Sometimes regarded as the “Chinese brunch”, dim sum is a Cantonese term for a Chinese meal involving tea and small servings of food such as steamed buns and savoury snacks. Originally from Southern China, it has migrated down to Southeast Asia and enjoyed especially by peoples in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The practice of Dim Sum has evolved over the years, from being the equivalent of a roadside rest-stop dining tradition to everyday fare and now even a full-blown haute cuisine experience.

Singapore has seen this change of dim sum from street food to fine-dining too, and at a recent visit to a dim sum restaurant, Chinatownboy compares dim sum dining in Chinatown then and now:

Along Smith Street, at the corner of the shophouse with the lane, there used to be a very busy tim-sum stall with its for-kei (waiters) shouting orders from all over the lane. Menus were long strips of coloured papers with beautifully calligraphed dishes (one has to understand Chinese and how Chinese food is named, not necessarily directly related to the contents of the dish) pasted in a slanted form on the walls at the lane and in the shop.

To compensate the dirtiness of the environment (which was oblivious to us), when we had a place to sit down, the for-kei would come along with a towel over his shoulder and a kettle of boiling water in one hand and a small enamel basin containing chopsticks and tea cups. He would place them on the table and pour the boiling water into the small basin (size of a soup bowl). With the steam coming out of the sprout as the water went into the basin, one could be sure the germs will be dead in no time. Chinese tea was taken for granted.

Read the rest of Chinatownboy’s post here.