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*


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.














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
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
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.