Hong Kong Dim Sum Guide

Hong Kong Dim Sum is undoubtedly the best in the world. Dim sum restaurants in Hong Kong were the forerunners for those in America, and can be regared as one of Hong Kong's must try experiences.

Habit for locals to enjoy Dim Sum

There is a Chinese word "yum cha" which mean enjoying tea in English. It is used to call a kind of meal eating with leisure time. The main dishes served in this meal are Dim Sums.

It is a tradition for senior citizens to gather to eat dim sum after morning exercises, often reading the morning papers. For many Hong Kongers, yum cha (enjoying tea) is treated as a weekend family day. With this tradition, restaurants typically only serve dim sum until the afternoon; other kinds of Cantonese cuisine are served in the evening. Nowadays, various dim sum items are sold as takeaway for students and office workers on the go.

Eat Dim Sum is a must-do thing in Hong Kong

If you are on a tour of Hong Kong, never fail to bite into Dim Sum, the tastiest collection of delicacies served in bamboo steamers, or crisp Peking Duck carved at your table. Dim Sum is the most famous in the long list of dishes in a Hong Kong meal. Impressively shaped, bite-size portions of dumplings with lightly seasoned fillings of meat and seafish, fluffy buns with various fillings and glutinous rice - all deliciously steamed - just ignite the taste buds.

 

Various kinds of Dim Sum

Dim Sum is not a word that only for one snack. Various snacks with attractive appearances and alluring smells make this food be well loved by all generations around the world.

Mainly dishes include:
Shrimp dumpling
Wo tip (pot-sticker)
Siu maai (small steamed dumplings with pork inside a thin flour wrapper)
Baked or steamed buns filled with different meats or vegetables
Rice noodle rolls
Chicken feet
Steamed beef balls
Cheun gyun (spring rolls)
Sweet creamed buns
Malay steamed sponge cake

When you have a taste of this delicious food, do not forget to have a cup of Chinese Pu'er tea. This combination makes you get deep touch woth the essence of Chinese eating culture.
 

Best Places to Eat Dim Sum in HK

• Cuisine Cuisine

Add: 3/F, The Mira Hong Kong, 118 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon (10 min walk from Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit B2)
Tel: +852 2315 5222

Cuisine Cuisine (sited on IFC Tower 2, 2nd Floor, Central) has modern interior decoration inside the biggest skyscraper in Hong Kong. It offers the tastiest Dim Sum in the city with strictly traditional interpretation, but the price here is a little high. It offers VIP rooms which are available for hire and offer unbeatable views over the harbor. Staff here are proficient in English, as well as Mandarin. 

• Luk Yu Tea House

Add: 24-26 Stanley Street, Central (Central or Sheung Wan MTR)
Tel: +852 2523 5464

Luk Yu Tea House is a taste of old traditional Hong Kong tea house, it has won the "Hong Kong Food Reward” for a few times. Bean paste sesame filling balls and Man-han Banquet "bird's nest dove egg “ is one of the highly recommended. Wonton, shrimp dumplings, Sesame Fried pastry is also great. 

• One Harbour Road

Add: Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 1 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong (Wan Chai MTR)
Tel: +852 2584 7722

• Lung King Heen

Add: Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, Podium 4, 8 Finance Street, Central (Hong Kong MTR)
Tel: +852 3196 8888

Lung King Heen is sited in Four Seasons Hotel. It is regarded as the only Cantonese restaurant in Hong Kong awarded the coveted maximum of 3 Michelin stars. With a name that means “view of the dragon”, it almost feels that you are walking into a palace with an open dining hall offering a panorama of the Victoria Harbour. Dim Sum here is quite abundant and delicious.

One Harbour Road is sited at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong at Wan Chai, from where dinners can catch a view of both Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, facing the famous Victoria Harbor. The duplex restaurant has grandeur Shanghainese mansion feel, complete with the fully carpeted floors and plates each with a different floral design. 

 

• Yung Kee

Yung Kee is a most famous restaurants in HK for its roast meats, particularly roast goose. It offers some excellent Dim Sum as well. Yung Kee has a strict vetting process for their chefs, and the chefs exhausting training is apparent in the quality of the food. 

• Western Market

Add: Western Market, Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan

Western Market is fantastic place sited inside the colonial styled Western Market building. Food here is decent and tasty. However, what makes Western Market worth a visit is its daily tea dances. Dinners can enjoy their Dim Sum, while watching, or participating, in a traditional English Tea Dance. The costs are affordable.

Tips to Enjoy Dim Sum

Dim Sum restaurants in Hong Kong are very busy, loud and move at a hundred miles an hour – that’s what makes them great – but the clamour and clatter can also be intimidating for first timers.


Bring Friends

Dim Sum experience is not something to do on your own. It is a group experience, with a selection of dishes being ordered and shared around a big table. If you go eat alone, you’ll feel lonely in this busy environment and will have to try to eat all the food you order.

Deciphering the Menu

For those non-Chinese speaking visitors, the most dreaded part of the Dim Sum experience would be reading the menu in Dim Sum restaurants in Hong Kong. there are rarely English version. You can try to tell the waitress the meat or vegetable you prefer to have with pictures or gesture, then leave it to the waitress to do the rest. If you come with a local friend, all the problem solved.

More Tea Please

The jasmine or Mangosteen tea you receive at the beginning of your meal is free. If you want more tea during the meal, just leave the top off the teapot. Do not be shy to do that.