Luyu & YumYum

Came here during their 50% off Dimmi offers since I was craving dim sum (or dumplings, but these technically aren't dumpling as some Chinese people like me will tell you). Got there at 6:07pm, for a reservation at 6pm, and they had already cancelled my reservation already, and I received a 'cancelled booking' email from Dimmi at 6:08pm. Dimmi booking terms allows you to be 15min late, and I'm pretty sure they wanted to take more walk ins than bookings. They still let us be seated, and reminded to give the table back in 1.5hrs, which was already a part of the booking on Dimmi. In hindsight, they did some very sneaky moves to the menu, which I'll explain later. This post is from April but just publishing it late because of a back log of food posts on my blog...

food spread

menu from the night

example of menu when it's not on special

(note price discrepancies)

Snow white dumpling: Prawn, Asparagus, Bamboo shoot & Luyu Home-made Creamy Soup in Chrysanthemum infused Potato Starch Dough-$20 for 4, paid $10 ($13.80 for 3 on website)

inside

These were really cute, but there wasn't much filling inside. It did have a bit of prawn, but not one whole prawn like in other yum cha places. The  dough could have been thinner as well, but I guess they made it thicker cause they needed to do the ears.

Green Lantern dumplings: zucchini, asparagus, celery, shiitake & king oyster mushroom, steamed in rice flour dough-$20, paid $10

This wasn't on the website menu. I like how the dough is green. Didn't eat the chilli, but a nice combo of veggies for the filling without being too salty. 

Manga dumpling hedgehog: King Oyster Mushroom, Chinese Mushroom, Fungi, Carrot, Coriander in Flour Dough Baked-$20 for 4, paid $10 ($12.80 for 3 on website)

inside

Another super cute dish. I did find the dough a bit too dry and thick, and could've had more sauce in the filling. I like how they had bits of pastry to make the spikes.

'Kiss Me' Dumpling': Chicken, Ginger, Shallot & Luyu Homemade Soup in Flour Dough-$20 for 4, paid $10 ($10.80 on website)

inside

Nice thin dough with flavour soup inside. The meat is a bit smaller, and again wished there was more soup. It was average but not amazing.

Mr Luyu fried rice: Duck, Egg, Asparagus, Shallot, Coriander, Baby Corn & Mustard Seeds Stir Fried-$17.80

I love how the fried rice is more 'fried' and has a drier texture in these 'modern Aus' restaurants as not many places can do a good fried rice. There were tiny bits of duck in it, and I think would've been better to have slightly larger pieces for some texture and more flavour.

You can see the price discrepancies, even though they served 4 instead of 3, there is a major price mark up, and even half price, it turns out to be similar price to the website price/previous menu before they had the Dimmi deal. I wonder if they revert back to their old menu/prices after this promotion. Like for some dishes, only saved 80c in total. So half price seems like I'm saving a lot, but just compared to the original price, yeah, it's not really.

The waiters were friendly, and inside sat at a good table with decent lighting, since they use spot lights, and some parts can be dim. Probably will just stick with the asian yum cha places next time.

Grand Lotus

My mum has been here before previously on a Saturday, and she said the yum cha here was really fresh and good quality. We came back again on a weekday which is a bit more quiet, and there's less variety. Service was really friendly, and it's a nice yum cha place tucked at Rouse Hill Town Centre. 

har gao-prawns had a really good texture 'bouncy' when you translate it from Chinese (no English equivalent)

More meat than noodles -~$20

We ordered about 10 dim sums plus a plate of stir fried noodles which was around $100 for 3 people. Definitely over ate, but it's not cheap compared to your average yum cha. However, the quality is pretty good despite the lack of variety. On Saturdays most things are made to order, so steaming hot. Today only about half the things were made to order. Apparently almost all their dim sums are made on premises rather than ordered externally and then just steam or fry it at the restaurant. Good portion prices for the price you pay. Even the siu mai had 2/3 bit of prawns in them, and at least bigger than other places by 1/3. There's hardly anymore good yum cha places in Sydney these days, so always on the look out for new yum cha to try, and bring relatives from overseas to. Even in HK, a lot of yum cha places order their stock from China (and people don't like eating fake beef/prawns), so most yum cha places aren't that great or use fresh ingredients, unless you go Tim Ho Wan or those other Michelin star restaurants.

