![]() Ip recommends the aged Zhen Shan brown pu’er, which has a mellow and clean taste and a smooth texture. Each table has its own kettle to brew hot tea, which is served in porcelain cups and clay kettles of various sizes according to the tea leaves’ nature. “I look for the tip-top qualities in both the food and drinks,” Ip says. In this cream-coloured colonial building surrounded by birds and flowers, diners get to choose from a long menu of 60 types of tea while listening to Cantonese naamyam songs or gu qin music by So See Dai, an expert of the ancient Chinese string instrument (unavailable temporarily due to the pandemic). “Lock Cha means the joy of drinking tea whereas Ork Cha (another Cantonese pronunciation for the character “lock”) means music and tea-I’m fine with both,” says Ip. In 1991, Ip Wing-chi, who has always been fond of tea appreciation, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese music, set up Lock Cha, which was relocated to its current Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware in Hong Kong Park in 2003. ![]() Spring Moon, 1/F, The Peninsula, Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui But if you’re looking for a dish that looks as exquisite as it tastes, go for the “goldfish dumpling”, which is a steamed lobster and shrimp dumpling with bird’s nest in lobster bisque, served in the shape of a little goldfish resting on a Chinese soup spoon. The seafood flavour also balances well with the taro’s starchy sweetness. This refined version of the traditional fried taro puff has a more complex texture: the crispy shell, mushy taro puree and chewy abalone dices. “From time to time, we add a few twists to our dim sum such as the Sicilian shrimp and minced pork xiaolongbao, since Sicilian shrimps have a sweeter taste the steamed barbecued Hungarian mangalica pork bun and the baked turnip puff with assorted fungus and roasted goose which looks like a swan.” Among the 30 dim sum dishes, we particularly recommend the golden mashed taro with diced abalone and chicken. ![]() Spring Moon’s dim sum department is overseen by Chinese cuisine executive chef Lam Yuk Ming, who has witnessed the changes of Hong Kong’s dim sum landscape for four decades. “Darker teas such as green teas and pu’er go well with stir-fried dishes with thick sauces.” “I recommend pairing steamed dim sum with lighter tea such as white tea and longjing which have undergone less fermentation,” Tam says. Their highlights from more than 25 types of tea include oolong tea from Taiwan’s Alishan, Tieguanyin tea from Anxi in Fujian, and Longjing tea from West Lake in Hangzhou, all being China’s most famous teas with a long history. ![]() “Only around two Chinese restaurants out of 10 in Hong Kong still offers tea pairing for dim sum dining,” says Tama Tam Han Yi, one of the tea masters. Spring Moon has two resident tea masters led by Elvis Wong, a national tea appraisal tea certificate holder. Here at Spring Moon, opened in 1986 as one of the first few Cantonese restaurants among Hong Kong’s hotels, the dim sum experience begins with selecting tea. Step into the banquet hall of the most historic hotel in Hong Kong where gramophone music, ceiling fans, a large mahogany staircase, wooden furniture and waitresses in cheongsam transport you back to the Roaring Twenties of old Shanghai.
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