Yum Cha
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
Any given Sunday strolling the length and breadth of Northbridge, you will see queues of impatient diners hungrily awaiting their ticket to be called outside their favourite Dim Sum Tea House. From the ordered chaos that ensues inside many; as quickly as a table is vacated, it is cleared, wiped and reset with impressive military timing. No sooner are you seated, tea of your choice is brought brewing to the table, your gastronomic venture into the depths of Canton kitchens begins.
Dim Sum aka Yum Cha is a style of dining many of us are now familiar with here in Australia. Dishes more often than not are brought round on trays or trolleys steaming like the fumes of a Turkish bath. The West’s equal would probably be Meze or Tapas. Smallish sized dishes served on the table, diners picking what they like into their own separate bowls. It’s a communal event. Cantonese conversation thickly spread in the air, utensils tinkering to progress being made by happy diners.
Dishes include: Char Sui Bau, Har Gau, Sui Mai, Cheong fun, Gai Lan, Fung zao, Yau yu sou, Hai Zhu, Daan Tar
It’s definitely an asset dining with somebody fluent in Cantonese as communication lines are not always through. Even at the best of times, orders get mixed, wrong tea is brought, and multiple dishes appear. But all it serves as the experience of chaos of a tea house in full swing.
