My mom always says, "You can tell a person's characters and personalities
just by dining out with him/her." And I 100% agreed with her and it is true.
To impress someone else
or get the businesss going successfully, starting out right is the first major step.
Here are some great
tips of how to start out correctly, smoothly and pleasantly:
a) Seating
b) Before Placing Order
c) Pouring
Tea
d) Chinese Tea Sets
e) Ordering
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This kind of tea set usually serves, what the
Chinese call, "Kung Fu" Tea |
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a) Seating
When you step into a restaurant, always let
the others to take the seat first.
Let the elderly, the senior and the most respective people to sit as far away
from the aisles, except under their special request. And you will take the last seat left.
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b) Before Placing Order
Chinese always like to have a few
dishes for a meal. Say like there are 3 people together, they may order 3-4 different entrees. The more people having the
meal together, the more dishes they are going to order.
So, ALWAYS ask the others, especially the elderly,
the senior and the most respective people what they want before suggesting ideas or even making decisions. And most of the
times that they like to have the dishes which they seldom cook at home by themselves.
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C) Pouring Tea
While everyone is looking
at the menu, the waiter/waitress will come over to ask what kind of tea you want.
In the Chinese restaurant, they
will only serve 2 kinds of tea upon your request the most.
Some of them will bring an extra pot of hot water over
which will save the waiter/waitress come over so often to add hot water in the tea pots. So, if there are 12 people on the
same table, they won’t serve 12 different kinds of tea, but just 2.
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| Remember when someone is pouring tea |
into your cup, tapping your finger several times
to say "Thank You" |
As always, ask the elderly, the senior and the most respective people what
kind of tea they want.
Here are the most common kinds of tea the restaurants serve, i.e. Jasmine, Po Er, Oo Long
Shou Mei, Heung Pin & Chrysanthemum. Jasmines, Po Er & Heung Pin are the most popular ones among them.
After
the pots are brought over to the table, take the initiative to pour everyone a cup of tea starting from the elderly, the senior
and the most respective people to the junior in descending order. Who pours the tea for everyone; always pour himself/herself
the tea the last.
And make sure not to take the tea pot too high in the air while pouring and splash all the moisture
everywhere.
If it happens that someone is pouring you tea, bend down your fingers
and use the head of your third finger tapping the table lightly a couple of times and say "Thank You".
You may be asking the question, "Why is there such a kind of gesture to saying ‘Thank
You'?"
There was a story about an emperor hundreds of years
ago. He stepped out of the palace and wanted to check the people of his empire. Since he was under cover at that period of
time, no one knew that. His ambassadors were not supposed to say a word to reveal the emperor's identity.
During the trip, they went into a restaurant to have meal. The emperor took the initiative
to pour the tea to everyone. Supposingly, the ambassadors should have knelt on his knees and bow to the emperor to say "Thank
You".
But they were not allowed to do so under that situation. Then, one of them was smart enough to use
this method instead of kneeling down. Interesting, huh?
Last but not
least, the Chinese will only order wine or soft drink during the special occasions, such as the wedding dinner, birthday dinner
or company annual dinner. Don't initiate to order other kinds of drink, except they ask you if you want some special request.
Even though, try your best to stick with the tea.
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d) Chinese Tea Set
In the very old Chinese world, the
Chinese used a cup set which was totally different from the one of nowadays. The cup set has a dish, which only fits for that
particular kind of tea cup, and a tea cup with a lid.
How did they
serve the tea with this cup set?
First of all, the cup set will be brought over to an individual. A reasonable
amount of tea leaves will be put inside the cup and add a cupful of boiling water in. Cover the lid and leave it for a minute
or 2.
Before you drink from it, use the lid to push away the floating leaves. Leave a little hole between the
cup and the lid and drink from it.
Some people pour the tea out of
that little hole to another cup so that they can drink from the other cup instead of the one with leaves inside.
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This is the best way to serve tea.
Unfortunately, the cost of serving tea
in this way is too expensive. No restaurant over here would do so.
Even in China, you would rarely see it. I remembered
that we went to a restaurant serving tea like this when I was around 10. My father loved that place and we went there every
weekend.
But there are some organizations in China would do so. There are groups of people love tea so much. They
join together to form an organization which they have regular meetings. When they come together, they drink tea, share their
experiences and opinions of tea.
"Why is it so costly to serve
tea to the customers in this way?"
The cheapest cup set I ever
saw is $10/set white in color and made of china without any designs, drawings or patterns on it. This is the price that I
saw in 2003 when I was in Hong Kong.
Say if you step into a restaurant with a table of 12, they got to have 12
sets ready for you. Different people can pick whatever kind of tea leaves they like.
The waiter/waitress must
come over to help you to add tea leaves and water regularly. Instead of cleaning 2 pieces of a set, they need to clean 3 pieces
of a set. If a restaurant has a full house of 50 people (mostly more than that), how much more they need to pay for?
But there is still this kind of cup set selling in the market. If you are interested,
you can check it out.
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e) Ordering
There are not a lot of things to worry about
in ordering, except the number of dishes.
In the Chinese society,
there are many things related to the ghosts and ancestors that use the number 7.
If you happen to order 7 dishes, either get rid of one dish or add an appetizer or dessert.
There is also exception. Like some of my friends do not mind that. So, it depends on
what kind and what age of people you are having meal with.
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