Celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year with a feast of dim sums and tea. Chap Chap at The Raintree, St Mary’s Road rolls out the Yum Cha festival, a dim sum & tea fair, which starts today and promises to have you looking at this oriental staple in a whole new light. For starters, we are told by chef Anuj Thapa who curated the fest alongside chef Bhim and executive chef Tamoghna Chakraborty that dumplings are considered a lucky food for the New Year and are believed to bring in wealth and treasure. So, perhaps, treat your accountant to some this weekend.
Soup-er hero
Luck apart, we also find ourselves steadily paced through a delicious dim sum education. We explore the broth-filled Xiao Long Bao, with pork belly which are like mini soup pockets of warmth and flavour. These are quite different from the Har Gow, which are Cantonese transparent dumplings. We sample a green variant dyed with spinach leaves enveloping a filling of jellied salmon, parsely and sesame oil. It was so good, we didn’t even need the accompanying green onion or chilli dips!
There is also the traditional Sui Mai, open steamed dim sums, and the Guotie variant which is pan fried, not to be mistaken with the Jian Jiao, which is pan grilled. If you’re looking for something a little heavier, don’t miss the Baozi (steamed milk buns) on offer. We sample one with a filling of Char Sui pork with a sweet glaze and another with edamame and cheese, and found ourselves leaning in favour of the vegetarian one.
Part-ea notes
Skip your mains to get the most out of the spectrum of flavour at this festival. Get yourself a soothing pot of tea, we enjoyed the Hibiscus, although pairings do come recommended with your choice of dim sum. And for those with a sweet tooth, the Dark Chocolate & Dry Nuts dumpling is not to miss!
January 20 to February 5. Lunch and dinner. A plate of four dim sums is priced at INR 195 upwards.