Dim Sum

Dim sum (點心, diǎnxīn — 'touch the heart') is not a single dish but a tradition of eating — the Cantonese custom of yum cha (飲茶, 'drink tea'), where small plates of food are consumed over tea through the morning and into midday. The format is social first and gastronomic second. A yum cha session at a traditional Guangzhou or Hong Kong teahouse can run two to three hours with no sense of urgency from either the diners or the staff.

The classic dishes:

- **Har gow** (蝦餃) — steamed shrimp dumplings in translucent rice-starch wrapper. The benchmark dish by which dim sum chefs are judged: the wrapper should be thin and slightly sheer, the shrimp filling juicy and properly seasoned, and the pleats even. Seven or nine pleats is the traditional standard. - **Siu mai** (燒賣) — open-topped dumplings of pork and shrimp, topped with fish roe or carrot. Less demanding than har gow but equally ubiquitous. - **Char siu bao** (叉燒包) — baked (barbecued pork in a shiny, slightly sweet bun with cracked top) or steamed (white, softer wrapper). The steamed version is fluffier; the baked version has more character. - **Cheung fun** (腸粉) — silken rice noodle rolls, filled with shrimp, beef or char siu, or left plain and dressed with sweet soy, sesame, and hoisin. - **Lo mai gai** (糯米雞) — lotus-leaf parcel of glutinous rice with chicken, Chinese sausage, mushroom and salted egg. Heavy; one per table is enough. - **Chicken feet** (鳳爪, fèngzhuǎ) — steamed then braised in black bean sauce, the texture is yielding and gelatinous. The bones are small and multiple — an expert eater is neat; a novice makes a mess. - **Turnip cake** (蘿蔔糕, luóbo gāo) — pan-fried rice flour and radish cake, crispy outside. - **Mango pudding** (芒果布甸) — cold dessert, intensely mango. - **Egg tart** (蛋撻) — custard in a short pastry or flaky pastry shell. Hong Kong's version uses flaky pastry (puff-style); the Portuguese pastéis de nata connection is visible.

**The trolley versus the order card:** Traditional large teahouses used trolleys — steamer carts pushed through the dining room by staff, customers selecting by sight. This is still common in large-format Hong Kong teahouses and established Guangzhou venues. Modern establishments, particularly in mainland China, use order cards or apps — more efficient, but without the tactile pleasure of lifting a bamboo lid to inspect a stack of har gow.

**Hong Kong versus Guangzhou:** The two cities share the same tradition but have diverged. Hong Kong dim sum skews smaller, more refined, more expensive, and with a wider range of premium items (abalone, truffle, live seafood). Guangzhou retains the traditional large-hall, trolley-service format at many of its older establishments and is generally less expensive. Cantonese dim sum in mainland cities outside Guangdong is often adapted for local palates — spicier, sweeter, or with northern Chinese ingredients added.