in a small steamer basket or on a small plate.
Some Chinese families like to gather for dim sum on special
occasions such as Mother’s Day or Chinese New Year. Also, Chinese
parents like to bring their children there Sunday mornings to meet
and talk with their grandparents. Some people bring newspapers with
them and discuss news with their families. Some Chinese restaurants
offer discounts on menu items purchased before 11:00 A.M. and tea
time discounts after 2:00 P.M. to encourage patrons to avoid the
Dim Sum is usually linked with the older tradition of Yum
(drinking tea), which has its roots in travellers on the
ancient Silk Road
needing a place to rest.
Thus teahouses were established along the roadside. Rural farmers,
exhausted after working hard in the fields, would also go to
teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea
first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food,
because people believed it would lead to excessive weight gain.
People later discovered that tea can aid in digestion, so teahouse
owners began adding various snacks.
The unique culinary art of Dim Sum originated with the Cantonese in
southern China, who over the centuries transformed Yum Cha from a
relaxing respite to a loud and happy dining experience.
Kong, and in most cities and towns in Guangdong province, many Chinese restaurants start serving
dim sum as early as five in the morning.
It is a tradition
for the elderly to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises,
often enjoying the morning newspapers. For many in southern China,
is treated as a weekend family day. Consistent
with this tradition, dim sum restaurants typically only serve dim
sum until mid-afternoon (right around the time of a traditional
Western 3 o'clock coffee break), and serve other kinds of Cantonese cuisine
in the evening.
Nowadays, various dim sum items are even sold as take-out
for students and office workers on the
While dim sum (touch the heart) was originally not a main meal,
only a snack, and therefore only meant to touch the heart, it is
now a staple of Chinese dining culture, especially in Hong Kong.
Health officials have recently criticized the high amount of
in some dim sum dishes, warning that steamed
dim sum should not automatically be assumed to be healthy. Health
officials recommend balancing fatty dishes with boiled vegetables,
The drinking of tea is as important to dim sum as the food. A
popular tea which is said to aid in digestion is bolay
, pu erh
which is a strong, fermented tea. Chrysanthemum
) and green tea can be
served as well.
It is customary to pour tea for others during dim sum before
filling one's own cup. A custom unique to the Cantonese
is to thank the person pouring
the tea by tapping the bent index and middle fingers together on
the table, which symbolises 'bowing' to them.
This is said to be analogous to the ritual of bowing to someone in
appreciation. The origin of this gesture is described anecdotally:
an unidentified Emperor went to yum cha with his friends, outside
the palace; not wanting to attract attention to himself, the
Emperor was disguised. While at yum cha, the Emperor poured his
companion some tea, which was a great honour. The companion, not
wanting to give away the Emperor's identity in public by bowing,
instead tapped his index and middle finger on the table as sign of
Given the number of times tea is poured in a meal, the tapping is a
timesaver in loud restaurants or lively company, as an individual
being served might be speaking to someone else or have food in
their mouth. Leaving the pot lid open is another common way of
attracting a server's attention.
Traditional dim sum includes various types of steamed buns such as
cha siu baau
and rice noodle rolls (cheong fun), which
contain a range of ingredients
, chicken, pork, prawns
options. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed
green vegetables, roasted meats, congee porridge and other soups.
Dessert dim sum is also available and many places offer the
customary egg tart
. Having a meal in a
or a dim sum restaurant is
known as yum cha
, 飲茶), literally
"drinking tea", as tea is typically served with dim sum.
Dim sum can be cooked by steaming
, among other methods. The serving
sizes are usually small and normally served as three or four pieces
in one dish. It is customary to order family style, sharing dishes
among all members of the dining party. Because of the small
portions, people can try a wide variety of food.
Dim sum dishes can be ordered from a menu or sometimes the food is
wheeled around on a trolley by servers. Traditionally, the cost of
the meal is calculated based on the number, size, and sometimes
color of the dishes left on the patron's table (more below). Some
modern dim sum restaurants record the dishes on a bill at the
table. Not only is this tidier, it also prevents patrons from
cheating by concealing or stealing the plates. Servers in some
restaurants use distinct stamps so that sales statistics for each
server can be recorded.
