Mr Chao - 26/10/2008 - 58%

127 Forest Rd, Hurstville

Next up on the plate we have Mr Chao, here to challenge Sonny.....

This place occupies a famous spot on the main drag of Hurstville. The site has housed lots of different yum cha joints (most recently Forest Court), which have closed in succession.... perhaps victim to the crippling hold Sonny has on the suburb (see Sonny's BBQ, Yum Cha, Fish Market etc - which all occupy primo locations in Hurstville)*

The tripe was quite nice, very mild ginger flavour.

The chicken feet were good, very nice sauce. A lot of flavour without being too salty or oily.

Prawn rice roll was so-so. The prawns were big and well cooked, but rice was gluggy and overall it lacked flavour... the prawns did not burst with flavour.

The 'dim sim' were topped with baby abalone... a real waste as it was just a slighty salty and chewy accent.... which bumped them into the premium price category. Otherwise the dumpling was moist and reasonably tasty.


We waited about 20 minutes to get some prawn dumplings.... it was our final dish. My opinion of them may have suffered by this wait, they were fresh but unsatisfying. $5.50 for four.

Beef balls, nice texture, slightly pink in the middle - some will love that, others hate it.

BBQ pork buns - nothing to say, did not stand out in any way.

Prawn and vegie dumplings - my favourite of the day. Lots of good vege (or grass as our lunch guest calls it), and nice prawns - again not too flavoursome though.

Tendons - again, nothing out of the ordinary. It was a generous serve, but sauce lacked flavour.

If you just want a quick meal and aren't fussy, Mr Chao will do nicely. I know it sounds wanky, but if you have been to a lot of yum cha, you may not be impressed by it. The lay out is not good - tables two deep from the isle, and the seafood is not outstanding.  The value was pretty good overall at about $17.50 per person for a decent feed.

Matt's ratings:

Food: 12 out of 20
Service & Setting : 2.5 out of 5 (service was fine, but layout sucks)
Value: 3 out of 5. (about $52 for 3 people)
TOTAL: 17.5 from 30 

* To be fair to Sonny's stores - I think this domination of Hurstville is justified. I have not tried the BBQ to be fair, but the other stores do dominate the competition in terms of price and quality. When I went to the original yum cha (before they move to their new larger premises), I stupidly spilt a messy bowl of liquid all over the table. Sonny himself came over and helped me clean it up, and was friendly, congenial and a great host. Not rude, annoyed or patronising. I have a lot of time for these stores.

Golden Globe Burwood - 12/10/2008 - 60%

206 Burwood Rd Burwood 2134 NSW

On the main drag of Burwood, Golden Globe is only 5 minutes walk from the Westfield. We arrive at around 1215, and got a table in 2 minutes. Admittedly it was a crap table just inside the door, but a quick seating is always good.

Nice layout of the restaurant, unfortunate that we were are the top of the row right at the door. First up we got the prawn rice roll - these were fresh and hot - average flavour though.
The sui mai was very moist and fresh, but little flavour.
The shark fin was very nice - and reasonably priced. They were moist inside and not greasy - very good.
The chicken feet were great - they were very fresh and tasty.
Scallop dumplings were large and fresh. They were a little patchy though - some were better than others. One was mostly prawn with hardly any scallop inside. It had a lot of prawn though -and these were only $4.90 for 4 pieces.




The prawn dumplings - like a lot of things today, were large and hot, but the flavour was just average. Price was good - $4.90 for four pieces.
This was the view looking from our table INto the cha lau - through the line of people waiting for tables.

Ratings:

Food: 12.5 out of 20
Service & Setting : 2.75 out of 5 (Setting is fine - the service was ok other than the woman refusing to re-seat us at a more central table)
Value: 2.75 out of 5. 
TOTAL: 18  from 30 

Kam Fook Restaurant Chatswood - 4/10/08 - 66%

Shop 600, Level 6 Westfield Chatswood

So, Yum Cha in a Westfield? And the sister restaurant of one of the worst places I have visited (the one in Bondi Junction).... Yet surprisingly I really like this place.

We arrived a bit late, didn't get a ticket for a table until 13:40 - and it still took about 35 minutes for a table for 3 people. Once we were seated the place quickly cleared out... and the options started to thin out. That said, the variety of dishes this place offers is usually excellent, and even at the end of the shift the range was pretty good.

Sui Mai, no complaints, other than it was a tiny bit cold - but still good.
Shark fin dumpling was nice, but nowhere near the heights it can reach. This was heavier and greasier than it needed to be. Any shark fin was lost in the mix.

The chicken feet were a little cold too - but the flavour was outstanding, really fantastic. Not overpoweringly strong or salty, it even had a subtle sweetness.
I have always enjoyed the har gow here (prawn dumpling). These were up to their usual good standard. ($6.20 for four)
Steamed red bean buns - very nice too. Not always on offer, but these were plump and steaming.

Vege dumplings were good - but it always amazes me that veges cost more at yum cha than seafood does. This serve of 3 dumplings cost the same as 4 seafood dumplings.

Spring rolls - I didn't try them, but apparently they were fresh, crispy and not too oily.

The rice rolls were oily though. The three cakes were good though, particularly the chestnut one - outstanding!

We got a prawn rice roll special order - it was nice and well cooked, but oily.

Mum was up for the weekend, so she was our guest to lunch - and guest reviewer!

Overall I was happy with it. Seeing we waited so long, it would have been good to catch them at full service. And there were a few dishes like scallop dumpling and congee I was hoping to get that weren't on offer. The price was ok, nothing special - the har gow test puts them towards the higher end of the scale.

