Mickey Mouse may hail from the land of hamburgers and hotdogs, but when he makes his debut in Hong Kong, he will be serving up dim sum.
Don Robinson, managing director of Hong Kong Disneyland, said the $22 billion theme park planned to increase its allure to locals by offering the cuisine - a first for any of the Disney parks around the world.
'We want to ensure that our park respects local culture and we believe that having a dim sum restaurant is one of the best ways of doing this. In Paris, people go for wine for lunch, while in Hong Kong and in the mainland, dim sum is a big favourite,' he said.
Plans to open a dim sum restaurant at Hong Kong Disneyland have also been prompted by forecasts that one-third of the 5.6 million visitors expected to visit the theme park annually are to come from the mainland, he said.
'We're negotiating with Hong Kong restaurants because this is not our expertise,' said Mr Robinson, who will oversee the park's opening late in 2005.
A dim sum fan himself, Mr Robinson said most Walt Disney theme parks offer western food.
Although the park in Orlando, Florida, serves Chinese cuisine, it does not carry dim sum.