SHARING RITUAL
YUM CHA IS PROVING A POPULAR BRUNCH OPTION
Brunch is a great way to catch up with friends but for those wanting to branch out from the usual eggs and bacon-style menus, yum cha is an ideal alternative.
Yum cha means “to drink tea” in Cantonese and describes the tradition of small servings of different foods, or dim sum, served with Chinese tea.
The tradition dates back to the 10th century and the beginning of the Sung dynasty when street vendors established roadside tea houses to serve dim sum.
These days, yum cha in China is a mostly weekend tradition with families gathering to eat and drink in sessions which usually last from mid morning to mid afternoon.
The yum cha ritual has also taken off in Adelaide. It can be a hectic experience; the food is wheeled to the table on trolleys in steamers or on small plates and guests can pick up whatever they like. The items are stamped in price columns on an order sheet for each table and are totalled when you ask for your bill – it is usually a very affordable way to dine.
Citi-Zen Chinese Restaurant, in King William St, is known as one of the city’s best yum cha spots with chef Heng leading a special kitchen team dedicated to preparing the handmade morsels.
More than 90 varieties include prawn and scallop dumplings, snow white chicken feet, honey tripe and pan-fried water chestnut cake. Weekend sessions offer special dishes such as radish cakes with XO sauce.
Manager Amy Zhou says Citi-Zen’s signature dim sum dish is har gao, prawn dumplings, which are regarded as a good test of a yum cha chef’s skills.
“People judge it for how thick or thin the skin is - it must be thin and transparent and not too chewy but easy to pick up with chopsticks and it is pure prawn which has to be cooked perfectly,” she says.
Australians have wholeheartedly embraced yum cha in recent years and are willing to try some of the more authentic dishes such as chicken feet and beef tripe.
“Some people say ‘ooh, chicken feet, that’s disgusting’, but then if they are brave and try it, they always come back for it again and again,” Amy says.
Café Kowloon, in Gouger St, serves dim sum during the week but people line up to be part of the action on the weekends.
Manager Sharron Trinh says she loves the hustle and bustle of weekend yum cha and enjoys seeing it become a more mainstream family tradition for Australians.
“So many come in now and they bring their kids so they can experience a different culture , learn something and give them something different to eat other than McDonalds,” she says.
“It does get very crowded and it’s busy and it’s fun and not at all formal.”
Café Kowloon’s Hung Wong creates handmade dim sum dishes such as scallop dumplings, barbecue pork buns, steamed king prawn in rice pastry and Chinese custard tarts or lotus buns.
“Yum cha is so popular now and I think this growth has been helped along by the fact there are so many Asian students here now,” Hung says.
Tea is an intrinsic part of the yum cha experience and the most popular brews are the light, subtle jasmine or chrysanthemum teas or richer-flavoured varieties such as pu-erh, or Oolong.
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