When it comes to yum cha, there’s lots to choose from on the menu. From dumplings to steamed rice to buns to deep fried seafood, the choice of dim sum is endless – and there are some dishes we’ll always insist on ordering because they are our favourites.

说到喝百胜茶时吃的点心，菜单上有很多选择。从饺子到米饭，从包子到油炸海鲜，点心的选择是无穷无尽的——有些点心我们总是会在喝茶的时候吃，因为它们是我们的最爱。

Over the years across Asia and Australia, I’ve eaten yum cha countless of times with the folks and friends and we always order the same dishes. We love them, we order them, it feels right eating the same dishes over and over. Only occasionally we’d order something we don’t usually eat.

多年来，无论是在亚洲还是在澳大利亚，我和朋友们都一起喝过无数次百胜茶，我们总是吃同样的点心。我们喜欢吃它们，一遍又一遍地吃同样的点心的感觉很好。不过偶尔我们也会吃一些平时不吃的东西。

Yum cha is traditionally a Cantonese brunch that involves Chinese tea and dim sum. Yum cha literally means ‘drink tea’. The meal originated in the Cantonese-speaking regions of China, and the meal can be traced back to the time when travellers on the ancient Silk Road stopped at teahouses for tea and snacks. On the other hand, dim sum are small serving dishes. These dishes are commonly carted around on trollies in restaurants and served in bamboo steamers or on small plates. Here are some typical, classic Cantonese-style dim sum dishes that are popular at yum cha:

喝百胜茶是传统的粤式早餐和午餐，包括中国茶和点心。“Yum cha”的字面意思就是“喝茶”。这种吃饭的方式起源于中国的粤语地区。在古代时，行走在丝绸之路上的旅行者们会在茶馆停下来喝茶和吃点心。点心是用小碟子盛的食物，它们通常被放在餐馆的手推车上，用竹制蒸笼盛着。这里有一些经典的粤式点心，在喝百胜茶的时候很受欢迎:
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


1. Siu Mai

1. 烧麦


Sīu máai are bite-sized dumplings. They consist of pork and/or shrimp filling, wrapped with yellow wrapper and topped with an orange dot made out of crab roe or carrot. Scallion, ginger and mushroom are commonly mixed in with the filling, which is usually soft and chewy. I’m not a huge fan of pork but this is one dumpling I never hesitate to eat.

烧麦是一口大小的饺子。它们通常是猪肉馅和/或虾馅的，被黄色的面皮包裹起来，顶部用蟹黄或胡萝卜做成的橙色圆点来点缀。青葱、姜和香菇通常都混在了馅里，吃起来很软很有嚼劲。我不太喜欢吃猪肉，但这种烧麦我会毫不犹豫地吃下去

2. Har gow

2. 虾饺


This is also known as shrimp or prawn dumpling. It’s a simple steamed dumpling: prawn wrapped in a smooth translucent wrapper. Often oyster sauce, sesame oil, ginger and bamboo shoots are used to season the seafood. It’s usually served together with sīu máai, and together they are called hā gáau–sīu máai. If the two dishes happen to be served at the same time, I grab one of each dumpling right away.

它也被称为虾饺或虾饺（注：不同的英文单词）。这是一种做法很简单的蒸饺:虾被包在了光滑半透明的饺子皮里。通常人们会用蚝油、香油、姜和竹笋来给海鲜调味。人们通常会同时吃烧麦和虾饺，它们放在一起被称为虾饺-烧麦。如果这两种小吃碰巧同时上桌，我就会马上各拿一个吃起来。

3. Cheong Fun

3. 肠粉


This rice noodle roll dish tends to be filled with chā sīu, shrimp or vegetable. Seasoned soy or sesame sauce is served together with the rolls. The English translation of chéung fán refers to intestines but this dish is not made up of intestines – it just looks like intestines. Arguably it’s one of the plainer dishes: the rice paper rolls themselves are plain and unseasoned. If made with precision, the rice noodles should be thin, soft and silky smooth – sometimes I find them slipping in between my chopsticks and almost impossible to put in mouth.

