Yum cha in Australia, and particularly in Sydney, is a serving of small Chinese dishes of a large variety of mainly steamed items, such as dim sums and barbecued-pork buns, served from trolleys that go around among the diners.
If you haven't had yum cha before, try it for the experience of it. Be warned, you could easily get hooked.
Yum cha and dim sum
In some countries, the terms yum cha and dim sum are interchangeable, so in San Francisco, for instance, you could be asked out for dim sum insted of yum cha.
In Sydney and most other places, dim sums are the food servings, and you go to, say, Dixon St for yum cha and have dim sums.
In some parts of Asia, yum cha is available for morning or afternoon tea, that is, between breakfast and lunch, or between lunch and dinner. In Sydney and other parts of Australia, yum cha takes the place of the midday meal and is usually served from around 11am to 2pm.
Interestingly, yum cha just literally means "drinking tea" and dim sum "to touch the heart."
What to order
Actually you don't order in the ordinary sense of the word. A trolley of goodies passes by and you point to whatever takes your fancy. There is no sin in asking what particular items are. And you point and nod for whatever you want.
The usual accompaniment for yum cha is Chinese green tea and this is served in teapots that can be replenished with hot water as needed.
Chopsticks
There will be chopsticks at your table. If you are uncomfortable with chopsticks, you can ask for forks, or spoons and forks.
Assortment of dishes
There will be a large assortment of dishes to choose from, some of the more popular ones being har gau (shrimp dumplings), cha siu bau (barbecued-pork buns) and tsun guen (spring rolls) and there are many variations of these as well.
There will be desert items, such as egg tart, lychees and sweet sticky rice, for afters.
Keeping track of costs
Usually the size and type of container dictates the cost. As you order your food from the trolleys, these items are stamped in clearly marked price columns on an order sheet for each table. They are then totalled when you ask for your bill.
