It was nearing peak lunch service on a recent weekday at the Metropol, one of Hong Kong’s largest dim sum restaurants, when So Yim-ha emerged from the kitchen into the cavernous dining hall pushing a stainless steel cart stacked high with bamboo steamers.

最近一个工作日临近午餐的高峰时段，在香港最大的早茶餐厅之一名都酒楼，苏艳霞（音）从厨房走出，推着一辆堆满竹蒸笼的不锈钢餐车，进入宽敞的用餐区。

Fighting to be heard over the din of the room filled with hundreds of customers, Ms. So cleared her throat and began advertising the small, scrumptious dishes in her cart.

 在数百名食客的喧闹声中，为了能让大家听见自己的声音，她清了清嗓子，开始推销餐车上的美味点心。

“Pork ribs! Beef meatballs! Quail egg siu mai!”

“排骨！牛肉丸！鹌鹑蛋烧卖！”

名都酒楼宽敞的餐厅位于港岛一栋商铺及写字楼大厦的四楼。

One by one, the baskets went as Ms. So and other servers crisscrossed the floor, stopping at each table to present their offerings. Diners pointed at the dishes, enticed by the perfume of soy and steamed shrimp in rice rolls, the earthy aroma of lotus leaves wrapped around glutinous rice with sausage, and the sight of fluffy barbecued pork buns or glistening yellow egg tarts.

蒸笼一个接一个地被端走，苏艳霞和其他服务员穿梭于餐厅，逐桌推销他们的食物。食客们被酱油蒸虾肠粉的香气、用荷叶包裹的糯米和腊肠的浓郁香味，以及松软的叉烧包或光泽诱人的蛋挞所吸引，纷纷指向菜品。

If someone ordered the beef meatballs, Ms. So would squirt the dish with Worcestershire sauce, as is customary. She would recommend other dishes like the stuffed green peppers or the soup dumplings, her personal favorites. With every sale, she stamped a white card that tallied orders, thanked the customers and moved on to the next table.

如果有人点了牛肉丸，苏艳霞会按照习惯挤上些辣酱油。她还会推荐其他菜品，比如酿青椒或小笼汤包，这是她个人的最爱。每卖出一份，她都会在白色点菜单上盖章，统计订单，感谢顾客，然后继续转向下一桌。

苏女士在名都工作了25年，她以善于与顾客交谈为豪。“我不仅仅是卖点心，我也乐于和顾客聊天，告诉他们哪些菜好吃，”她说。

It’s this intimate interaction — street stall meets banquet hall, if you will — that distinguishes traditional parlors like the Metropol from other dim sum experiences on offer in Hong Kong. (And the city has many, including Michelin-starred restaurants, holes-in-the-wall, and for those craving it on the go, or at odd hours, 7-Eleven stores.)

正是这种亲切的互动——可以说是街头小摊与宴会厅的结合——使得像名都酒楼这样的传统早茶店与香港其他的早茶体验截然不同。（这座城市提供的选择非常丰富，包括米其林星级餐厅、小巷里的隐秘小店，以及那些想要随时随地，甚至在非正常时间享用点心的人们常去的7-Eleven便利店。）

But the Metropol, one of only a handful of restaurants that still use carts, will close for good on Sept. 27, after 35 years in business. And along with it, a beloved fixture of Hong Kong dining will fade away: the dim sum cart auntie.

但作为香港为数不多仍在使用点心车的餐厅之一，名都将于9月27日正式关门，结束其35年的营业历史。随之消失的，还有香港饮食文化中一个备受喜爱的象征——点心车阿姨。

For decades, the typically middle-aged women have become as synonymous with the dim sum experience as the famous shrimp dumplings and phoenix’s claw (a.k.a. steamed chicken feet) that have come to define this Cantonese style of dining of small dishes washed down with tea.

几十年来，这些通常已人至中年的女性与享誉盛名的虾饺、凤爪等经典茶点一样，成为以茶饮配小份点心的粤式饮茶文化不可或缺的象征。

The women can be equal parts charming and gruff, as service staff tend to be in Hong Kong. But they always add a human touch to one of the city’s most cherished rituals in a way that a server with a menu could never.

这些女性既有亲切的一面，也有粗犷的一面，这在香港的服务人员中很常见。但她们总能以一种拿着菜单的服务员无法比拟的方式，为这座城市最珍视的饮食习俗之一注入人情温度。

“It’s not the easiest job,” said Mamoru Hayashi, whose family owns the company that founded Metropol and two other restaurants in Hong Kong. “It’s hard to push those carts. You also have to be friendly, outgoing and loud enough so the customers can hear your voice.”