这道米粉卷通常是用烤肉、虾或蔬菜做馅的。人们会把用来调味用的酱油或芝麻酱与肠粉一起端上桌。这道小吃的英文翻译是肠，但这道菜不是由肠组成的，只是看起来像肠。可以说这是最普通的一道菜:米粉卷本身很普通，没有什么味道。如果制作精细，米粉卷应该是细、软、丝滑的——有时我发现它们甚至会在筷子之间滑动，几乎无法送入口中。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


4. Lor mai fan

4. 糯米饭


This is steamed glutinous rice, served with or without chicken and wrapped in lotus leaf. The sticky glutinous rice is cooked with oyster sauce and the centre is packed with mushrooms, shrimp, scallop, peanuts, pork and laap cheong. As one of the more filling dim sum dishes, it’s also one that comes in a bigger serve compared to the others mentioned here.

这是一种蒸熟的糯米，被荷叶包裹了起来，你可以搭配鸡肉一起吃，也可以不搭配鸡肉吃。糯米里面加入了蚝油，中间还夹杂着蘑菇、虾、扇贝、花生、猪肉和腊肠等。作为最能填饱肚子的点心之一，它也比这里提到的其他点心的分量都更大。

This dish is usually a hit or miss with me. Sometimes it leaves a bitter aftertaste in my mouth, which still lingers after drinking some Chinese tea. Not the kind of taste I like. As lotus leaf is considered a bitter herb, it’s probably the reason why.

我只会偶尔吃这种小吃，因为有时它会在我的嘴里留下一种苦涩的余味，这种余味在喝了一些中国茶之后仍然挥之不去。这不是我喜欢的味道。荷叶被认为是一种苦味的草药，这可能就是原因。

5. Lo Bak Go

5. 萝卜糕


This is turnip cake, made up of radish and also known as radish cake. It’s pan-fried and served up in square pieces. It’s soft on the inside with slightly crispy outer edges and sometimes there are small pieces of laap cheong mixed in. It’s a popular dish around Chinese New Year and the Chinese believe that this savoury cake brings good luck: loh bak go is synonymous (in texture) with lin go/nián gāo, which in itself is synonymous to the Chinese phrase nián nián gāo shēng– meaning ‘higher each year’.

这种萝卜糕是用萝卜做的，也叫萝卜糕。做法是先把它放进平底锅里煎，然后再切成方形。它的里面很软，外缘略脆，有时还会混入一小块腊肠。这种糕点是在中国新年期间很受欢迎的一种食物，中国人相信这种美味的糕点会带来好运:它的口感与“年糕”差不多，而“年糕”则与“年年高升”同义，寓意“每年都能升职”。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


6. Daan taat

6. 蛋挞


This is sweet egg tart, consisting of bright yellow egg custard flanked by a flaky puff pastry. It’s smooth, silky, has a slightly wobbly centre and tastes slightly eggy. Interestingly enough, Macau’s egg tart resembles the Portuguese tart. Portuguese tarts look similar to egg tarts but the former has a caramelised top, doesn’t taste eggy and tastes like sweet vanilla custard.

这是一种甜蛋挞，由亮黄色的蛋奶冻和片状的酥皮组成。口感柔顺丝滑，中间有点摇晃，尝起来有点鸡蛋味。有趣的是，澳门的蛋挞很像葡萄牙的蛋挞。葡萄牙的蛋挞看起来和普通蛋挞很像，但前者的顶部是焦糖，吃起来不像鸡蛋，像是甜香草蛋奶冻。

7. Chā shāo bāo

7. 叉烧包


This bun comes either steamed or baked. The steamed one has a soft white fluffy outside and the baked one a glazed, crispy exterior. The centre of the bun consists of soft pork, corn starch, onions, sesame oil, soy sauce and oyster sauce. Quite commonly the pork filling is red in colour and that is usually due to marinating the meat in saltpetre before cooking it.