Sky Phoenix

I've had yum cha at the Castle Towers, Parra and Rhodes Phoenix before, but first time in the Sydney Westfield one. I guess after going to HK numerous times and having yum cha quite often, it's hard to find a good yum cha in Sydney. 

We were seated near the entrance away from where everyone else sat, and the window tables were also all booked out that day, so it felt like we weren't offered more selection. I would have like bigger prawns and thinner skin in the dumplings. It is more on the expensive side which is expected with any of the Phoenix restaurants. I would say the city one is average, I remember Rhodes being more fresh. At times, you could see the deep fried stuff on a trolley at the back going cold after no one wanted it on their first round, they would re-wheel it back out to see if anyone else wanted it...Lunch was around $25pp.

egg tarts

Mixed reactions across the table, some found it sweet, others didn't. Since I have a sweet tooth and more used to a sweeter egg tart, found this lacking a bit of flavour.

The tofu dessety was super silky, but the syrup lacked a ginger kick to it.

Decent yum cha feed on this side of the city, but not the best.

i can't believe it, but i experienced a mini heart break today </3

the thing i wanted is sold out nationwide ))):

ok, it's kind of my fault, got on the band wagon a week to two weeks late...i wanted the L'occitane advent calendar, which includes over 17 products (not full sized) as a small xmas treat to myself, but too bad it's actually fully old out. some stores sold out almost a month ago ):

had yum cha with MK and co (diseases lecturers) today. Went to the place near uni, which I've been before...No photos because too awks, although I did finally make the connection one of the lecturers (graduated only 4 years ago) is a quite well known food blogger. Most food blogs are collabs of different bloggers, and I knew that blog had a few people, I just didn't realise it was our lecturer...Marks really do give you a wide variety of job choices imo, lecturing, supervising for clinic, research etc within 3 years of graduating.

Made some 'healthy' (but not healthy since I used butter and sugar) matcha oatmeal cookies tonight. if i didn't bake tonight, then won't have time until next week...Good quality matcha instead of green tea powder does make a difference. Too bad my butter melted instead of softened because my mum moved it into a pot....and i used 1/2tsp instead 1/2tbp. should've realised since most recipes use 1tbp for green tea stuff....ended up tasting more sweet since not enough bitterness from the green tea...

Trekking out west tmr for work. Weekday=no loading, but need to money...and it'll be a good experience working at a different store, hope people remain nice...

Yum Cha at Star Capital

Trying to find decent Yum Cha's in Sydney, or in the Hills area is actually getting harder these days. Many restaurants have new managers, smaller portions, poorer quality. Was originally going to take my relatives out to the city, but since they've been there before, decided to head to Chatswood. Another day of uni skipped for food w/ relatives

This place normally specialises in seafood. My parents have been here before for a dinner, but not for yum cha, so decided to give this place a go. Pretty packed at around 1pm. The main difference from my last yum cha place was that the food was actually fresh and piping hot! There was probably at least 3 times the variety, and so frequent as well. The cups and bowls were also a little bit fancier with gold rimmed and a tea cup handle rather than the normal non-handle cups. Eats just easier to hold the tea for people like me who can't hold hot things...Tea is expensive here $4pp, but I guess thats what you'd expect in Chatswood, plus relatively cleaner things and trying to be fancy with their lights. Food was also more on the expensive side but it was decent. The har gaos had large, plump prawns, the pan fried turnip cakes looked cold on the trolley but were actually quite hot inside (hence actually fresh), deep fried stuff not too oily. Only down thing was the pastry pork bun things had a pretty thick dough. According to me relos from HK, they said it was decent (unlike last time where that place was actually bad). Service is pretty good here, which is always a plus.

some of the food. ended up with 16-17 dishes

~$180 for 8 people

(This was also in my drafts folder. Haven't had time to write something up for my 21st yet)

Yum Cha at Crystal Seafood

The previous yum cha here in Carlingford Court lasted for pretty long (compared to the one in Carlingford Village which has had quite a few name/owner changes), and was quite decent.

Came here earlier in the year to try it out after my mum said they finally built a new lift rather than elderly people walking up stairs to get to the main floor on the 2nd level.

