Saturday, January 9, 2010

Breakfast for Dinner

Chinese Culture 101:

So I decided to try this local restaurant in Kowloon City (15 min. walk) for some dinner tonight, maybe get some good dumplings/dim sum. Since this is a staple dish, I would think they would have some...Oh how wrong I was. I was seated around 9PM and the owner came over since he knew a little bit of English asked what I wanted. Got some hot tea that was dark as coffee, and when I asked for dim sum, everyone in the restaurant stopped eating and looked in our direction, as though everyone pushed pause and said, "Look at the foreigner." The owner had a huge smile and just said it was the wrong time to eat dim sum. Apparently you only eat dumplings in the morning for breakfast/brunch/lunch, and no one eats it for dinner. I was slightly shocked and kept thinking how we kids at Samford have cereal every night! But after he saw the disappointment on my face, he said, "Let me check." About 20 minutes later, I had 2 bamboo steamers full of dim sum, while everyone in the restaurant was appauled by my smiling face 8D. The owner kept checking to see if I was satisfied and really was the coolest guy ever, he's probably like 40/50 and looks like Jackie Chan's old brother. Either way, he still made my night by giving me "Chinese breakfast for dinner". I paid and told him I would be back, which I will fulfill that promise, maybe even become a regular if they're only $3.00 ><

2 comments:

Abbie Tsui said...

haha, nice experience!
It usually don't serve dim sum at night!
But it's common to drink "night tea" in China!

Hunter Van Wagenen said...

I'm so embarrassed for you. I can't believe you didn't know that.

Post a Comment