Restaurant: Cha For Tea 喫茶趣

As spring turns to summer, it is time to shift to lighter and more refreshing foods. Tea cuisine is hardly a new idea, but its a great way of beating the heat.

The dozen or so green tea dishes offered at Cha For Tea are ideal. Various research projects have indicated that green tea -- unfermented and only lightly baked -- can enhance immunity and is rich in Vitamin C. Green tea is even being touted by some as a way of protecting against the SARS virus.

The Cha For Tea chain has been around for three years now, a branch of Ten Ren's Tea Group (天仁茶業). It is a combination of tea house and restaurant, offering quality Chinese tea and tea-related cuisine. Since it opened, Cha For Tea has quietly expanded into an international chain with 10 stores around the world including Los Angeles, Sydney and Nagoya.

Green tea won tun noodles (綠茶雲吞麵) are a popular dish at Cha For Tea, perhaps becoming even more so as people seek to beef-up their immune systems. The green tea in the soup reduces the greasiness and adds a light tea fragrance to the dish. As for the won tuns -- a kind of dumpling -- these are specially made in Pingtung County and sent out daily by air.

Pi-lo-chun steamed dumplings (碧螺春素蒸餃) is another dish with a green tea twist. In this dish, green tea is ground into a powder and added to the dumpling skin. You can taste the green tea from the first bite. The dumplings are stuffed with mushrooms, bean curd and green vegetables, making them ideal for vegetarians.

For meat eaters, a number of low calorie, refreshing dishes are also available. Spring tea steamed pork with orange (春茶香橙瑧肉) is a dish in which pork is steamed using lightly fermented spring tea, then mixed with a barbecue sauce, and served with orange and pumpkin pieces. This dish along forms a well balanced meal.

For dessert, Cha For Tea has a range of dishes that have established themselves as popular favorites. The iced osmanthus lungjing tea (冰釀桂花龍井) is a cooling dessert ideal for hot days, a mixture of tea, osmanthus honey paste, Chinese red dates and tea leaves.

For mango pudding lovers, there are four choices, and even a mango-flavored yogurt. So when the weather gets too much for your appetite, a visit to Cha For Tea might be just the thing to tempt your taste buds.