Lunch - Sunday 23 September 2007
84 Broomfield Street Cabramatta
Before we get into the food, let me welcome this weeks guest reviewer, Cherie Lau. Cherie is a huge foodie, and is in fact the friend who recommended Iron Chef after visiting for dinner.
The exterior of the place, quite impressive.
On another view though - you realise it is within a local hotel... alarm bells ring.
One of the few Yum Cha places were you can see poker machines and TAB betting screens from the waiting area.
First up, Sui Mai - pork dumplings with prawn. These had a slice of shitake mushroom in the bottom too. Not too bad, but considering all the MSG the flavour was not amazing.
Chicken feet - disappointing. The black bean sauce was very weak, with a lot of garlic though. Sadly the garlic was the rubbish granulated kind, not fresh.
Large prawn and spinach dumplings. These were not bad, out of today's offerings I would say second best.
We waited a long time for Di Gee Gow - scallop dumplings, and thankfully they were quite ok. I have to say of all the seafood it was the freshest (but still only average). They were not bursting with flavour, but at least tasted like it came from the ocean, unlike many of the prawn dumplings.
Prawn rice roll - very standard.
A nice surprise, they had freshly prepared Peking duck available one piece at a time - for the price of a small plate each ($3.20). I am not experienced in eating this, but the others said she was cutting it poorly - too much meat and fat. Apparently it should be just skin of the duck.
An egg custard desert dumpling. The only desert taken by the group. Apparently this is quite rare in Australia, so points for variety there.
Beef tripe. We also had beef stomach (below this one), which was the better of the two.
Cherie and Kate struggled with the table design which had a large metal bar in the leg space of two of the four diners... uncomfortable.
You'd notice I did not picture the prawn dumpling - it was very disappointing so I didn't bother. Actually, I will post one picture to demonstrate the runt of a dumpling we got...
I always held the motto that even bad yum cha is good yum cha. I am not sure. This was the least satisfying or tasty I have had as far as I recall. It may have suffered from my high expectations - but we were SO hungry after waiting 50 minutes (!) for a table, that we would have wolfed anything down. That long wait was evened out by attentive and helpful service inside, and I realise they cannot help it if they are so busy. Even still, don't believe the hype.
The exterior of the place, quite impressive.
On another view though - you realise it is within a local hotel... alarm bells ring.
One of the few Yum Cha places were you can see poker machines and TAB betting screens from the waiting area.
First up, Sui Mai - pork dumplings with prawn. These had a slice of shitake mushroom in the bottom too. Not too bad, but considering all the MSG the flavour was not amazing.
Chicken feet - disappointing. The black bean sauce was very weak, with a lot of garlic though. Sadly the garlic was the rubbish granulated kind, not fresh.
Large prawn and spinach dumplings. These were not bad, out of today's offerings I would say second best.
We waited a long time for Di Gee Gow - scallop dumplings, and thankfully they were quite ok. I have to say of all the seafood it was the freshest (but still only average). They were not bursting with flavour, but at least tasted like it came from the ocean, unlike many of the prawn dumplings.
Prawn rice roll - very standard.
A nice surprise, they had freshly prepared Peking duck available one piece at a time - for the price of a small plate each ($3.20). I am not experienced in eating this, but the others said she was cutting it poorly - too much meat and fat. Apparently it should be just skin of the duck.
An egg custard desert dumpling. The only desert taken by the group. Apparently this is quite rare in Australia, so points for variety there.
Beef tripe. We also had beef stomach (below this one), which was the better of the two.
Cherie and Kate struggled with the table design which had a large metal bar in the leg space of two of the four diners... uncomfortable.
You'd notice I did not picture the prawn dumpling - it was very disappointing so I didn't bother. Actually, I will post one picture to demonstrate the runt of a dumpling we got...
I always held the motto that even bad yum cha is good yum cha. I am not sure. This was the least satisfying or tasty I have had as far as I recall. It may have suffered from my high expectations - but we were SO hungry after waiting 50 minutes (!) for a table, that we would have wolfed anything down. That long wait was evened out by attentive and helpful service inside, and I realise they cannot help it if they are so busy. Even still, don't believe the hype.As I said above, the name IS important. The website hypes up the innovative techniques and flavours of the chef, and they are clearly trading of the camp-cult reputation of the Japanese TV show. So let the be judged against it.
The bill for 4 people (1 desert, lots of dumplings, no vegie) came to $76.80
And now, the verdict (will the cuisine reign supreme?):
Matt
Food: 8 out of 20
Service & Setting: 2 out of 5
Value: 2.5 out of 5.
TOTAL: 12.5 from 30
"Iron Chef? I don't think so. You are hereby downgraded to Zinc Saucier."
Kate
Food: 9 out of 20
Service & Setting: 3 out of 5
Value: 2.5 out of 5.
TOTAL: 14.5 from 30
"No surprises here at all"
Cherie
Food: 10 out of 20
Service & Setting: 3 out of 5
Value: 3 out of 5.
TOTAL: 16 from 30
"Very very standard..."
3 comments:
Hmmmm well I guess first time that Cherie is recommending a very average place. She has normally always very good tips/recommendations.
Sorry to hear that you guys were disappointed. LOL, I love your final comment on the restaurant ;)
I will be happy to come to your next review when I come back from the Gold Coast :)
Otherwise, I have sent your blog's URL to my sister as she did not know what yum cha was :)
Take care
hey matt!! such an excellent concept and your reviews are a good read:) like this pics too :) good luck on your yum cha adventures!!!
vinhh phat is better have you tried it? ;)
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