Take a Bao.

I was the only thing not steamed.

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong – A steel trolley rattles by, its front-left wheel inevitably catching and, like a figure skater, doing a pirouette.

On it, bamboo steamers stand stacked, filled with cha siu bao, steamed pork meatballs with quails’ eggs and other traditional dim sum. (Your tally card is emphatically stamped when you see something you like.)

Pointing is our language of choice in the absence of common words.

Another trolley carries a large steel pot of congee. A woman pushing a third tut-tuts me when I refuse her offer of har gow. She is right — it’s immediately evident it’s my mistake to miss out.

But, we’ve been travelling a long time and have immediately thrown ourselves into the fray. Our whole breakfast comes to $20.

The Lin Heung Tea House was founded in 1889 and has stood on this spot for nearly 40 years. It offers loose leaf tea, filling your pot from a large kettle, while food comes down the dumbwaiter, or is carted out of the kitchen before winding around your shared table – women doffing the steamers’ lids like an old British gentleman tipping his cap.

We don’t know the language. Don’t know the food. But we know it’s exactly what we’re looking for.

And I have the heavily red-stamped order card to prove it.