Excuse the snap chat with randoms...

dim sum :)

more foood

Straight up I would say it's below average, worse than the previous owners. Even though the new black theme decor makes it look classy, the food isn't that great. On a Saturday lunch, there was hardly any variety, and the things which came out kept on going round and round. No new stuff. We asked for things to be ordered, but waited so long since it never came. This place is pretty price as well. For 5 people it cost well over $100, and we weren't super full. The quality wasn't that good, like the har gaos had quite a thick skin and prawns weren't big, plump or juicy. 

Service was pretty bad. Asking a guy to refill the water for our tea, and he's like, 'refill in this one?' Well obviously, what else is there to refill? Only this tea pot already had the lid taken off and placed at the edge of the table, what other tea pot is there? Also, the others wanted some chilli sauce, but had to ask the guy literally 4 times for it. It felt like he didn't even want to work there.

No more decent and cheap yum cha around me anymore ):

(Posting things which have been in my draft for well over a month. Too much food posts for August, probs have to wait till mid sem break)

Tim Ho Wan

I haven't been to Chatswood in over a year, and many things have changed. So many different places to eat, with the new 'The District' side having new restaurants. Ippudo just opened in Macquarie Centre (despite only 3 menu choices) and it's going to be opened in Chatswood as well. Personally, I think if a restaurant is limited to one or two suburbs or even just a few cities, it makes it more exclusive and the original almost always tastes better.

Which beings me to Tim Ho Wan, originally from Hong Kong. In HK they have 4 THW, but even the newer ones don't taste as good as the original one. The original restaurant was in Mong Kok, but they got rid of that and moved to the suburb next door, Olympian City, where it's the most expensive one in HK but has the newest furnishing and most spacious. The other original Michelin star restaurant left is in Sham Shui Po. Even though that's where my grandma lives, it's still a bit of a walk from the MTR. Anyways, the other places in HK don't taste as nice as the original.

So I wasn't expecting much when THW moved from HK to Chatswood, and soon to be George St and Burwood. Apparently in the beginning when people queued down the escalator, the food was pretty good. A few months in they fired the head chef (apparently he was too good and they couldn't afford him) and that's when the crowds started to die and hence nowadays there's no massive lines.

going up

electronic doors which try to replicate the olden days

entrance

Seating is definitelly 200% more spacious than HK. I guess HK real estate is more expensive so you have to double up for tables unless you want to wait for over 30min...Came here for a second lunch and there was still a decent amount of people here at 3pm.

Chatswood menu

I can't help but compare the Chatswood one and the HK ones. Some prices are up to 3 times more expensive than HK when comparing the bills (yes, I take photos of everything, including the receipt).Most things are twice as pricey. Yes, Australian labour is expensive, but I'm sure there's a way to keep the essence of the world's cheapest Michellin star restaurant after moving countries...However, even compared to normal yum cha, this place is definitely pricey for the not so amazing quality. There isn't a lot of selection either, but maybe more in the future. In HK, you can order extra non-dim sum stuff like stir-fried noodles etc. 

kitchen

I do like how they lined the ceiling with those bamboo steamer things

Foood

Didn't want to order too much since we heard not to expect too much from here, and we were still full from our first lunch before. Har gao: pretty avaerage. The skin could have been thinner and have a bit more of that slightly chewier/bouncy (?) texture. Siu Mai were what you would expect. The difference I guess is that Australian seafood is more fresh (unless they imported their sea food).

the disappointment, and the chefs who didn't put much love into making this

You would expect the bun base to be rolled out evenly at least even if it was thick, but unfortunately for all 3 of our pork buns, there was no consistency.

The HK ones were golden brown, thin/evenly rolled out base filled with pork where as this one was probably only 1/3 filled. These ones were quite pale in colour, you do get the super soft kind of crumbly texture, but the outside could be a tad more crispy. The bbq pork wasn't too overly seasoned, but there could have been more meat. I actually don't really like bbq pork buns with the white bun from normal Asian places, but I was mind blown by the one I had in HK, too bad I can't say the same for this one ):

Decent piece of chicken inside and the portion was generous. Wasn't too flavourful imo, but it was still nice.