这种小圆包子有蒸的和烤的两种。蒸熟的外面是柔软蓬松的，烤熟的外面是光滑酥脆的。包子里面的馅是由猪肉、玉米淀粉、洋葱、香油、酱油和蚝油组成。猪肉馅通常是红色的，这是由于在烹饪之前需要将肉浸泡在硝石水中。

Growing up, I watched my parents peel the outer skin of steamed baos before eating them. They claimed the outer layer is dirty and not safe for consumption. Baos are commonly left out in the open before being warmed and served. Others argue that the outside of baos are dosed with sulphur water during the steaming process to ensure they come out white. I’ve eaten baos as they are, unpeeled, and have not gotten sick eating them.

从小到大，我每次看着父母在吃包子之前都会先剥掉外面的皮。他们说外皮是脏的，不适合食用，因为在加热和上桌之前，包子通常都被放在露天。也有一些人则认为剥掉外面的皮是因为在蒸包子的过程中需要在外皮涂抹硫磺水，以确保包子蒸好后是白色的。我吃过没剥皮的包子，但也没生病。

8. Wu gok

8. 芋角


Known as taro dumpling or yam puff, this is a deep fried delicacy. It has a savoury pork-filled centre covered with a thick layer of mashed taro, and the outer taro layer is fluffy, light and crispy. It’s one of my most-favourite yum cha dishes, and I’ve previoulsy eaten 4-5 of these in one sitting.

这是一种油炸的美食，被称为芋头饺子或芋头泡芙。香喷喷的猪肉馅儿中间覆盖着一层厚厚的芋泥，而外面的芋泥层则松软酥脆。这是我最喜欢的一道美食，我以前有一次一口气吃了4-5个。

* * *
Other much-loved classic dishes at yum cha include: steamed Chinese broccoli, congee with century egg, chicken feet, beef tripe (cow’s stomach), fried squid, sago pudding, roast duck and ham sui gok. As such, yum cha is more than just dumplings. Not all dim sum dishes are dumplings; not all dim sum dishes are bite sized.

其他深受喜爱的经典美食还包括:清蒸花椰菜、皮蛋粥、鸡爪、牛肚、炸鱿鱼、西米布丁、烤鸭和咸水角。因此，喝百胜茶不仅仅是吃饺子。并非所有的点心都是饺子;也并不是所有的点心都是一口大小的。

We all have our favourite kind of dim sum. A survey in 2015 showed that sīu máai was voted the most popular dim sum in Hong Kong while shrimp dumplings came second. In Australia, these two dishes are extremely popular as well. Perhaps some dim sum are more appealing than others: sīu máai and hā gáau are dumplings and as I wrote in this post, some dumplings remind us of familiar comfort foods that we love eating.

我们都有自己喜欢的点心。2015年的一项调查显示，烧麦被评为香港最受欢迎的点心，虾饺位居第二。在澳大利亚，这两道美食也非常受欢迎。也许有些点心就是比其他点心更有吸引力:就像我在这篇文章中所写的烧麦和虾饺等饺子，它们会让我们想起我们喜欢吃的其它熟悉的美食。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Yum cha is a sharing affair and a meal where we want to share is a meal where we share a good time together. Translated from Cantonese, dim sum means ‘touch the heart’. At yum cha, dishes are designed to be shared: dim sum are commonly served bite-sized, one piece of dim sum and one bite for one person, pass that dish around, move on to the next dish, everyone gets to eat. Notably, while dining yum cha on a few occasions in Australia, I’ve seen Westerners eat entire dim sum dishes individually and their dining companion have their own plates of dim sum. From a Chinese perspective this comes across as odd but in the general sense there’s nothing wrong with that since all of us have different ways of consuming food.