Dim sum restaurants have a wide variety of dishes, usually several
dozen. Among the standard fare of dim sum are the following:
- Gao (餃, Dumpling; 餃子
gau zi, Gow gee): Gao is a standard in
most teahouses. They are made of ingredients wrapped in a
translucent rice flour or wheat starch skin, and are
different from jiaozi found in other
parts of China. Though common, steamed rice-flour skins are quite
difficult to make. Thus, it is a good demonstration of the chef's
artistry to make these translucent dumplings. There are also
dumplings with vegetarian ingredients, such as tofu and pickled cabbage.
Dumpling (蝦餃 har gau): A delicate
steamed dumpling with whole or chopped-up shrimp filling and thin
wheat starch skin.
style dumplings (潮州粉果 chiu-chau fun
guo): A dumpling said to have originated from the Chaozhou prefecture
of eastern Guangdong province, it contains peanuts, garlic, chives, pork, dried shrimp, Chinese mushrooms in a thick dumpling
wrapper made from glutinous rice
flour or Tang flour. It is usually served with a small dish
of chili oil.
(鍋貼, woh tip) Northern Chinese style of dumpling (steamed and then
pan-fried jiaozi), usually with meat and cabbage filling. Note that
although potstickers are sometimes served in dim sum restaurants,
they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum.
- Shaomai (燒賣
siu mai): Small steamed dumplings with either pork, prawns
or both inside a thin wheat flour wrapper. Usually topped off with
crab roe and mushroom.
- Haam Sui Gaau (鹹水餃, salt-water (i.e.
savoury) stuffed-dumpling, alternatively 鹹水角 (haam Sui Gok): deep
fried oval-shaped dumpling made with rice-flour and filled with
pork and chopped vegetables. The rice-flour surrounding is sweet
and sticky, while the inside is slightly salty.
- Bau (包
bau): Baked or steamed, these fluffy buns made from rice
flour are filled with food items ranging from meat to vegetables to
sweet bean pastes.
- Char siu
baau (叉燒包, char siu baau): the most
popular bun with a Cantonese barbecued pork
filling. It can be either steamed to be fluffy and white or baked
with a light sugar glaze to produce a smooth
- Shanghai steamed
buns (上海小籠包 seong hoi siu lung bau):
These dumplings are filled with meat or seafood and are famous for
their flavor and rich broth inside. These
dumplings are originally Shanghainese so
they are not considered traditional Cantonese dim sum. They are
typically sold with pork as a filling.
- Rice noodle
rolls or cheong fun (腸粉
cheong fun): These are wide rice noodles that are steamed
and then rolled. They are often filled with different types of
meats or vegetables inside but can be served without any filling.
Rice noodle rolls are fried after they are steamed and then
sprinkled with sesame seeds. Popular
fillings include beef, dough fritter, shrimp, and barbecued pork.
Often topped with a sweetened soy sauce.
talons (鳳爪 fung zao): These are chicken
feet, deep fried, boiled, marinated in a
black bean sauce and then steamed. This
results in a texture that is light and fluffy (due to the frying),
while moist and tender. Fung zau are typically dark red in color.
One may also sometimes find plain steamed chicken feet served with
a vinegar dipping sauce. This version is known as "White Cloud
Phoenix Talons" (白雲鳳爪, bak wun fung jau)
meatball (牛肉球 ngau4 juk6 kau4):
Finely-ground beef is shaped into balls and then steamed with
preserved orange peel and served on top of a thin bean-curd
- Spare ribs:
In the west, it is mostly known as spare ribs collectively. In the
east, it is Char siu when roasted red, or
(排骨 paai4 gwat1, páigǔ) when roasted black.
- Lotus leaf
rice (糯米雞 lou mai gai): Glutinous rice is wrapped in a lotus leaf into a triangular or rectangular shape.
