Welcome

I can't believe it took me so long to create this blog. I love Yum Cha - to an unnatural degree. I will happily go to Yum Cha 5 times in a week, to the same restaurant if necessary. I sometimes go to Yum Cha alone, I am not ashamed.

Yesterday a group of my former co-workers went to the inaugural lunch meeting of their new Yum Cha Club. I am gutted that I didn't think of it myself. Luckily the YC gods stepped in and I bumped into one of the group on Thursday and scored an invite. Yesterday’s was a real surprise - I had never been there or heard much about it. But it was a revelation - the food was great, maybe a contender to my favourite in Sydney...

I am now making it my mission to seek out and and eat at every Yum Cha restaurant in Sydney. It may take a few years, but I think it is worth it. To ensure continuity, I will have to revisit all of those I have tried already, so I can score them on my new standardised scale!

Food: X out of 20
Service & Setting: X out of 5
Value: X out of 5.

Service and setting are weighted a lot lower, because in my opion that is not what Yum Cha is about. It is about the food....mmmm. That said, if the service, the restaurant, decore etc was outstanding, then that should be recognised - or if we wait half an hour with no food coming, that should be noted too.

The 20 points for food will be broken down into 10 for overall flavour and enjoyment - this will be compared across restaurants using common dishes that we usually order like Ha Gow (prawn dumpling), Sui Mai (pork dim sim), Ha Chun Fun (prawn rice roll), Fung Jaau (chicken feet), egg tarts and the tea. - and we cannot forget the tea!

Another five food points are open for freshness and variety. So if they are all piping hot and lots of choice - top marks. If they are getting cool, gluggy or old - not much.

Finally for food, you always have to save an extra five points for the unexpected. If they have something delicious that is hard to find, or the presentation is outstanding, or things are especially plump and delicious, these extra 5 are up for grabs.

Finally five points for value. If it runs $30 a head and we are still hungry, that's too pricey. $14 and we are stuffed - bargain.

So, at the end we will have a score out of thirty. I will also try to post pictures when possible, and give a run down on how many people shared, how much we ate and the cost per person. If possible I will include in the value section an outline from the bill of the prices of each size of dish ordered.

Let the fun begin! First entry tomorrow!