What kind of foods are there at a Yum Cha?

Question

going to one for the first time on thursday wondering what foods do they sell.

Answer 1

Normally those are chinese food, small size dishes, like many kind of dumplings, fried beancurd, fried noodles, pork pao, porridge, small egg tart, pork meat & many more. 1 portion of dumplings are about 2-3 pieces. Depends on the size. U can choose many varieties to be shared with other friends. It used to be served with chinese tea :) Why dont u try for the restaurant's speciality Dim Sum menu? Enjoy your 1st time YumCha, it's fun n yummy...

Answer 2

Yum Cha = Drink Tea

Essentially, it's going out to a restaurant and eating Dim Sum.

What is Dim Sum?

Dim Sum are little bite sized dumplings, or plates of rice and various other dishes.  Also, you can order off the menu where people traditionally order noodle or rice dishes.  This is similar to the idea of Spanish Tapas.

Here's a couple links that explain it a lot better than I can...

The concept of Yum Cha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum_cha

Typical Dim Sum dishes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum

Answer 3

I hope that you're going with at least two other people. The reason for this is because many of the dishes will have three pieces on the plate. If only two are dining, then you won't be able to try as many dishes. If four people are dining then some items will have to be cut or someone will miss out on an item.

As far as types of foods, you'll find a wide variety of wrappers and fillings. Many will be steamed while others are deep fried. Your choices of meats will include chicken (chicken buns), pork (shu mai), shrimp (har gow), and beef (beef balls). Vegetarian dishes may include Chinese broccoli with/without oyster sauce, deep fried tofu, and fried eggplant.

Most dim sum houses will push steam carts laden with goodies around the restaurant. The server will stop at each table and announce what is available. Sit on the outside where you can ask the server to remove the lids from the steamer baskets so you can see what's inside.

Bon Appetit!