Matt's ratings:
Food: 14 out of 20 (shame there was no scallop on offer)
Service & Setting : 3 out of 5 
Value: 2.75 out of 5. ($67.50 for 3 people)
TOTAL: 19.75 out of 30 

Jane's ratings:
Food: 16 out of 20
Service & Setting : 5 out of 5 
Value: 4 out of 5. 
TOTAL: 25 out of 30 

Dragon Star Seafood Restaurant - 21/09/08 - 55.8%

Level 3 Market City Haymarket


This place has been renovated since I last went. The entrance has moved and the fish tanks are less prominent now. The line was no shorter though - a good forty minutes for a table for two.

The place is really well laid out, with large open areas that are all well serviced by the trolleys. (Unlike Palace)

Below, the all important prawn dumpling. These were $5.70 for four. They were fine - not outstanding in any manner. Compared to the previous entry, these were a big let down though - not as tasty and $1 more.

The pork sui mai were again ok, but nothing to write home about.

This was a first for me, and I quite enjoyed it. It is a radish cake - like the square ones but in a different style.

I have to admit, writing up this review almost 2 weeks after visiting isn't ideal. I have notes to go off, but its not the same. I can say with certainty though, the scallop dumplings were a HUGE disapointment. There was barely any noticable scallop inside - but there was a big piece of processed crab stick. Apalling. I am going to put a -2 penalty just for that.

Above, the tripe was ok - much better than some recently places. The feet below were also good, but was a little cold when it arrived.

We ordered one steamed oyster between us. It was really quite good - large, plump and fresh.

Rice rolls were pretty good too.

Matt's ratings:
Food: 13 out of 20 (scaled back to 11 because of the rubbish "scallop" dumplings)
Service & Setting : 3 out of 5
Value: 2.75 out of 5.
TOTAL: 16.75 out of 30

Nine Dragons Restaurant 14/09/08 - 79%

39-45 Dixon Street, HAYMARKET

Lunch Sunday 14 September 2008

Well, today was a first for us. We decided to try Nine Dragon's Restaurant. This is part of a bid to take this blog to new heights, with the aim to review every yum cha in Sydney at least once. I am also going to include the price of a dish of Har Gow (prawn dumpling) at each place - as a easy point of price comparison.

Nine Dragons is on the main strip of Dixon St in Chinatown. It is one of the ones where they shake menu's at you, and the sign says the offer yum cha but I always dread you will get upstairs to find it empty, or really dingy.

Off the street we headed up the stairs to find one comparatively small room - worryingly it was half empty and most of the guests were western. It was 1230 on Sunday afternoon (during moon festival) and half the tables were empty! *Alarm bells*

I was very lucky to have Kate (the true yum cha sage) with me as guest reviewer today.

First up BBQ pork rice rolls. Almost all the plates were carried around on trays - not on steamer trolley's. This is a worry as we thought things may not be fresh. But thanks to the quiet day and our fortunate position near the kitchen door - everything was piping hot and fresh. The rice rolls were excellent.

Above and below are duck meat dumplings. They were a little bit oily (by my standard) but outstanding flavour. Very impressed.
The prawn and spinach dumplings were also very fresh and delicious. Unlike some places, these had complete king prawns inside - and were steamed perfectly. I have to say, every one of the dumplings and rice rolls was hot, fresh, and the rice paper was firm, soft, thin and delicious. 

Har gow. This is the true test in my mind... and they passed with flying colours! This was really nice. And there was some different flavouring - I couldn't pick it but Kate thinks it was special cooking wine. These were $4.70 for four - (but they accidentally forgot to charge us). Great value. (Compared to $6.80 at Palace)


Above and below - scallop dumpling. Well prawn and scallop really. Whilst it had a complete small scallop in each dumpling - the flavour was not quite as good. These were $4.70 for 3. 

The prawn rice rolls were also excellent. This and the BBQ pork ones were $6.50 per plate - again good value.

A first for us - almond prawn balls. The combination didn't strike me as overtly complimentary, but it was very nice. They were deep fried, but not greasy.
Lotus sweets in sago shells. The lotus centre was very rich - I liked it but a little oily.

How cute are these? Pumpkin dumplings with red bean filling. Sweet, light and great. Although very sticky so quite hard to eat.

The bill came to $50.50 for two people. Now that is not super cheap - but in honesty we had enough food easily for 3 people. We were so impressed we wanted to try as much as possible, and we had both skipped breakfast! And we brought most of the deserts home.

The atmosphere of yum cha at Nine Dragons was very different to your average cha lau. It was not a noisy, frenetic bustle of activity. The waitresses weren't pushy, rude or in a rush. The service wasn't brisk. In fact most of the wait staff were kids under 20, and all very sweet and friendly. No one was in a rush, and when we ordered special things they came very quickly and we never had to ask twice. Our tea was even filled up within 15 seconds of upending the teapot lid - the first staff to notice it signalled the floor manager who filled it immediately.

Kate's ratings:

Food: 16.5 out of 20 - good flavour, fresh and lots to choose from
Service & Setting : 3.5 out of 5 - very friendly
Value: 3.5 out of 5.
TOTAL: 23.5 from 30 

Matt's ratings:

Food: 16 out of 20
Service & Setting : 3.75 out of 5 (see comments above)
Value: 4 out of 5. 
TOTAL: 23.75 from 30 

Based on today's performance - this might just be my new favourite in Sydney.