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words.hk gives 飲茶 two senses, both jam2 caa4. The first is drinking tea. The second is eating at a teahouse, and the definition narrows that to dim sum at the morning or afternoon sitting. The entry does not say what people call a teahouse meal after dark.

餃 and 賣 are where a character dictionary pulls the order slip off course. There is no words.hk headword for 蝦餃 or 燒賣; those URLs come back empty. CanCLID to-jyutping gives haa1 gaau2 and siu1 maai2. The verb 賣 is only maai6 there, “to sell”. The dish tone maai2 comes from the converter. It is a changed tone, and words.hk never opened a siu-mai entry to record it. Follow maai2 for the dish. Use maai6 when the word means a sale.

Where an entry exists, follow it. 叉燒包 is caa1 siu1 baau1. The char siu hanging in a siu-mei window is a different order from the bun in the steamer; that window is covered in siu mei. 奶黃包 and 奶皇包 share one entry, naai5 wong4 baau1. 蛋撻 is daan6 taat1, with a -t stop on 撻. 糯米雞 is no6 mai5 gai1. The same entry’s example calls 珍珠雞 a mini 糯米雞, zan1 zyu1 gai1. If a shop’s slip does not match that sentence, the slip wins; the dictionary only records this split.

腸粉 is coeng2 fan2. A sub-entry, 布拉腸 bou3 laai1 coeng2 fan2, is glossed as handmade rice noodle rolls. Machine-steamed sheets are outside that gloss. The character 腸 itself opens on coeng2; to-jyutping also lists coeng4. Order with the compound’s coeng2.

炸兩 is entered both as 炸兩 and 炸両, with zaa3 loeng2 and zaa3 loeng5 side by side. The definition is youtiao wrapped in a rice-noodle sheet and cut into pieces, and it notes that congee shops usually have it. Playback uses zaa3 loeng2.

蘿蔔糕 is lo4 baak6 gou1. The Chinese definition says white radish, pan-fried or steamed. The English gloss is still “Chinese turnip cake”. In English, turnip usually means a different plant. Menus have kept the English name for years; the order is still 蘿蔔糕. 蔔 is the stopped syllable baak6.

普洱 lists pou2 lei2, bou2 lei2, pou2 nei2 and bou2 nei2 in one entry. The example uses pou2 lei2. There is no pou2 ji5. 菊普, 斟茶, 一盅兩件, 馬拉糕 and 鳳爪 have no entries. to-jyutping reads them guk1 pou2, zam1 caa4, jat1 zung1 loeng5 gin6, maa5 laai1 gou1, fung6 zaau2. In 一盅兩件 the 兩 is the changed tone loeng5. Staff still use the phrase for a pot plus two dishes. That explanation is teahouse usage. It is not a words.hk definition.

When the pot is empty, tipping the lid aside is usually enough for a refill. If someone pours for you, diners often tap the table with their fingers and leave the chopsticks in hand. Neither habit is in the dictionary. Neighbourhood teahouses now mostly work from an order slip. Trolleys still show up in a few old shops and hotel Chinese restaurants. Whether a given room still uses one is something you only learn on the spot.

Sources

• LSHK Jyutping scheme
• CanCLID to-jyutping
• words.hk: 飲茶, 叉燒包, 奶黃包, 蛋撻, 糯米雞, 腸粉, 腸, 炸兩, 蘿蔔糕, 普洱, 賣