Tastylicious Hong Kong: Yum Cha- A modern twist of Chinese traditional dim sum

As what it’s name aptly, Yum Cha has underscored the accent of our tradition, yet a modern twist that everyone loves.

Instead of the usual Chinese round table, scarlet carpet and the two elephantine golden dragon and phenix sculptures, Central branch is exceptionally spacious, industrially ornamented with pendant light, red brick wall , and even a truck at the reception area!

With bar table attached to an open kitchen, you can ick these seats if you wish to take a glimpse of how chef handcraft those tiny bird pineapple puff and custard buns.

Cold appetiser

That brilliant green colour announces to our table that it’s chock full of vitamins and refreshing crunchiness. Shrimp roll ($59) and baby pickled cucumber ($49) was certainly a perfect start for the meal.

With a pair of stupid cute eyes, this pillowy soft custard bun was our instant favourite. The hot lava custard with a hint of salted egg yolk is spilling out unpredictably and you just can’t stop poking it before you devour the whole thing!

All other bite size dim sums are so delicate and colourful that you are staying in a fantasy world. ( All the colourings are extracted from usual ingredients that we are all familiar with, such as beetroot and spinach). One of the best examples would be the prawn dumpling.

Crispy pineapple puff are delicately made into this adorable shape and caged in a typical 80s bird cage which many just took it with them for morning tea. What always amaze me at Yum Cha is the "we eat what we are" attitude, with the appreciation and recall of our own Chinese cultural identity through culinary.

Mains

Fried wild red rice with salt fish and chicken. We were all caught sight of this from the menu- rice dyed in red, thanks to the accompaniment of beetroot. Many said a dish of perfect fried rice should fulfill 2 basic criteria: every rice should be separated while each of them is soft and chewy; you won’t feel it's sopped up all the oil. Fortunately, Yum Cha has successfully served up to this standard.

Even for carnivore, sometimes we need something healthy to balance out our non-stop-eating habit: fried organic kale with garlic. As the no.1 superfood, the benefits of kale goes beyond giving a truckload of vibre and minerals; but many more. ( Google it if you are interested)

To wrap up our meal with the last main, we have opted for a deep fried whole fish. We all deemed it as a typical Chinese dish until we had a taste of the champaign sauce, a wise substitute of the usual sweet and source sauce. An addition of pomegranate has brightened up the dish, in both of its flavour and presentation.