 “这份工作并不轻松，”林卫说，他的家族在香港创立了名都酒楼及另外两家餐厅。“推点心车很费力，还得友善开朗、嗓门也要够大，才让顾客能听清你的推荐。”  

Ms. So, 62, who has worked for nearly half her life at the Metropol, can barely see over her cart, which she hunches over as she plows her way through the thick carpeting. She wears a white paper hat and a pressed white uniform with a traditional Chinese collar, and prides herself on her ability to schmooze.

62岁的苏艳霞在名都工作了近半辈子。如今她佝偻着身子推动点心车，在厚实的地毯上缓缓前行，车身几乎挡住了视线。她戴着白色纸帽，身着熨烫平整的传统中式立领白制服，以善于与人攀谈为荣。

“I don’t just serve dim sum, I’m also happy to chitchat with the customers and tell them what’s good to eat,” she said. “The regulars like to ask about my health and I always ask about their children.”

“我不只是上点心，还喜欢和顾客闲聊，告诉他们哪些点心值得试试。常客会关心我的身体，我也总问起他们的孩子。”  

Ms. So, like the nearly dozen other dim sum cart aunties on staff, wept when she learned this summer that the restaurant would close. She said that she has worked with the team for so long that they feel like family. The modest monthly pay of between 7,000 and 14,000 Hong Kong dollars, or $900 and $1,800, was a godsend to her, given how few jobs are available for older and less-skilled workers like her.

今年夏天，得知餐厅即将关闭，苏艳霞和其他近十位点心车阿姨都哭了。她表示团队共事多年，早已亲如家人。对她这样年长且技能有限的劳动者来说，每月7000至14000港元（约合6400至12800元）的普通收入已经来之不易。

“It makes me so sad,” she said. “I have no idea what I’ll do next.”

“这让我很难过，完全不知道接下来该怎么办，”她说。  

The closure is also a reflection of Hong Kong’s changing fortunes. Large restaurants like the Metropol, which are big enough to roll out dim sum carts, are a throwback to the high-flying decades starting in the 1980s when Hong Kong was flush with cash from a booming Chinese economy next door.

餐厅的关闭折射出香港的兴衰变迁。像名都酒楼这样能容纳点心车的大型餐厅是20世纪80年代香港经济腾飞的产物——当时毗邻的内地经济蓬勃发展，为香港注入了充沛资金。

芒果卷是名都的另一款招牌美食，作为甜点，它与经典的虾仁、牛肉或叉烧肉馅肠粉相得益彰。

Profits streamed in for such restaurants as they hosted dinner banquets for weddings, industry groups and clan associations, where hundreds of guests could be feted with expensive seafood and French cognac. Back then, the breakfast and lunchtime dim sum services were less important to a restaurant’s bottom line, especially as the most common dishes were about 40 Hong Kong dollars, or $5. Customers could sit for hours gossiping over a few steamers and sip tea without raising an eyebrow from the staff.

这类餐厅曾靠承办婚宴、行业聚会和宗亲宴盈利丰厚，数百名宾客在席间享用昂贵海鲜和法国干邑。相比之下，早午餐时段的点心服务对利润贡献有限，毕竟最常见的点心仅售40港元（约35元）。顾客只需买几笼点心就可以边喝茶边聊几个小时，服务员也不会介意。  

Today’s economics do not allow for that. Hotels have captured much of the wedding banquet business from stand-alone restaurants. China’s sluggish economy has forced Hong Kongers to tighten their belts. Shenzhen, the metropolis across the mainland border, has emerged as a serious culinary competitor with lower prices. To survive, restaurants in Hong Kong often need to be smaller and leaner.

如今的经济环境已容不下这种做法。独立餐厅的婚宴市场被酒店抢占，中国经济放缓迫使香港人缩减开支，内地毗邻城市深圳以更低价格成为强劲的餐饮竞争对手。为求生存，香港的餐馆往往需要缩减规模保持精简。  

There are only a handful of banquet-style restaurants with dim sum carts left, such as Maxim’s Palace in City Hall, next to the picturesque Victoria Harbor.

目前仅剩少数几家仍有点心车服务的宴会厅式餐厅，例如毗邻维多利亚港的香港大会堂美心皇宫。

厨师们正在包虾饺，名都推出的这款经典点心分量更足，内馅饱满，满是脆嫩鲜美的虾肉。

Keeping the tradition alive all these years has not been easy for the restaurant, which is under pressure to serve the many office workers during their tight lunch breaks. The Metropol complements the pushcarts with a cafeteria-style dim sum station in the middle of the restaurant.

