the world of dim sum

what is dim sum?

Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally enjoyed in restaurants for brunch, with a “selection of over 1,000 varieties of small-plate Chinese foods, usually meat or vegetables in dough or a wrapper that is steamed, deep-fried or pan-fried.” Most modern dim sum dishes are commonly associated with Cantonese cuisine, although dim sum dishes also exist in other Chinese cuisines.

a brief history of dim sum

In the tenth century, when the city of Canton (Guangzhou) began to experience an increase in commercial travel, many frequented teahouses for small-portion meals with tea called "yum cha" (brunch). "Yum cha" includes two related concepts. The first is "jat zung loeng gin" (Chinese: 一盅兩件), which translates literally as "one cup, two pieces". This refers to the custom of serving teahouse customers two delicately made food items, savory or sweet, to complement their tea. The second is dim sum, which translates literally to "touch the heart", the term used to designate the small food items that accompanied the tea.

Teahouse owners gradually added various snacks called dim sum to their offerings. The practice of having tea with dim sum eventually evolved into the modern "yum cha". Cantonese dim sum culture developed rapidly during the latter half of the nineteenth century in Guangzhou. Cantonese dim sum was originally based on local foods.

As dim sum continued to develop, chefs introduced influences and traditions from other regions of China. Cantonese dim sum has a very broad range of flavors, textures, cooking styles, and ingredients and can be classified into regular items, seasonal offerings, weekly specials, banquet dishes, holiday dishes, house signature dishes, and travel-friendly items, as well as breakfast or lunch foods and late-night snacks.

There are over one thousand dim sum dishes originating from Guangdong alone, a total that no other area in China comes even close to matching. In fact, the cookbooks of most Chinese food cultures tend to combine their own variations on dim sum dishes with other local snacks. But that is not the case with Cantonese dim sum, which has developed into a separate branch of cuisine. Some estimates claim that there are at least two thousand types of dim sum in total across China, and about forty to fifty types are commonly sold outside of China.

Dim sum restaurants typically have a wide variety of dishes, usually totaling several dozen. The tea is very important, just as important as the food. Many Cantonese restaurants serve dim sum as early as five in the morning, while more traditional restaurants typically serve dim sum until mid-afternoon. Dim sum restaurants have a unique serving method where servers offer dishes to customers from steam-heated carts. It is now commonplace for restaurants to serve dim sum at dinner and sell various dim sum items à la carte for takeout. In addition to traditional dim sum, some chefs also create and prepare new fusion-based dim sum dishes. There are also variations designed for visual appeal on social media, such as dumplings and buns made to resemble animals.

dim sum through the ages

Dim sum is a style of Cantonese food that has grown increasingly popular in the Western world in recent years. It is inextricably linked with yum cha, or the act of drinking tea – so much so that even now the two phrases are used interchangeably.

The unique culinary tradition began thousands of years ago. Those who travelled along the ancient Silk Road through China would often need a place to rest before continuing on their journey. In response to the increasing amount of people passing through, teahouses opened up along the roadside of southern China. It was later discovered that tea aids digestion, so teahouse owners began offering bite-sized snacks as an accompaniment, and thus yum cha was born.

dim sum in the modern era

Dim sum means ‘touch the heart’ in Chinese. The small portions were designed to merely touch the heart not sate the appetite, and as such were first enjoyed as snacks. Over time, however, yum cha has evolved, and the cuisine is now a vital part of Chinese culture.

In southern China, and specifically Hong Kong, many restaurants start serving dim sum as early as five in the morning. It’s commonly believed in the culinary world that yum cha inspired ‘brunch’ as it’s so often enjoyed mid-morning. Traditional dim sum restaurants don’t serve dinner; instead, they open incredibly early and close in the early afternoon. However, more modern yum cha restaurants serve dim sum throughout the day and into the evening to satisfy the increasing demand for the mini morsels.

