Yum cha | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Yum cha at Hong Kong City Hall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 飲茶 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 饮茶 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | drink tea | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Yum cha is the Cantonese tradition of breakfast or brunch involving Chinese tea and dim sum. [1] [2] The practice is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions,including Guangdong province,Guangxi province,Hong Kong,and Macau. [3] It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Cantonese communities. Yum cha generally involves small portions of steamed,pan-fried,or deep-fried dim sum dishes served in bamboo steamers,which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. [4] [5] People often go to yum cha in large groups for family gatherings and celebrations.
Yum cha (traditional Chinese :飲茶; simplified Chinese :饮茶; pinyin :yǐn chá [6] ; Jyutping :jam2 caa4; Cantonese Yale :yám chà;lit. "drink tea"),also known as going for dim sum (Cantonese:食點心),is the Cantonese tradition of brunch involving Chinese tea and dim sum. [1] [2] The practice is popular in Cantonese-speaking regions such as Guangdong,Guangxi,Hong Kong,and Macau. [3] It is also carried out in other regions worldwide where there are overseas Chinese communities,like Vietnam,Australia,Canada,England and the United States.[ citation needed ]
Yum cha generally involves small portions of steamed,pan-fried,or deep-fried dim sum dishes served in bamboo steamers,which are designed to be eaten communally and washed down with hot tea. [4] [5] Traditionally,the elderly gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises. [7] Many have yum cha with family during weekends and holiday gatherings. [7] [8] [9]
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Yum cha in the Cantonese language, both literary and vernacular, literally means "drink tea". [4] "飲" means "to drink", and "茶" means "tea". The term is also used interchangeably with tan cha (嘆茶) in the Cantonese language, which colloquially translates to "enjoy tea". [10]
In Cantonese, yum cha refers to having a meal with dim sum dishes. Dim sum is the English word based on the Cantonese pronunciation of 點心.
In colloquial Mandarin dialects and Standard Vernacular Chinese based on one form of colloquial Mandarin, this character (喝) is often used to mean 飲 for the verb "drink". In the Chinese language, 點心 refers to a variety of foods, including European-style cakes and pastries, and has no equivalent in English.
In the English language, dim sum refers to small-dish appetizers and desserts.
Traditionally, yum cha is practiced in the morning or early afternoon, [11] hence the terms zou cha (早茶, "morning tea") or ha ngcha (下午茶, "afternoon tea") when appropriate. The former is also known as yum zou cha (飲早茶, "drinking morning tea"). In some parts of Guangdong province, restaurants offer dim sum during dinner hours and even late at night. This is known as yum je cha (飲夜茶, "drinking night tea"), though most venues still generally reserve the serving of dim sum for breakfast and lunch periods. [12] The combination of morning tea, afternoon tea, evening tea, lunch and dinner is known as sam cha leung fan (三茶兩飯, "three tea, two meal"). [13] [14]
The history of the tradition can be traced back to the period of Xianfeng Emperor, who first referred to establishments serving tea as yi li guan (一釐館, "1 cent house"). These offered a place for people to gossip, which became known as cha waa (茶話, "tea talk"). These tea houses grew to become their own type of restaurant and the visits became known as yum cha. [15] [16]
The traditional methods of serving dim sum include using trays strung around servers' necks or using push carts. [5] The teoi ce (推車, "push-cart") method of serving dim sum, dates back to the early 1960s and includes dim sum items cooked in advance, placed into steamer baskets, and brought out on push carts into the dining area. [17] [18] Employees call out the items they are serving, customers notify the server about the items they would like to order, and the server places the desired items on the table. [4] The general yum cha atmosphere is a loud, festive one due to the servers calling out the dishes and the groups of diners having conversations. [19]
Many dim sum restaurants now use a paper-based à la carte ordering system. [20] [21] This method provides fresh, cooked-to-order dim sum while managing the real estate and resource constraints involved with push cart service. [22] [23]
The cost of a meal was traditionally calculated by the number, size and type of dishes left on the patron's table at the end. In modern yum cha restaurants, servers mark orders by stamping a card or marking a bill card on the table. [24] [25] [26] Servers in some restaurants use distinctive stamps to track sales statistics for each server.[ citation needed ]
The customs associated with the tea served at yum cha include:
For the diners, some typical customs include:
While eating, some of the manners include:
Yum cha continues in both traditional and modern forms, including restaurants serving both traditional and modern fusion dim sum. [42] Modern dim sum can include dishes like abalone siu mai and barbecued wagyu beef bun. [43] Dim sum chefs for yum cha continue to be trained at leading culinary institutes. [42] One restaurant in Hong Kong creates social media-friendly dishes by preparing dumplings and buns shaped to resemble animals. [44] Whether traditional or modern-day, yum cha is to be shared with friends and loved ones. [12]
Cantonese or Guangdong cuisine, also known as Yue cuisine, is the cuisine of Cantonese people, associated with the Guangdong province of China, particularly the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions in the Pearl River Delta including Hong Kong and Macau. Strictly speaking, Cantonese cuisine is the cuisine of Guangzhou or of Cantonese speakers, but it often includes the cooking styles of all the speakers of Yue Chinese languages in Guangdong.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to meals:
Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuisines. In the tenth century, when the city of Canton (Guangzhou) began to experience an increase in commercial travel, many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called "yum cha" (brunch). "Yum cha" includes two related concepts. The first is "jat zung loeng gin", which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second is dim sum, which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea.
