Price Indicators in Dim Sum

Readers who have not been to Hong Kong will be confused by the pricing in different hours and the meaning of "small" (小), "medium" (中) etc way of labelling dishes. This short post attempts to explain them.

In Hong Kong, there are five meal hours (as compared to three in Singapore) and they are as follow:

1. Breakfast (before 1100)
2. Lunch (1100 - 1400)
3. Afternoon tea (1400 - 1630)
4. Dinner (1800 - 2100)
5. Supper (after 2100)

Note that these timings are not fixed and it will vary slightly from place to place. In addition, the restaurants change their menu (and price) for every meal. This means that what is available for lunch may not be available for dinner and if it is available, a higher price may be charged.

Dim sum is available for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. It is usually the cheapest for afternoon tea followed by morning tea (i.e. breakfast); lunch tea (i.e. lunch) costs the most. I believe it is structured this way in order to control the crowd coming to the restaurants (something like the CBD charge). Afternoon tea, being the most affordable has the least variety in most cases.

Finally, the indicators of "small", "medium" etc. do not refer to the portion/size of the dim sum being offered. It is an indication of price. Therefore, please do not tell the waiter/ waitress that you wanna change a "big" dish to "small"; he/ she will probably give you the weird look if you do that. The afternoon tea is cheaper because the "small" to "big" dishes are usually priced 25% to 40% lower. In addition, the tea charge per pax is also priced lower.