Dim-Sum - Hong Kong's Breakfast

The great thing about dim-sum is that there is always something for everyone – be it steamed, fried, baked or wokked.

Traditionally served as breakfast for Hong Kong natives, it sprang up in the southern Cantonese area of China as an accompaniment to drinking tea or 'yum cha'. Dim sum literally means 'to touch your heart' and given the fondness people have for these little snacks across the whole world, it is a very fitting translation!

As is the tradition, we enjoyed our dim-sum at lunchtime (as to eat it in the evening is not traditional and slightly frowned upon - much like drinking a cappuccino at breakfast in Italy)! We were presented with a dim-sum banquet that consisted of cold drunken chicken (so called because it is cooking in shaoxing wine), followed by multitudinous varieties of dumplings and buns, rounded off traditionally with a noodle dish served for the whole table.

Drunken Chicken with dipping sauces

Steamed buns - Left Char Siu Bau, Right Sweet Custard

Deep-fried Chinese chive dumplings

Shu Mai - pork and prawn

Shu mai - crab and pork, b/g noodles

Cheong Fun - Square rice noodles rolled around bbq pork

Special Stir-fried Egg Noodles

Happy Cooking!

HJ