Bamboo steamers, called zhēnglóng in Chinese, are a type of food steamer made of bamboo. They are used commonly in Chinese cuisine, especially dim sum, and usually come in two or more layers. Bamboo steamers have also spread to other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries.
Cha chaan teng, often called a Hong Kong-style cafe or diner in English, is a type of restaurant that originated in Hong Kong. Cha chaan tengs are commonly found in Hong Kong, Macau, and parts of Guangdong. Due to the waves of mass migrations from Hong Kong in the 1980s, they are now established in major Chinese communities in Western countries such as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Likened to a greasy spoon cafe or an American diner, cha chaan tengs are known for eclectic and affordable menus, which include dishes from Hong Kong cuisine and Hong Kong-style Western cuisine. They draw comparisons to Western cafés due to their casual settings, as well as menus revolving around coffee and tea.
Hong Kong cuisine is mainly influenced by Cantonese cuisine, European cuisines and non-Cantonese Chinese cuisines, as well as Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian cuisines, due to Hong Kong's past as a British colony and a long history of being an international port of commerce. Complex combinations and international gourmet expertise have given Hong Kong the labels of "Gourmet Paradise" and "World's Fair of Food".
Cantonese culture, or Lingnan culture, refers to the regional Chinese culture of the region of Lingnan: twin provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi, the names of which mean "eastern expanse" and "western expanse", respectively.
One bowl with two pieces is a term that has long been in the vernacular of Hong Kong tea culture, meaning a bowl of tea with two "delicacies to complement the tea", i.e. dim sum. In Cantonese restaurants of the past, tea was not offered in a present-day teapot but in a bowl. Dim sum was not bite-sized. Instead, quite a number of them were simply big buns, such that two of them easily filled up one's stomach. The legendary Chicken Ball Dai Bao serves as an excellent example. This saying, however, is now rendered anachronistic under the heavy influence of the "bite-sized trend". The "two pieces" now is normally referring to Har gow (蝦餃) and Shumai (燒賣).
Xiaolongbao is a type of Chinese tangbao, traditionally prepared in a xiaolong, a small bamboo steaming basket. The xiaolongbao originates from the city of Changzhou in Jiangsu province, and is an iconic dish of Jiangnan cuisine.
A Cantonese restaurant is a type of Chinese restaurant that originated in Southern China. This style of restaurant has rapidly become common in Hong Kong.
Cha siu bao is a Cantonese baozi (bun) filled with barbecue-flavored cha siu pork. They are served as a type of dim sum during yum cha and are sometimes sold in Chinese bakeries.
A teahouse or tearoom is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only serves cream teas. Although the function of a tearoom may vary according to the circumstance or country, teahouses often serve as centers of social interaction, like coffeehouses.
Shumai is a type of traditional Chinese dumpling made of ground pork. In Cantonese cuisine, it is usually served as a dim sum snack. In addition to accompanying the Chinese diaspora, variations of shumai are found in Japan and Southeast Asia, such as the Indonesian siomay. In Australia, it developed into dim sim.
Bing sutt is a type of traditional cold drinking house started in Guangzhou (Canton) that spread to Hong Kong. These bing sutts arose in the 1950s and 1960s. They are characterized by old furniture and settings such as the small tiled floors, hanging fans, folding chairs and so on. A bing sutt provides light meals and drinks and is neighbourhood-oriented. It is believed to be the predecessor of the cha chaan teng.
Chinese regional cuisines are amongst the many different cuisines found in different provinces and prefectures of China as well as from larger overseas Chinese communities.
Har gow, also anglicized as ha gow, hau kau, or ha kao, is a traditional Cantonese dumpling served as dim sum. It is made of shrimp meat, and steamed in a flour wrapper. After cooking, the wrapper becomes somewhat translucent, and therefore ha gow is sometimes called crystal shrimp dumplings (水晶蝦餃).
Australian Chinese cuisine is a style of cooking developed by Australians of Chinese descent, who adapted dishes to satisfy local Anglo-Celtic tastes. Its roots can be traced to indentured Chinese who were brought to work as cooks in country pubs and sheep stations.
Nom Wah Tea Parlor, opened in 1920, is the oldest continuously running restaurant in the Chinatown of Manhattan in New York City. The restaurant serves Hong Kong style dim-sum and is currently located at 13 Doyers Street in Manhattan.
Dim sum is a type of cuisine, a range of small dishes in small pieces served typically for breakfast, brunch, lunch, in Cantonese cuisine.
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