Wherever you go in the world there is one underlying trend in restaurants: everything is becoming more casual. Whether it is pizza or tapas, the punters want to share many small courses. Of all these small-course meals, yum cha is among the most popular.
The term yum cha is Cantonese for 'drink tea'. Traditionally, Chinese businessmen met in teahouses and discussed business, just as they did in the West where tea and coffee houses evolved into the financial exchanges.
Although enjoyed across China, and with regional variations, yum cha is most popular in southern China around Guangdong, and more specifically Hong Kong and Macao.
In these places yum cha is served from dawn and is enjoyed by the elderly after morning exercise. But for many it has evolved into a social event, a brunch eaten at lunchtime or in the early afternoon.
David Zho of The Oriental Teahouse in Melbourne says that yum cha is now a popular way to eat, or snack, throughout the day.
Yum cha has become particularly popular in Australia, and there are giant yum cha restaurants such as Chatswood's Kam Fook, which seats 600 in its busy lunchtimes. And now the group that owns Kam Fook is bringing this scale of dining to Melbourne, with Duck Duck Goose seating a relatively modest 400 in the CBD. There are plans to take the brand international.
If you eat yum cha with Chinese people you will notice them tap the table after the tea is poured. This is a form of kowtowing, tapping the table with three fingers of one hand to show respect to the person who filled up the tea. According to legend the practice dates back to the Qianlong Emperor, who while visiting the regions incognito poured the tea. The emperor told his companions, who were surprised he poured the tea and wanted to show respect, to tap their fingers on the table so he could maintain his anonymity.
Another practice is to leave the lid of the teapot upside down as a signal for more tea. This relates to a story about a poor student who hid a bird in a teapot, with the inevitable happening.
Making up most of the meal at yum cha are dim sum (meaning 'touch the heart') or dumplings. And in the UK and the US the term dim sum often refers to the practice of yum cha.
Popular yum cha dishes include char siu bao (steamed buns stuffed with barbequed pork), har gau (transparent dumplings stuffed with prawns), gow gee (Chinese dumplings), ham sui gok (deep-fried crescent dumplings) and cheun gyun (spring rolls). Of course, there are the obligatory fung zao, phoenix talons or chicken feet, rice and some steamed Chinese greens.
Reference: May 2008, volume 78:04, p. 74 - 76
