Today is Chong Yeung Festival, went to Yam Cha with my father.
In Central, there are not many choices. We usually go to Chi Tsoi Un, but the service is so so, as they don't have reservation non first come first serve system (I mean for the normal customers only, for VIP or good friends or for those who give a good tips privately to the female captain, she can even call you when there is available table and she would tell the others that it would take long to wait!! I hate this lady for I think she breaks the rules).
K recommended Sintra. I went there for several times, the price is a little bit higher, but the food is good, I love the environment as there are not many people, however it is a long walk for my father to get there.
I know one or two restaurants, their food is not good, but whenever you go, you can find table easily. For me, I think food is the first consideration, comfortable, service and price come next, so they are not on our list.....
"Tou Tou Koi" is my first choice, the location is convenient, the food is delicious, service is good, but the time on waiting is very consuming. ( "Kam U Hin" too, it is from the same group).
This morning, in order to save my time and to enjoy a nice lunch rather than cooking by myself, I first stopped by to get the reservation number (no phone reservation for public holidays) after I did the grocery shopping, went home to rest for a while.
I was told that it would take about 45 minutes to get the table, by that time it was 11:15.
I arrived there again at 11:50, thinking I was smart enough to save some of my time - however, it was still up to number 110, while mine was 130, and the people started to get the number around 165....
When it was my turn, the time was already 12:30. We enjoyed our tea and the Dim Sum, also a plate of Dried Fry Beef Rice Noodle - it was very oily (not good for today)... After the meal, it was almost 2:00.
Including the waiting time, the cost on enjoying Yam Cha is very high now.
When I was small, my parents took me to Yam Cha almost every Sunday.
I could be an expert - from Lok Kok, Un Loi, Kun Lamg to Tai Long Fong.... very traditional Chinese tea houses..... The Dim Sums were in big portion, especially the big bun, but I didn't like the tea for I didn't know how to enjoy it!!
I still remember the Dr. Tea, a bald head uncle in Lok Kok, he carried the big tea pot and refilled the water for every table....
The tea house usually was very busy and noisy in the early morning, breakfast time, for people gossipping a lot of their daily life before going to work.
It was quite easy to get free tables for people would not stay long, whenever they had enjoyed their tea and the food, they would leave. Most of all, there were plenty of tables for each tea house, eg. there were three floors for Lok Kok.
The waiter would yield aloud the amount of the meal for the finished tables when the customers walked out of the hall ( there was no ticket to record the number of the dishes, just based on the number of dishes on the table, sometimes he might over-count or under-count the bill, for there was no proof for each table). The cashier was working in front of the hall, he/she was responsible to watch the leaving customers to pay for the bills.
Yam Cha was an important element for the old generation, my parents loved a lot to go to the tea houses, this could be considered as a hobby for them, they went to tea house even though under the typhoon signal No. 8, for them and some of their tea buddies, the tea meant so much for them. Once they told me, it was the water..... the real hot water to make the tasty tea.
Now, we don't have many tea houses and this kind of tradition changes a lot, e.g. large table for the family members to enjoy the tea on Sundays and public holidays, and it should be a brunch rather than a breakfast, that means it will be difficult to get table around noon-time.
For a long time, I didn't like to go to tea-house for I found it very noisy and the food were greesy, especially the environment of the restaurant was one of my concerns. However, as time passes, I would like to know how to make the traditional DIM SUM, for I love nice food and I think the Dim Sum is a kind of craftwork. The shape and the outlook make the Dim Sum very attractive.
In order to learn how to make Dim Sum, I took a semester course for cooking Dim Sum in Tourism Institute in 2004. The chef master, who was a head chef in a five-star hotel before his retirement, would share his knowledge and experience to us. He was very nice, and he taught us almost everything he knew. He said that in his early apprenticeship, it took a long time for the master to tell the secret, the special skills...........We got his recipes too, he reminded us that most of the Dim Sum are very greasy and unhealthy, therefore eat less is better.
During the course, we learned many kinds of them, and each time, we can enjoy our own Dim Sum for our dinner - one good memory is that I ate more than 10 Shrimp Dumplings, and it was very very delicious.
I tried to make a few at home, but I think it is not the food, it is the environment and the people with you to enjoy the tea and the food.
Yam Cha is more than a meal in the Chinese culture, especially to some traditional Chinese families, it really likes the Thanks Giving Dinner in the western culture. For my Portuguese colleagues, they said they enjoy the nice DIM SUM!!
