After those few days spent in Guangzhou, I learned that tea drinking is a big thing over there.
Native Guangzhou people are known in China for their love for tea. Drinking tea is like a symbol of their everyday life and it has to be in teahouses. :flowers: Drinking tea at home simply doesn’t count.
It’s not surprising that the number of teahouses in Guangzhou is the largest in China.

On my first morning in Guangzhou, Rosemary’s cousin said: ‘Let’s have tea’. I thought that she meant let’s drink tea in her house but she went to change and put on her shoes. Rosemary and I did the same and followed her out. She took us to a teahouse near her place.
a teahouse in Guangzhou

There were many people there, having tea and eating dimsum. It was more like some kind of social occasion. Rosemary’s cousin said that the Cantonese call it yam cha which literally means to drink tea. However, it also includes the dim sum. From what I understood, drinking tea without having dim sum is not yam cha. Dim sum are savoury little snacks, usually steamed, deep fried, or boiled.
More definitions of dim sum here.

Rosemary and I didn’t know what to order so we asked her cousin to do it.
waitress in teahouse in guangzhou

The waitress filled our tea cups and then took the order.
my tea cup
Tea drinking in Guangzhou

The food didn’t take long to arrive and Rosemary’s cousin told us to dig in. I didn’t eat immediately. I took out my camera and took pics. Rosemary’s cousin seemed amused by that.
rosemary's cousin,teahouse in guangzhou

I’m not very adventurous when it comes to food so I was a bit wary when I saw the waitress bring the chicken feet. I tentatively took a bite and it was surprisingly good. Okay let’s dig in. :laugh:
Chicken feet in Guangzhou teahouse

Our food.
yamcha in teahouse in Guangzhou

This dish is called ha gao. It is a steamed thin rice-flour wrapping filled with minced shrimp and some minced meat.
ha gao in teahouse in Guangzhou

We also had Cha shao bao (steamed barbecue pork buns) and some other baozi. I don’t remember what it was.
chashao bao in teahouse in guangzhou
another baozi

I’m not sure what this dish is. Some kind of potato dish? :smile:
some kind of potato dish in teahouse