“Yum cha” translates from Cantonese as “drink tea”, but it’s so much more than just drinking tea. Yum cha is the Chinese morning/afternoon meal that involves drinking tea and eating dim sum dishes and it’s one of my favourite things to do. Growing up, my parents took me and my sister to yum cha at least once a weekend, and as a child, I judged all Chinese restaurants by the quality of their har gow (shrimp dumplings) – a staple in any dim sum lineup (ok, I admit, I still do that now).

When a food event focused on dim sum was announced, I was pretty excited – YumChaTO would involve 10 vendors serving their take on dim sum dishes. Tickets for the event (which took place in two sessions on April 13, 2014) sold out quickly, so I guess I wasn’t the only one excited for dim sum with a twist!

Here’s what we ate (apologies for the photo quality – I only had my phone camera with me!):

Paul and I made our first stop at our old friends, Hot Bunzz (@HotBunzzTO). They had three new bunzz on the menu and we grabbed two of them:

• Emperor’s (Not So) Traditional BBQ Pork bun: fried BBQ pork bun wrapped in BBQ pork and scallion cheong fun (rice noodle) topped with sesame soy
• King Mushroom, 5 Cheese and Pea Shoots bun: sauteed King Oyster mushrooms and 5 cheeses; topped with soy reduction and crispy onions

BBQ Pork bun is Paul’s favourite dim sum dish and he and my brother-in-law, Dave, can’t go to any Chinese restaurant without ordering it. Hot Bunzz’s take on the BBQ Pork bun was more of a pulled-pork style and the cheung fun topping was a nice touch.

Next stop was (another old friend), Me.n.u. Food Truck (@meNuFoodTruck). These guys had several great takes on traditional dim sum dishes on offer but we chose:

• 3 Jacked Pigs rice balls: marinated pork butt in black bean sauce, Chinese sausage, Shitaki mushrooms, caramelized onions and Chinese broccoli; topped with sweet soy reduction, Sriracha mayo and Chinese sausage
• Green Onion Pancake Roll: pulled beef brisket in Korean BBQ sauce, green onion pancake, sweet chilli slaw and cilantro

The green onion pancake roll was a highlight for me because I love green onion pancakes and Me.n.u.’s was not only really well done, but they wrapped it around some great brisket which just made it so much better!

Next up was feasTO (@FeasTOronto), where we tried:

• Pho Dumplings: beef, pho spices, noodles and sprouts
• Chrysanthemum Iced Tea

Their dumplings were light and the skin was thin and well done. Plus, the chrysanthemum iced tea reminded me of my childhood.

Linda Modern Thai (@LindaModernThai) offered a “Steamed, Fried, & Chilled” plate, which had three items on it:

• “Steamed”: Chicken Lemongrass Siu Mai
• “Fried”: Prawn and Sticky Rice Roll
• “Chilled”: Pandan Custard with Dulce de Leche
• Salad King’s Thai Iced Tea

Of the three, my favourite was the Pandan Custard – it was sweet, without being too sweet, had a great coconut flavour and was nice and cool. I could have had a bowl full of that! I wasn’t a fan of the Siu Mai, which is not surprising, as that’s probably my least favourite dim sum dish ever.

Next, we tried La Brea Food (@LaBreaFoodTO). After checking out their items, Paul chose:

• Camarones “Juan”ton Gow: shrimp wontons with corn esquites, jalapeno, ginger and cilantro blend on chili oil soya and roasted peanuts

Definitely one of the most flavourful dishes we had at the event – the wontons were really done well – we got them steaming hot, the skins were thin and the filling was great. Mixing the wonton with the chili oil and peanuts on the bottom made it even better.

Last stop was Oliver & Bonacini’s Canoe. They also had a three-item plate:

• game steam bun
• shrimp and scallop dumpling
• heart cold roll

Surprisingly, my favourite of the plate was the beef heart cold roll. Yep…heart. It had a really light, fresh “spring” taste and would be a great summer dish.

Also in attendance was the adorable Dim Sum City (@Dimsumcity). I had planned on grabbing one of their plushie har gow after I was done eating but got distracted and left without one.  🙁

Although the venue was a pretty small (and split into two floors) and it was very warm, when we arrived (around 12:30pm; doors opened at 11am) there were no lineups to get in or for food at all, which was really nice. There was ample space to sit, eat and chat which was amazing as most other food events have you packed in like sardines or waiting 15-30 minutes in lineups for food.

With a $10 admission price and all of the dishes (that we ate) ringing in at $5 each, it was a very affordable food event and an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It was nice to bump into Twitter friends, new and old, and a we had a blast eating our way through the event with Chanry and Justin!

If you want to check out YumChaTO for yourself, there’s going to be a second edition (in a different venue and with a new line-up of vendors). Tickets are on sale now!