I’m always up for Yum Cha, especially in larger groups when you get to try more dishes. So, off to Rhodes to meet a group of friends, including friends who live nearby and had suggested it.
It’s kind of an odd setting, underneath a large concrete apartment building. We agreed to a table outside, which, on a windy Sunday afternoon, was not a particularly good idea
Yum Cha is incredibly labour-intensive, all those dumplings and other complicated dishes, so in a smaller restaurant like this, the work of the chefs would be to defrost and steam the frozen products, and fry and bake up the others. So, it’s never going to have the quality of restaurants that make their products on site.
Still, who can tell? Restaurants all over Sydney (and home cooks like this one) are steaming up frozen dumplings, and they are delicious.
It was such a diverse group of people (parents trying to feed their toddlers, some vegetarians) that the food selection was mayhem. I thought that the food was fine… nothing special, nothing terrible. The service was a bit confused. The tea was fine. This is apparently a much quieter, quicker and possibly cheaper option that Phoenix in Rhodes. I would say it’s fine if you’ve got a yum cha craving and are meeting friends in the neighbourhood!
With all the mayhem, I didn’t take any photos of the food, but the empty plates are obviously a sign that we enjoyed it enough (or were hungry!)