Ode to Yum Cha

Yummy ginger pork dumplings

An orgy of food is how I describe it to anyone unfamiliar to the delights of yum cha and it’s one of the things I have missed most during my time in Italy (after lovely friends of course.)  From the moment I booked my ticket I have been dreaming about a yum cha.  For many the big Sunday ritual is the roast dinner but for me the best Sundays were about yum cha.  Getting together with a group like minded people and sitting around a table and eating for hours. 

Originating in China yum cha was first all about tea – in Cantonese it means drink tea.  Just like the English morning or afternoon tea patrons would get together over a pot of tea accompanied by a little food, in this case dim sums (small portions of food, usually steamed or fried dumplings.) Over the years the focus has changed to the food and now yum cha is a full meal of deliciousness. Basically yum cha is a small serving of a variety of Chinese dim sum (anything from steamed or fried dumplings, barbecued pork buns, greens, taro rolls, salt and pepper squid, duck pancakes.........oh the list is endless) that are served from a trolley.  Serves usually come in multiples of three thus making a three or any multiple of the ideal yum cha group (it’s best to avoid the situation where you're fighting over the last ginger prawn dumpling.)  Freed from the tyranny of the menu each table waits for a trolley baring waiter to stop and describe the dishes they have and the diners choose to take them or wait and see what the next person brings.  Once chosen the waiter stamps a docket on your table and at the end the stamps are used to calculate the cost of your meal.  Just as its original incarnation tea is still the preferred beverage at yum cha and I personally find alcohol inappropriate with the meal, although there has been many a time when we have had to have a post yum cha digestive to help with our gluttony.

It’s strange to think of a time before yum cha but my first experience was in the winter of 2000 here in Melbourne’s Dragon Boat Palace.  From the moment I was introduced into this fabulous new world I was hooked.  My friends are split into those who like yum cha and those for whom it’s a gastronomic reason to live.  When I put the word out that I was going to be in Melbourne for Christmas and a yum cha was definitely on the agenda most wrote back with vague agreements these are not the people to go to yum cha with.  A few days into my stay I bumped into R a woman who is as committed to eating as me.  On mentioning the magic words her eyes lit up and suddenly all plans and arrangement for the next day were cancelled – this is the kind of person I want.  Joined by T a yum cha virgin we headed out to the Gold leaf Chinese restaurant out in the hinterlands of Preston. 

Inside the glorious gaudiness of the restaurant with it revolving golden lights was augmented with tinsel and other Christmas paraphernalia.    We waited hungrily until the trolleys started making their rounds.  When yum chaing it’s important not to let greed overtake you.  Go too hard at the start and you risk filling up with the first few dishes.  Control and pacing allow you to eat more.  I have yet to decide if eating breakfast or remaining hungry are the best preparations but I tend to keep myself hungry in readiness.  Watching the dinners it’s easy to spot the other yum cha obsessives we greedily keep an eye on the other trolleys doing the rounds or watch the door to the kitchen waiting for the next delicious morsels to emerge.  When something particularly good emerged a quick look from R had the waiter come straight to our table – this woman is a veteran.  The next couple of hours were a blur of chopsticks, tea, chilli sauce and banter.  With a final visit from the dessert trolley baring mango jelly our stomachs were full as was our docket. 

Every yum cha veteran will have a war story of over indulgence and painfully full stomachs – those morsels look so small and tasty that it’s hard to resist and I at least, never realise how much I have eaten until its too late.  That’s why yum cha is the perfect Sunday event – you really can’t do too much afterwards and nothing involving movement of any kind.  A movie is an ideal activity failing that just lying on the couch digesting is also pretty good.

To me the yum cha mecca is Hong Kong and I have read many tales of the yum cha delights there.  Sadly I have only ever visited Hong Kong alone but one day I hope to be able to eat yum cha in its spiritual home (open invite to all.)  But for now we left the Gold leaf happy with our stomachs full and T’s yum cha cherry most definitely popped.