The contents of this blog are matters of opinion formed over one more visits. There has been some artistry applied and metaphors and similes should not necessarily be taken literally.
Cha Dim House 一厘棧 was the first of three Burwood restaurants we ate on a single day, and the first of two of which made up my post-night breakfast with my partner. This particular location was chosen by her in part to help me with my post-night shift decision fatigue.
We had this five spice pork and taro roll 芋絲五香豬肉捲 ($3.80) which was fried, crispy on the outside and tasty, though a little bit salty on the inside. Not bad.
The pork siu mai 猪肉烧卖 (4 for $8.50) was quite well structured, with meat and large prawns however, very very salty, too salty for enjoyment and thus cannot be recommended by me.
The radish cake 蘿葡糕 ($2.30) was pretty good, and not a large price to pay for one variety of food.
The puff pastry egg tarts 酥皮蛋挞, which were $3.50 each were pretty good.
And finally, the steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce 豉汁蒸排骨($10.50) I wouldn’t recommend, given the price, as well as the fact that I’ve easily had better steamed from a frozen pack from one of my preferred frozen dim sum purveyors.
THOUGHTS Despite variable quality of its offerings, this kind of restaurant is a particularly good place where a solo eater could get a number of different things for a relatively small price. For that reason, it’s not neccessarily a pass.
Cha Dim House 一厘棧 Murray Arcade (Burwood Chinatown), Shop 7, 127/135 Burwood Rd, Burwood NSW 2134
Feng You Dim Sim 逢友点心 is pretty good. It is a small dim sum restaurant in Hurstville with both indoors and outdoors seating, where you order at the table by drawing ticks or circles on a paper menu. The obvious benefit of this system is that you don’t have to worry about having to catch the eye of roaming aunties with trolleys and hoping that you’re in a good table position to get the prime items before they run out. There is also a full colour menu with prices and item names in English, taking away another part of the mystery of ordering, making it all very accessible to non-Chinese reading or speaking folks.
This is the Meat Roll ($8.30), a name which doesn’t really express that it is wrapped in a sheet of bean curd. The bean curd sheet was a bit harder than expected, which gave it better structural integrity at the cost of more pleasant mouthfeel. This was prawnless, which seems to be a deviation from the standard, but my partner thought that this made it friendlier to a broader audience.
The steam pork ribs with black bean sauce ($8.30) were not bad, though it was odd tos ee it come with taro (is it usually like that?) as well as green chilli, which was not what was pictured on the photo menu. I can only assume it’s a seasonal thing?
The chicken feet with black bean sauce ($8.30) were solid, though again with green chilli. Please note that while this photo only depicts three feet, it came with four. My dining partner could not wait to sink her teeth in.
The chicken feet came with peanuts? How odd.
I’m not usually a lover of radish cakes, but the combination fried cakes ($8.30) with a selection of radish, taro (too starchy), and water chestnut (too sweet with a weird gelatinous texture) made me appreciate the radish one, which was honestly not too bad and quite umami.
The mushroom & chinese broccoli rice noodle wrap ($10.80) I could’ve lived without, especially as the prawn ones are the same price.
The chives and prawn dumpling ($8.30) were wow. The best I’ve had in a long time. Extremely fragrant, fresh and tasty chives and a good filling of prawn also. It would be worth going back just for this.
The chew chow style dumpling ($8.30) were fine. They kind of came 15 minutes after the previous dish, by which point we were pretty full. I suspect they were forgotten, and will note that they did forget some of the dishes for some of the other customers.
OVERALL
A solid yum cha experience, super accessible to non-Chinese readers and speakers, with killer jiu cai jiao. Worth coming back just for those alone.
Feng You Dim Sim 逢友点心 7/11 The Avenue, Hurstville NSW 2220 (02) 9580 2251
We’ve been to Silver Territory an unusual number of times (4 within the last 6 months) with our friends WHJ XWO CJP and NT, but they have yet to disappoint, both in terms of a regular succulent Chinese sit-down meal, as well as for their yum cha offerings.
I will bore you only with some brief dot-pointed thoughts, after which you may feast your eyes on some photos:
Our first visit was meant to be for their evening yum-cha offering, but we found that this only happened on certain nights of the week, and we had to order from a usual formal Chinese menu instead. This was actually quite good, the kind of dinner my parents would have.
Of the sit down dishes, the king prawn omlette I thought was really good and creamy.
Of the yum cha dishes, their chives and prawn dumplings were good, their chicken feet were good, in fact most things were good.
Perhaps the goodest or most interesting was their radish cake, a yum cha item that will gain a spot as a featured item below, chopped up into bite sized portions and stir fried rather than served as large slabs. Much oil, much wok hei, much delicious.