In Central, there are not many choices. We usually go to Chi Tsoi Un, but the service is so so, as they don't have reservation non first come first serve system (I mean for the normal customers only, for VIP or good friends or for those who give a good tips privately to the female captain, she can even call you when there is available table and she would tell the others that it would take long to wait!! I hate this lady for I think she breaks the rules).
K recommended Sintra. I went there for several times, the price is a little bit higher, but the food is good, I love the environment as there are not many people, however it is a long walk for my father to get there.
I know one or two restaurants, their food is not good, but whenever you go, you can find table easily. For me, I think food is the first consideration, comfortable, service and price come next, so they are not on our list.....
"Tou Tou Koi" is my first choice, the location is convenient, the food is delicious, service is good, but the time on waiting is very consuming. ( "Kam U Hin" too, it is from the same group).
This morning, in order to save my time and to enjoy a nice lunch rather than cooking by myself, I first stopped by to get the reservation number (no phone reservation for public holidays) after I did the grocery shopping, went home to rest for a while.
I was told that it would take about 45 minutes to get the table, by that time it was 11:15.
I arrived there again at 11:50, thinking I was smart enough to save some of my time - however, it was still up to number 110, while mine was 130, and the people started to get the number around 165....
When it was my turn, the time was already 12:30. We enjoyed our tea and the Dim Sum, also a plate of Dried Fry Beef Rice Noodle - it was very oily (not good for today)... After the meal, it was almost 2:00.
Including the waiting time, the cost on enjoying Yam Cha is very high now.
When I was small, my parents took me to Yam Cha almost every Sunday.
I could be an expert - from Lok Kok, Un Loi, Kun Lamg to Tai Long Fong.... very traditional Chinese tea houses..... The Dim Sums were in big portion, especially the big bun, but I didn't like the tea for I didn't know how to enjoy it!!
I still remember the Dr. Tea, a bald head uncle in Lok Kok, he carried the big tea pot and refilled the water for every table....
The tea house usually was very busy and noisy in the early morning, breakfast time, for people gossipping a lot of their daily life before going to work.
It was quite easy to get free tables for people would not stay long, whenever they had enjoyed their tea and the food, they would leave. Most of all, there were plenty of tables for each tea house, eg. there were three floors for Lok Kok.
The waiter would yield aloud the amount of the meal for the finished tables when the customers walked out of the hall ( there was no ticket to record the number of the dishes, just based on the number of dishes on the table, sometimes he might over-count or under-count the bill, for there was no proof for each table). The cashier was working in front of the hall, he/she was responsible to watch the leaving customers to pay for the bills.
Yam Cha was an important element for the old generation, my parents loved a lot to go to the tea houses, this could be considered as a hobby for them, they went to tea house even though under the typhoon signal No. 8, for them and some of their tea buddies, the tea meant so much for them. Once they told me, it was the water..... the real hot water to make the tasty tea.
Now, we don't have many tea houses and this kind of tradition changes a lot, e.g. large table for the family members to enjoy the tea on Sundays and public holidays, and it should be a brunch rather than a breakfast, that means it will be difficult to get table around noon-time.
For a long time, I didn't like to go to tea-house for I found it very noisy and the food were greesy, especially the environment of the restaurant was one of my concerns. However, as time passes, I would like to know how to make the traditional DIM SUM, for I love nice food and I think the Dim Sum is a kind of craftwork. The shape and the outlook make the Dim Sum very attractive.
In order to learn how to make Dim Sum, I took a semester course for cooking Dim Sum in Tourism Institute in 2004. The chef master, who was a head chef in a five-star hotel before his retirement, would share his knowledge and experience to us. He was very nice, and he taught us almost everything he knew. He said that in his early apprenticeship, it took a long time for the master to tell the secret, the special skills...........We got his recipes too, he reminded us that most of the Dim Sum are very greasy and unhealthy, therefore eat less is better.
During the course, we learned many kinds of them, and each time, we can enjoy our own Dim Sum for our dinner - one good memory is that I ate more than 10 Shrimp Dumplings, and it was very very delicious.
I tried to make a few at home, but I think it is not the food, it is the environment and the people with you to enjoy the tea and the food.
Yam Cha is more than a meal in the Chinese culture, especially to some traditional Chinese families, it really likes the Thanks Giving Dinner in the western culture. For my Portuguese colleagues, they said they enjoy the nice DIM SUM!!
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