Cantonese restaurant

Cantonese restaurant
A seafood restaurant in Sai Kung, Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese	茶樓
Simplified Chinese	茶楼
Literal meaning	tea house
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin chá lóu Yue: Cantonese Jyutping caa4 lau4*2
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	酒樓
Simplified Chinese	酒楼
Literal meaning	wine house
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin jiǔ lóu Yue: Cantonese Jyutping zau2 lau4

A Cantonese restaurant is a type of Chinese restaurant that originated in Southern China. This style of restaurant has rapidly become common in Hong Kong.

Some of the earliest restaurants in Colonial Hong Kong were influenced by Cantonese people. Throughout the history of Hong Kong cuisine, a great deal of Southern China's diet became synonymous with Cantonese style food.

Following the emigration of Cantonese people from Hong Kong to the Western world, these authentic Cantonese restaurants began appearing in many Chinatowns overseas. From 1980 to 1986, an estimated 21,000 people left Hong Kong permanently each year, and from 1987 the numbers rose sharply to 48,000 people a year and continued to increase dramatically following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Many Chinese restaurants in the United Kingdom are actually Cantonese take-out restaurants, with few people recognizing the difference between Cantonese and mainstream Chinese.

The origin of Cantonese restaurant was the tea-house. Tea-houses were places where people met to drink tea during the ancient Dynasty of China. They were popular in southern China where people used to love drinking tea. Therefore, tea-houses were always characterized as a social function to gather people. [1]

Many early Chinese restaurants were influenced by the Cantonese people. Southern China is famous for nice weather benefiting agriculture. Therefore, many cuisines in fact originated in Southern China, although we now call them Cantonese food.

Typically in the afternoon, dim sum are served during yum cha hour. A few Cantonese dishes may be available. In the evening, various Chinese banquets of Cantonese cuisine are held in the restaurant.