There’s a joke in the beloved but ill-fated Netflix series “The Brothers Sun”, where they talk about going to the “Number 1 Seafood Restaurant in Alhambra,” only to find that this was merely the name of the restaurant and not a reflection at all about the restaurant’s quality.
This is similar to what happened to me, as I fell victim to a puff piece by 7NEWS Australia, and ended up at “Sydney Best Dim Sim” in Eastwood, purchasing a selection of frozen disappointments to steam at home.
While I don’t have photos of every individual thing, I do have a representative sample. I had the scallop dumpling 带子饺 (8 for $9)
, which was unenjoyable. It was difficult to ascertain the presence of scallop, and the texture of the filling was very homogenous, pasty, and sticky – nowhere near the quality of a yum cha restaurant or one of my preferred frozen dim sum suppliers in Sydney. You’re simply not meant to be able to squeeze filling through the tines of a fork like that.
I faced a similar problem with the gow choi gow / prawn and chives dumpling (韭菜饺) (6 for $7.80), again with filling that was a sticky clumped mess, minimal evidence of actual seafood, and this time with not much chive flavour either.
Overall
I am somewhat doubtful that the ones spruiking this place have even tried the dim sum on offer. They are demonstrably inferior to options from Lai Shing Dim Sim Factory, as well as Ho’s Dim Sim Kitchen, both in Marrickville, and both of which provide truly restaurant grade frozen dim sum for the same price.
At the end of the day it’s my own fault for trusting traditional commercial media, when I don’t even trust food influencers who may even take a free meal.
All meals on this blog are paid for independently. Many, like this one, with regret.
Sydney Best Dim Sim
Shop 23/185 Rowe St, Eastwood NSW 2122
4 replies on “Sydney Best Dim Sim – Eastwood NSW Restaurant Review”
These dumplings look so terrible! I recommend Best Tastes Dim Sim at Homebush West if you haven’t tried it. I actually live near Marrickville but would rate it far above Ho’s Dim Sim Kitchen, particularly the steamed buns. Best Tastes’ steamed buns don’t have that ammonia scent that can permeate and sadly, Ho’s definitely has that. Best Tastes offers a small selection of takeaway dumplings kept warm and on weekends the range of ready to eat is a bit larger. The chicken glutinous rice (lo mai gai) isn’t bad from there either. I grew up having Ho’s often and I don’t know if they have gone downhill but it isn’t as good as I remember now.
Oops, sorry I just realised you reviewed Best Tastes in 2021… I was surprised you didn’t mention them. Highly recommend a revisit if you haven’t dropped in for a while. They definitely do more than just the egg tart now on weekends!
Then let me recommend a different place for ready to eat dim sum on weekends! Lung Kee Dim Sum in Carlingford. Large variety particularly fried treats. Gets busy on weekends but the location on a quiet row of street means it isn’t hard to find street parking. Opening hours can be erratic during the week.
https://lungkeedimsum.wordpress.com/
Thanks for the recommendation! We’re very rarely in Carlingford these days (aside from the occasional extended family dinner in Carlingford Village) but I’ll add them to the Google Maps in case we’re ever in the area during their opening hours.
Ooo, follow up. I had a look at recent reviews afterwards and it looks like there is new ownership and food has gone downhill. I haven’t patronised for a while so definitely not worth a special trip out there! What a shame. It’s so hard to find good takeaway dim sum items although it seems like Riverwood is a burgeoning scene for good food. I read there’s a decent claypot rice that I wanna try out there.