Verdict
This restaurant is not better or worse than any other yum cha establishment in Burwood. Solid, in fact, and usually a shorter queue but more rapid and Chinese style service than Royal Treasure Seafood Restaurant in Emerald Square.
This will be a quick play by play of our yum cha lunch at The Eight, chosen because sadly Marigold is no more, and The Eight had 2 hours of free parking (though we overstayed by like 20 minutes and paid $9 for the privilege).
These pork spare ribs in black bean sauce were fine. Pretty meaty, not super fatty. Flavour I thought was a bit too mild.
I think these steamed chicken feet could’ve been steamed a little bit longer, but the flavour was good.
I actually also thought these bean curd skin rolls could’ve been more flavoured.
The steamed chive dumplings were fine, not extraodinary, and could’ve used more chive taste. I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with my specifically, things just tended towards blandness.
The shu mai were good, and adequately flavoured.
The texture and flavour of this this doufu fa was good.
The steamed custard buns were really good! My first one burst hot liquid all over me and the table, and our friend MP gave up hers so I could have an extra.
Overall We had a pretty decent and well priced meal, spending around $32 per person for yum cha, with 2 hours free parking down below during the day, and unlimited free parking after 6PM (important for CBD lunch considerations). My partner had had dinner with her mother and brother the previous week and had a similarly good experience.
Not bad (though I think Marigold was better. RIP.)
The Eight Market City Shopping Centre, Level 3/13 Hay St, Haymarket NSW 2000 (02) 9282 9988
As someone who is neither a gambler nor a returned serviceman I’ve seldom had the opportunity or desire to visit my local RSL club, but a recent move to Campsie and the promise of weekday yum cha at the local RSL was reason enough to change this. Being a recent transplant to the club’s 5km radius I was asked to sign up as a member for the year – a very nominal fee for a nice card with a horrible photo of me, 20% off my meal, and presumably voting rights, though I can’t find a copy of the club’s constitution online.
What struck me as I gazed at the wall of powerful faces in the club’s lobby was the very interesting racial and age make-up of its board of directors. Though at the last census in 2016 the median age in Campsie was 34 and the largest group by ancestry was Chinese at 31% of the local population followed by Nepalese at 6.9%, the distinguished gentleman (and they were all gentleman) who steer the RSL were of a distinctly more Caucasian (the club is located on Anglo Rd) and more experienced vintage than what you would expect. While the club doesn’t publish a racial breakdown of its membership, a glance around the dining hall’s patrons suggested that 31% Chinese ancestry could even be a bit on the conservative side, as far as estimates go. This of course wouldn’t account for the proportion of the membership who remain part of the club for its other facilities.
A diverse board is generally thought to be a safe board, and as I waited for my food to arrive at my table I reflected that whilst the club’s board of directors may not be as diverse at face value, it is extremely possible that they are diverse in other ways. I joked to my partner that I perhaps I should at the next election – after all I have a name and face similar to the membership, as well as a few years of non-profit directorship experience under my belt – but she told me to stop talking about nonsense and focus on my primary exam instead.
And now to the food. These durian pastries were really pretty good. The actual pastry of it was quite buttery and flaky and nice in that regard, though the durian filling was a bit too sweet for me.
These egg tarts met the critical criteria for being egg tarts, but I did not feel that they went above and beyond. Stronger candidates in this area might feature a flakier crust, though perhaps my enjoyment of these was tempered by both the excellent pastry of the durian cake and the fact that I had to have both egg tarts as my partner does not like them.
I was not a fan of these black bean pork ribs, unusual for me, but my partner found nothing wrong with them.
The chive and prawn dumplings were good, though (and I don’t know if this is seasonal) I felt that better 韭菜饺 have a greater level of fragrance to them.
I enjoyed these chicken feet. These met the standard set by my extensive yum cha training a a child growing up in Western Sydney.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the beef rice noodle rolls, the filling felt like the difference between a party sausage roll from the freezer aisle at Coles and an artisanal sausage roll baked on site.
I can’t comment on the turnip cake as I’ve never been a fan, but my partner was satisfied.
OTHER THOUGHTS, CONTINUED
Ultimately while I like to daydream about a get out the vote campaign leveraging the local Chinese community via WeChat, ultimately being a director of an organisation with such a significant involvement in gambling just isn’t what I’m looking for right now. Some inspired soul could potentially stand for election and use their position to reduce gambling in our clubs.
Sun Ho Campsie RSL Club, 25 Anglo Rd, Campsie NSW 2194 (02) 9784 0200
