Yum cha (2004-03-31)
Yum cha are two Chinese characters which literally means drink (yum)
tea (cha). It is a very popular way of eating in Hong Kong where
I grew up.
Unlike in the distant past when people went yum cha for the tea and
limited choices of dim sum dishes, nowadays it is as much a social
affair as a time to taste a wide variety of dim sum, which are little
steamed and fried dishes served mostly in bamboo steamers. In a
yum cha restaurant, the waiter always offers you a pot of Chinese tea
of your choice as soon as you are seated. After that you'd order
dim sum from carts pushed around by dim sum
ladies or tick your choices off a list and hand it to a waiter who will
then bring
piping hot dim sum straight from the kitchen to your
table.
There are only a handful of yum cha restaurants in Tokyo. I've
been to several of them. The taste of their dim sum is a far cry
from the
real things in Hong Kong and they are very expensive. But my
friend has introduced me to an all-you-can-eat yum cha place in
Shinjuku (
). It costs only 1500 yen ( US$14.5) per person and most
importantly the dim sum dishes taste surprisingly good. So until
I can get my hands on the authentic and truly delicious dim sum in
Hong Kong,
this place in Shinjuku will do for now.
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