多年来坚守传统绝非易事，餐厅既要满足上班族紧凑的午休用餐需求，又需应对日益增长的客流压力。除了点心车，名都还在餐厅中央设置了自助式点心台。

Keeping the steamed dumplings hot, and the fried spring rolls and sesame balls crispy, is also a challenge in an operation so big. The wait staff have to be able to read the room and know how much to stock in each cart.

但在如此大规模的运营体系中，保持蒸饺温热、让春卷和芝麻球一直酥脆，这些都并非易事。服务员必须善于观察现场状况，精准掌握每辆推车的备货量。  

“You need constant turnover to keep the dim sum fresh,” said Mr. Hayashi, 46, who represents the third generation in his family’s restaurant business. The family is Japanese with Chinese ancestry and used to operate the oldest Chinese restaurant in Japan.

“必须不断更新点心才能保持新鲜。”46岁的林卫说道。他是家族餐饮事业的第三代传人，他的家族是具有中国血统的日裔，曾经营日本最古老的中餐馆。

Since Metropol announced in July that it would close, Hong Kongers have been flocking to the restaurant to dine one last time and snap pictures. Customers have been asking if they may take, as souvenirs, the red acrylic signs displayed on each cart that carry the names of dishes. (No, they may not). Workers had to bolt the wheels of a cart parked in the lobby for picture-taking because visitors kept pushing it and pretending to be servers.

自今年7月宣布歇业以来，香港市民纷纷前来用餐并拍照留念。有顾客询问能否带走点心车上标注菜名的红色亚克力招牌作纪念（答案是否定的）。因为总有游客去推餐车，假装服务员拍照，工作人员不得不在大厅停放的餐车轮子上加装螺栓固定。 

顾客们在大堂与购物车合影，纪念名都开业35周年。由于购物车总被游客挪动，工作人员不得不将车轮固定住。

Bosco Tung, a 74-year-old regular, shook his head as he scanned the dining room teeming with customers on a recent weekday. Mr. Tung, a retired tailor who has had dim sum at Metropol nearly every day except Sundays since the restaurant opened, compared the public’s sudden interest in it to neglecting someone their whole life until their “funeral.”

前不久的一个工作日，74岁的常客董伯望着满座的餐厅摇了摇头，这位退休裁缝自餐厅开业起，除了周日，几乎每日必来。他将公众的突然关注比作终生冷落某人，直到对方“葬礼”方才现身。  

“Suddenly all these people come. Where were they when it was normal business?" he asked.

“突然来了这么多客人。生意正常时候他们都在哪儿？”他问道。

One of the many people who paid their respects was Li Bo-sau, a former Metropol dim sum cart auntie who left the restaurant in 2015. Her senior home arranged a visit after they learned that it would close.

前来致意的众多人士中，有一位是2015年离开名都的点心推车阿姨李宝秀（音）。得知餐厅即将关闭后，她的养老院特意组织了这次探访。

现居养老院的李宝秀表示，她至今仍会梦见在名都工作的时候。

Ms. Li, 80, still considers her time working at Metropol among her happiest. She especially liked engaging with tourists who did not speak Cantonese. If she had to explain what the beef meatballs were, she would sign horns with her fingers above her head. When it came to the popular steamed chicken feet, she would cluck and point at her feet.

80岁的李宝秀仍将在名都酒楼的时光视为人生中最快乐的回忆。她尤其擅长与不懂粤语的游客交流：解释牛肉丸是什么，她会用手指在头顶比划牛角；介绍招牌蒸凤爪时，她就学鸡叫，指着自己的脚。  

Anyone within earshot of Ms. Li at the senior home has heard about her time at Metropol, employees at the home say. She likes showing visitors a clipping from a Japanese travel magazine that includes a picture of her younger self standing proudly behind a dim sum cart. She keeps it folded inside an empty Blu Tack envelope; the clipping’s creases are worn white from the number of times she has opened it.

养老院的工作人员说，所有听过李宝秀讲述往事的人都知道名都。她喜欢向访客展示一张从日本旅游杂志里剪下来的报道，照片里年轻的她正自豪地站在点心车后。这份剪报被折好，放在一个空的蓝丁胶信封里，反复翻阅的折痕已泛白。

“I still dream of that place,” she said.

“我还会梦见那个地方。”她说。

香港规模相似的餐厅正日益减少，其主要收入来源婚宴更多在酒店举办。