They also forgot our order for pan-fried turnip cake, which also means it's not that popular for the chefs to brush past an order and only focus on the incoming orders for the BBQ pork buns. Also, tea is $2.50 per cup which we obviously didn't get. They don't even give you a tea pot, so they refill the cups for you, but it's normal (probably diluted) asian tea. Don't even get to choose the type of tea you get. Only cold water is free. Other yum cha places normally charge $2pp, and you do get your own tea pot/choice of tea leaves. One last thing, they recently started take away, but the bad thing is that they charge 30c for each cardboard takeaway box. I don't mind paying 50c for a normal plastic box which you can reusue. Even though cardboard is recyclable, a brown box is going to soak up juices/steam and what not, making it wet and definitely can't reuse, 

Overall, give this place a try, but don't expect too much from it. Pretty average yum cha with more towards the expensive side for prices. Definitely go to the HK one! Sah cheap and super delicious.

I miss HK

BBQ pork bun from HK-on point

Imperial Peking-Yum Cha

i technically don't have uni on thursdays for half the semester, but i still go to uni since thursday mornings is the only time when the room to practice in. ended up going on to yum cha spontaneously at Imperial Peking, which is about a 15min walk from uni and you don't have to become a member to go in. places like castle hill rsl you have to become a member to have their yum cha etc.

food wasn't that great, and wasn't cheap either, but it was close to uni. i wasn't really craving yum cha, but i guess it's those times when company matters more than food.

some snapshots of the food and prices:

it came to a total of $78pp, so about $20 each. would have liked to spent a bit less. they kept pushing us to eat more dishes, and trying to make us poor uni kids to fork out more...

my mum is going hk tomorrow for about 2 weeks for my grandpa's 90th big birthday bash. they're organising so much for his 90th, with 1 homemade cake w/ 90n candles, then 2 nice western cakes, three big tables in a restaurant. and not an ordinary chinese restaurant in hong kong, they're hiring a bus to drive people there, about 30ish min from hong kong. and then we all (including grand children, and great grand children) had to pitch in to buy this gold piece of gold for him. all he wants is money tbh, but they decided since he's 90 to give him gold. all the children had to pitch in for the dinner. which makes my family more "ripped off" since only my mum is paying 1/9 of the price, but she's the only one eating from our family...but my uncle and his friend are shouting them all drinks...also, there was this massive convo beforehand for 2 months deciding on where to eat, and had to be at a "higher class" place. wish i could be there though, all that food an celebration!

and she's going over there for my cousin's wedding reception. he actually lives in canada so would have his wedding there, but reception in hk since that's where most of the family is. actually, his mum is more worse off, since she also had to pay her portion of the dinner, but won't even attend the 90th birthday dinner since that's when her son is getting married. then again, she has heaps of other children/grand children which are taking her place to "eat". it's actually quite complicated...i have another cousin getting married in november, and he asked if my mum would come, we're not THAT rich. as if my mum would go nz, then hk, then go hk in nov, and we planned already to go america and hk. that's some serious flying...why couldn't he planned his wedding 1 month later in december when we could be there instead of november? 

 no idea how we're going to survive since i get home pretty late, dad has work, and my bro likes to go library to study and gets home late. mum's cooking meals ant putting it in the freezer, but then there's stuff like fresh produce and washing etc that needs t be done. i don't have time to cook (not that i can properly...) and if i did time then there's also washing all the pans and stuff. but food wise i think we'll be ok since we do have 4 fridges....and i'll probably end up wearing the same things for two weeks. first time mum going away overseas with any of us...she's going there with my cousin, but coming back, not sure if she can even make her way back from the airport...she has a horrible sense of direction. and because my lazy ass brother is too lady to learn to drive (seriously, i got my P's in yr 11), i have to drive him home from tutoring etc since dad might have work, and some buses don't run that late. and mid sems are next week already, and it is essential i don't get any supps this sem, so this is turning out to be so argh. wasting an hour each time just because he can't drive. 

duck from the other night (:

thought i would show you guys what dilated pupils looked like. when you go unsw to get your eyes tested, they do every single possible test, unlike your normal optometrist. so last year we had a compulsory visit, and same as this year, and it included get drops put in. these ones make your pupil super big so people can use other instruments to look in it, so it's super helpful for the clinician, but as the patient your D= that morning i went it was full raining but after the eye exam it was full sunny! so i had to walk down main walkway with my eyes closed since i forgot to bring my sunnies, and with dilated pupils its a horrible experience (obviously you don't tell your patients that). your eyes are just very light sensitive and you can't see things close up, and have to hold your phone at arms length. and can't do any writing etc since everything is blurry for a few hours. that is all (: