Three Men and a Chinese Dinner

I was treated to a traditional Chinese dinner tonight. My host was none other than Mr. Sun, who is making a Cantonese medium video on how to speak relaxed English. The other guests were the director and editor of the script. Although invited, Aaron missed out on a lovely meal.

Tonight’s dinner was very pleasant and mostly because traditional Chinese dinner parties are genuinely cultural. Things like tapping the table with both index and middle fingers is the way to say “thank you” when someone fills your tea cup. And never fill your tea cup first! Pour tea for either the person sitting next to you or preferably the oldest or most respected person at the table. To show the greatest amount of respect, fill everyone’s tea cup before your own (even if there are 10 guests at the table, which is not uncommon.)

And eat slowly! Even if the table is full of delicious dishes, there will be more coming. Trying at least one bite of every dish is a must. It’s considered rude to ignore a dish, like you’re commenting that the host has bad taste. Perhaps I should note that at traditional Chinese dinner parties, the host orders everything. Occasionally, the host might ask for a little input. Sometimes the food will be ordered even before the guests arrive.

Another reason to eat slowly is because a traditional Chinese dinner party will last for hours. Tonight’s dinner party lasted two and a half hours for me, and I even left early.

When hosting, it’s better to have more than enough food on the table. Tonight’s meal started off with bottomless bowls of a meat broth soup. Following were 8 dishes: celery & shrimp, cashew & beef, whole fish (head and all), chicken feet, bok choy & mushrooms, a rice dish, sweet/sour pork, and crispy noodle low mein. In total, there were eight main dishes for a dinner party of four. I was sweating by the end. But, of course, dessert included fresh fruit and a sweet soup.

After the thank yous and goodbyes, I had only a little time before the next ferry to Lamma. I bore down and swallowed the shooting pains in my sides while running through Hong Kong Central. Exercising after a traditional Chinese dinner party is NOT recommended.