Yum Cha

Had our first Yum Cha experience this week when we popped along to The Grand Harbour Chinese Restaurant down at the Viaduct, for lunch.

It was obviously a popular choice as it was very busy and we had to wait ten minutes for a table. We were not quite sure what to expect and were a little overwhelmed at first; was delicious however and an enjoyable experience - we will be back.

For those of you do not know what Yum Cha is (neither did we last week!), it's morning or afternoon tea, Chinese style; which involves drinking tea and eating dim sum dishes. These will be a range of dishes, both savoury and sweet. The tea we were served was green and served in a pot. The experience was a little overwhelming at first, as, no sooner had we sat down before a constant stream of staff visited our table offering various dishes; either from a trolley or a tray they carried with them. We had little idea what a lot of them were and the staffs English was patchy at best (so at least we knew it was authentic!).

In the end we ordered a roast duck and then picked a few dishes that looked nice. Amanda even discovered that she does have an adventurous side and both tried and enjoyed some seaweed, although drew the line at chicken feet. In the end we polished of the following, which happened to be just the right amount of food:

• Roast duck
• Pan fried pork dumplings (twice -these were extra yummy) [top right in the photo]
• duck and vegetable egg rolls (like pancakes)
• seaweed (in a dressing- not crispy)
• coconut buns (delish) [top left in the photo]
• a dish we cannot remember!
• 2 pots green tea

We will be back soon, but with more people. Traditionally these are social affairs and the dishes are shared. A superb way of eating a greater variety while keeping costs down too....