喝百胜茶是一件需要分享的事情，我们可以在一起一边吃东西一边分享美好的时光。dim sum（点心）是广东话，翻译过来的意思是“触动心灵”。在百胜茶餐厅，菜肴是为分享而设计的:点心通常是一口大小的，一个人吃一块点心，然后把这道菜传下去，接着吃下一道菜，这样每个人都能吃到。值得注意的是，在澳大利亚有几次喝百胜茶的时候，我看到西方人会一个人吃掉整盘点心，而他们的同伴也只会吃自己的点心盘里的食物。从中国人的角度来看，这有点奇怪，但总的来说，这也并没有什么关系，因为我们每个人都有不同的饮食方式。

These days where and how we eat yum cha is changing. Frozen dim sum is normally sold in grocery stores in Australia today. Vegetarian dim sum options are usually on the menu these days too (e.g. Red Ginger and Din Tai Fung). Also, it’s common for many Chinese restaurants that serve à la carte meals to also serve à la carte dim sum too. That is, in Australia one can order dim sum as a side dish to a main meal, and eat dim sum any time, all day, every day.

如今，我们喝百胜茶的地点和方式正在发生变化。冷冻点心在澳大利亚的杂货店里很常见。素食点心也经常出现在餐厅的菜单上(例如红姜餐厅和鼎泰丰餐厅)。此外，许多提供点菜的中国餐馆也会提供。也就是说，在澳大利亚，人们可以点一些点心作为正餐的配菜，而且可以随时随地、每天都吃点心。

A few times on the weekend I’ve eaten solo at Tim Ho Wan, the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant. While the portions here are small and I could get more dim sum for the same price elsewhere, the dim sum does taste more flavourful compared to some other yum cha places I’ve been to in Australia.

有几次在周末，我一个人在最便宜的米其林星级餐厅添好运吃饭。虽然这里的份量很小，我可以在其他地方以同样的价格买到更多的点心，但与我在澳大利亚去过的其他一些百胜茶餐厅相比，这里的点心确实味道更鲜美。

On one of these occasions at Tim Ho Wan, a Western couple who looked to be in their forties sat next to me. The woman beside me seemed upbeat and eager to try everything. The man in front of her on the other hand seemed restless and did not look like he was in the best mood – picking up a chopstick and fidgeting with it in his fingers, saying that he wasn’t sure what the menu (with English translation) meant and eyed the two colourfully dressed Asian girls at the next table who were chatting away in Cantonese. Rather brusquely, he said to his companion, ‘It’s like another world in here’.

有一次在添好运餐厅，一对看起来四十多岁的西方夫妇坐在我旁边。我旁边的女人看起来很乐观，渴望尝试一切。而相反，坐在她前面的那个男人似乎焦躁不安，看起来心情不太好——他拿起一根筷子，用手指摆弄着，说他不确定菜单上(有英文翻译)写的是什么意思，并看着邻桌两个穿着鲜艳的亚洲女孩，她们正在用广东话聊天。他很焦躁地对他的妻子说:“这里就像另一个世界。”

He probably was open-minded enough to walk in and have a seat in a Chinese restaurant that he never tried before. He probably would remember his time at this restaurant whether he liked it or not. Having finished my dim sum, I got up, paid for my meal and left with a reflective mind.

说实话，他接收新事物的心态已经足够开放了，因为走进了一家他从未尝试过的中餐馆，并在那里坐了下来。不管他喜不喜欢，他可能都会记得他在这家餐馆度过的时光。吃完点心后，我起身付了饭钱，带着沉思的心情离开了。

Often yum cha feels like a treat. Or at the very least a meal that makes us curious enough to try it. And then want to come back for more.

通常，喝百胜茶感觉像是一种享受。或者至少是一顿让我们有足够的好奇心去尝试的饭。而这之后你可能还想要体会更多。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Do you like eating dim sum / dining yum cha?

你喜欢喝百胜茶吗?