Remember to wash your feast down with plenty of tea, believed to aid digestion - and true to the name "yum cha", meaning "drink tea".
1. Scallop and chive dumplings
These elegant translucent-skinned dumplings are made from a pastry of tapioca flour and water. If you don't have the time or inclination to make them from scratch, pick up some gow gee dumpling skins from your local Asian grocer. And while you're there, look out for doubanjiang - the fermented bean chilli sauce that is the little kick in these flavourful morsels.
2. Sichuan salt and pepper king prawns with wok-toasted chilli and garlic
The secret to these prawns' success is marinating them first in soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil and a beaten egg before deep-frying them. Allow at least 20 minutes to marinate, or even overnight, if possible.
3. Spring onion pancakes
These flaky and perfectly oily pancakes are served with a tart dipping sauce. They will definitely not be sticking around to see the Lunar New Year out.
4. Pork and prawn potstickers
What makes potstickers a particularly sublime part of the dumpling category is their chewy-and-crispy, best-of-both-worlds shell. This is achieved by being both steamed and fried, a little stroke of dumpling genius.
5. Hong Kong fried rice
Fried rice is a crowd-pleaser, especially when there's enough it means you can wake up to leftovers (ie. make double).
6. Hot and fragrant crab (hong jiau xiang la xie)
Sitting around in a group picking apart crabs with your hands has something of a festive feel to it, and these ones have a lively flavour to match the atmosphere.
7. Barbecue pork belly steamed buns (bao)
These pork buns may have a fresh and modern edge, with their open shape and abundance of pickled carrots and herbs, but at their heart, they're still the same char sui bao you know and love: pork belly caramelised in lashings of five-spice, sugar and soy sauce encased in a cloud-like steamed bun.
8. Kung pao chicken
Where Chinese cuisine often features different cuts of the chicken - cartilage, neck, feet, skin - this one uniquely uses the chicken breast. While this cut is thought to lack in flavour compared to others, it’s not detectable in this saucy combination of Szechuan peppercorns, dried red chillis and peanuts.
9. Crab and prawn sesame toast with sweet chilli
These crisp and pillowy of yum cha staples get a unique angle by including crab meat in the mix along with the prawn.
10. Whole snapper steamed with black beans, lemon and chilli
You'll need a wok and a bamboo steamer for this banquet-worthy dish, and things are straightforward from there: the fish is steamed with black beans and lemon, then has an aromatic hot oil poured over it to crisp things up.
11. Stir-fried water spinach with chilli and sichuan pepper (ma la kong xin cai)
To bring some freshness to the table, some water spinach hit with a little bit of heat is the perfect option.
12. Cool steamed aubergine with a garlicky dressing (liang ban qie zi)
These eggplants are steamed before being stir-fried, making them tender and succulent little sponges for the fragrant sauce.
13. Spicy beef with tangerine (chen pi niu rou)
Meaty and juicy, with a little bit of tang: this Sichuan beef dish has a rich flavour and a citrus edge that keeps it peppy.
14. Chinese cucumber and sesame salad
Nothing offsets meat and carbs quite like some fresh cucumber.
15. Tea-smoked duck with tamarind and plum sauce
Before you write off smoking meat as something restaurants do, consider this: you’ll just need a large work, some foil, jasmine tea leaves, sugar, and uncooked jasmine rice.
16. Dan tat (egg tarts)
These cute little tarts arrived in Cantonese cuisine via the Portuguese pastel de nata, when the Portuguese came to Macau at the beginning of the twentieth century. Flaky and light, they'll always be room for (at least) one.
17. Mango Pudding
To give this classic yum cha pudd a slightly fancier appearance, it's topped with passionfruit granita, fresh mango cubes, tapioca, baby coriander leaves, and pomelo flesh. A light and refreshing way to wrap up a flavour-packed meal.
The vegetarian dishes of China's cuisine aren't often given much spotlight, but this crispy eggplant will have everyone pushing aside the sweet and sour pork.
Send a sweet message straight from the heart in one of these special fortune cookies.