Dim sum and Chef Tong Chee Hwee

Chef Tong Chee Hwee, Executive Head Chef of Hakkasan Group, spent his formative years in China. He knew from an early age that he wanted to be a chef, inspired to cook by watching his Grandmother as she used primitive methods to create their daily meals. His job as a child of eight or nine was to collect the wood for the fire and go off in search of ingredients in the jungle. This could often be a dangerous task, as he’d be open to attacks from the wolves and tigers that roamed the area.

Although Chef Tong grew up in the Guangdong Province, his family were Hakka people, an ethnicity group entirely separate from the Cantonese. They share little culturally with the Cantonese, including food; Hakka people have a unique cuisine not much known or understood outside of the Hakka communities. Dim sum simply does not exist within the Hakka culinary repertoire. As such, it meant that Chef Tong’s first taste of dim sum was at around 18 years old, when he was a fledgling chef starting out at a famous Chinese restaurant in Singapore, Happy Valley.

dim sum and the future

Dim sum has evolved from a relaxing roadside respite to a meal that you can enjoy at any time of the day or night. Likewise, the dim sum enjoyed thousands of years ago has changed to reflect other cultures, differing from one country to the next. However, the ethos behind yum cha and dim sum remains the same: it is food to be enjoyed surrounded by the people that you love.

videos on dim sum

Why is Hong Kong a Dim Sum Paradise | City Bites Hong Kong

To many Hong Kongers, dim sum is more than just good food. It’s an excuse to hang out with friends and family for hours. And it’s no longer just a Sunday brunch thing. People in the city love it so much that now, they get it anytime, anywhere. Follow us to the best dim sum spots in Hong Kong to find out what makes these small plates of food so special.

Street Food - DIM SUM SKYSCRAPER!! Market Eating Tour in Southeast Asia

Welcome to Trang, a lovely historical and laid back city in Southern Thailand. In this video, we’re going on a Thai Chinese street food tour - starting at the market with the famous Trang roast pork, and feasting on the impressive dim sum skyscrapers that the city is well known for. Finally, we’ll complete this Thai Chinese street food tour with a legendary bowl of Hokkien mee - Hokkien Chinese style noodles which are popular throughout communities in Southern Thailand.

How To Dim Sum: A Beginner's Guide

Dim Sum 101: it's easy and it's fun! We recommend wu gok (deep fried taro dumpling), har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (shrimp and pork dumplings), and cha siu bao (pork buns). For the adventurous, feng zhao (chicken feet or phoenix claws)! Let's go yum cha! (Let's go drink tea).

in conclusion

In Guangzhou (Canton), the customary brunch called yum cha, literally “drink tea,” remains a high point of the week, with dim sum served along with tea to diners who are in no hurry. The custom has spread to neighbouring Hong Kong and other Chinese communities in- and outside of China. Indeed, dim sum can now be found throughout China and the world. Present in the Chinatowns of New York and San Francisco as long ago as the 1920s, dim sum establishments came to be known to non-Chinese diners as “blob joints” in the 1950s, the “blob” referring to the once-unfamiliar dumplings. That term, thankfully, has long been retired, and dim sum is a term and a thing familiar to diners in nearly every place touched by the Chinese diaspora.

Dim sum—whose name derives from the Cantonese word for “appetizer” (in Mandarin Chinese, dianxin)—is thought to have originated in teahouses along the Silk Road as long ago as 2,500 years as a light accompaniment to appetite-stimulating tea as travelers stopped to rest along the way. There are two broad categories of dim sum: steamed and fried, each embracing dozens of dishes. Examples of the first category are char siu bao, a soft pork bun, and siu mai, cup-shaped rice-flour wrappers containing pork, shrimp, and vegetables. An example of the second category is the ubiquitous egg roll or spring roll, a deep-fried dumpling containing minced meat and vegetables or, often, vegetables alone. Steamed dishes are traditionally served in bamboo baskets. Alongside these dumplings and rolls are served small dishes such as pork spareribs and chicken feet.

Page updated

Report abuse