Dim sum

Dim sum (點心 Putonghua dian xin) is a Cantonese term for small dishes. Literally, it means "to touch your heart,". Classical dim sum includes buns, dumplings, and rice rolls which contain a wide range of ingredients including meat, such as beef, chicken, pork, prawns and vegetable for the [[vegetarian]. Many dim sum restaurants also offer plates of steamed greens, roasted meats, and congee and other soups. Tea is always served.

Almost all Chinese know what dim sum is, but fewer know its origins. Travelers going on a trip to the famous Silk Road needed a place to take a nap, so teahouses began growing up along the roadside. Rural farmers, exhausted after working hard in the fields, would also go to teahouses for a relaxing afternoon of tea. At first, it was considered inappropriate to combine tea with food, because people believed that this would lead to excessive weight gain. However, people later discovered that tea can aid in digestion. Afterwards, teahouse owners began adding a variety of snacks, and the tradition of dim sum evolved.

People eating at a Chinese restaurant have the option to choose a variety of dishes, sometimes from a menu but usually from a mobile serving cart, supervised by server. The cost of the meal is traditionally calculated based on the number and size of the dishes left on the patron's table. Modern dim sum restaurants record the types of dishes ordered on a card at the table; this is not only tidier, it prevents patrons from cheating the restaurant by concealing or stealing the plates. Some restaurants even give different servers in different stamps, so that sales statistics per server can be recorded.

On Sunday as a family day, it is a common practice for Hong Kong people, whole family to go to chinese restaurant for having dim sum. Even for those who do not like dim sum are most likely eat it for at least once a year because most adults are prefer to go there espeically on special occasion such as the mother's or father's day.