It contains egg yolk, dried scallop,
mushroom, water chestnut and meat
(usually pork and chicken). These ingredients are steamed with the
rice and although the leaf is not eaten, its flavour is infused
during the steaming. Lo mai gai is a kind of rice dumpling. A similar but lighter variant is known
as "Pearl Chicken" (珍珠雞 jan jyu gai).
- Congee (粥
juk1): Thick, sticky rice porridge served with different
savory items. The porridge one will see most often is "Duck Egg and
Pork Porridge" (皮蛋瘦肉粥 "pei daan sau ruk juk")
- Sou (酥
sou): A type of flaky pastry. Char
siu is one of the most common ingredient used in dim sum style
sou. Another common pastry seen in restaurants are called "Salty
Pastry" (鹹水角 "haam sui gok") which is made with flour and seasoned
dumpling (芋角 wu gok): This is made with
mashed taro, stuffed with diced shiitake mushrooms, shrimp and pork,
deep-fried in crispy batter.
- Crispy fried squid (魷魚鬚 yau yu sou): Similar
to fried calamari, the battered squid is
deep-fried and normally served with a sweet and sour dip. One may
also get a variation of this dish prepared with a salt and pepper mix. In
some dim sum restaurants, octopus is used
instead of squid.
- Rolls (捲)
- Cakes (糕)
- Chien chang go (千層糕 cin cang
gou): "Thousand-layer cake", a dim sum dessert made up of many
layers of sweet egg dough.
- Egg tart (蛋撻
dan tat): composed of a base made from either a flaky puff pastry
type dough or a type of non-flaky cookie dough with an egg custard filling, which is then baked. Some
high class restaurants put bird's nest
on top of the custard. In other places egg tarts can be made of a
crust and a filling of egg whites and some where it is a crust with
egg yolks. Some egg tarts now have flavors such as taro, coffee,
and other flavors. There are also different kinds of crust. There
is also a flaky crisp outer crust with layers and layers of crunchy
- Jin deui or
Matuan (煎堆 or 麻糰): Especially popular at
Chinese New Year, a chewy dough
filled with red bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds, and deep
- Dou fu fa
(豆腐花): A dessert consisting of silky tofu served with a sweet
pudding (芒果布甸 mong guo bo din): A sweet,
rich mango-flavoured pudding usually with
large chunks of fresh mango; often served with a topping of
- Sweet cream buns (奶皇包 naai5 wong4
baau1): Steamed buns with milk custard
- Malay Steamed Sponge Cake (馬拉糕 ma5
lai1 gou1): A very soft steamed sponge cake flavoured with molasses.
- Longan Tofu:
almond-flavoured tofu served with longans, usually cold.
Since individual dim sum dishes are typically portioned for 3-4
small servings, patrons will typically order many different dishes
over the course of a meal. Larger tables may even order two or
three plates of a particular dish so that everyone can have a
serving. Traditionally dishes may be classified as "small",
"medium", "large", or special order (a menu item not typically
considered dim sum fare, such as a plate of chow mein). For
example, a basket of dumplings may be considered a small dish,
while a bowl of congee or plate of Lo mai gai
considered a large dish. Dishes are priced accordingly.
Certain kinds of instant dim sum have come onto the market in Hong
Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore. People can enjoy snacks
after a 3-minute defrosting and reheating of the instant dim sum in
a microwave oven
Some stalls serve "street dim sum" which usually consists of
dumplings or meatballs steamed in a large container, but served on
a bamboo skewer
. The customer can dip the
whole skewer into a sauce bowl and eat while standing or
Dim sum can be purchased from major grocery stores in most
countries with a Chinese population. These dim sum can be easily
cooked by steaming or microwaving. Major grocery stores in Hong Kong,
Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Mainland China, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, Australia, United States and Canada have a
variety of dim sum stocked at the shelves.
dumplings, siu maai
, cheong fun
lo bak go
and steamed spare ribs. In Singapore, as well as
other countries, dim sum can also be purchased from convenience stores
, coffee shops
and other eateries. There is also
halal certified dim sum available, with chicken taking the place of
pork which in addition to Singapore is very popular in Malaysia,
Indonesia and Brunei.