~ Curious Charlie ~

All-You-Can-Eat Yum Cha @ Oriental Teahouse - Chadstone @ Thursday, September 24, 2015

Wednesday 26th August

This week's adventure was yum cha not with the family as that one time a year we eat out (the family does not eat out - ever), but with friends. Something different was it wasn't a Sunday lunch, but rather the preferred time slot of a week night dinner.

Oriental Teahouse has $30 for all-you-can-eat yum cha on different days, depending on the location and this week we went to Chadstone. Chapel St is on the list for next month.

On arrival (everyone, the others around us were very prompt) we were seated outside (yay!) but in the corner. The good - lighting and less people, there was one table next to us. We were seated on the verandha which had two tables. Everyone else was inside (full house) or opposite the walkway in the smoking-friendly zone.

Raspberry Lime Iced Tea $4.50

Drink menus were offered, being a teahouse there was no free tea, le beau thought yum cha tea was free - no it's like $2.50 a head whether you drink it or not, and when I point out I don't want/like tea they pretend not to speak English. There was a teapot in the background to hold utensils.

Madison and I both picked the 'Raspberry Lime Iced Tea' $4.50, which turned out to be very popular, for the outdoor group (full house inside, overflowed to fill half the outdoor seating area) collectively ordered a tray of it. I prefer the mason jar rather than coke float/milkshake glasses.

Sauces there was something that tastes like butter/may, hot sauce, sweet & sour (dead bug included) and soy sauce. We didn't use any, and there was no one to ask for more sauce, the waiters were speeding around, no time to talk.

Like yum cha someone bring a trolley or in this case very heavy tray around is sample/canape sizes of everything (except dumplings, that's normal size) and you say yes/no and how many. We found that one per person was a good idea.

Chicken San Choi Bao - The mess starts. This was the only green thing we collectively ate this evening. For there were no vegetables. Coincidentally this was the first asian dish we ever made in food tech class.

BBQ Pork Buns (2) $6*

Sweet, Marinated Pork in Fluffy White Buns

Pork Bun - We always have to start with pork buns le beau would say, he loves them. I do too, but only the vegetarian ones. Mother ruined asian food for me, because that's her specialty. I didn't eat these btw.

Pork & Vegetarian Spring Rolls - The vegetarian was average. I've had great vegetarian spring rolls before and this is not one of them. Tastes above something from the freezer but not much.

Deep Fried Prawns in Wonton Wrappers - Yum! All this needs is sweet chili sauce. But there was no one around to take my sauce requests.

Spring Rolls, Love Them!

Fried Tofu - To be eaten dipped in the soy sauce.

I'm not sure what these are called.

Wontons but different? I didn't eat this.

Peking Duck - YUM! This was the highlight of the session, triumphing even dessert! Next time I'll take 3 (no not to share, just for me). I absolutely love duck!

That big plate you see building up, that's jas running late.

Around came the trolley of steamed dumplings, of which there was about six variations. Lots of prawn, a bit of pork and one vegetarian option. This waitress was lovely and didn't want to be in the picture *I'm sorry*. The guy before here wasn't, he said no to pictures - and I wasn't after a picture of him.

We picked all the prawn ones, of which there were four of: har gaw (the one in the middle), ginger prawn (bottom), chives prawn and a fourth I forget. I discovered the name of that vegetable I don't like is chives!

At was at this point (jas still hadn't arrived as you can see) that Madison & I realized we'd ordered too much. And she ordered more than me, as she eats pork.

Fried Rice - Well it was vegetarian, so we gave it a go. Fried rice is fried rice. A quick fix lunch at home. A filler in this set.

At some point between the last couple dishes jas has arrived, he thought we were at Chapel St tonight because we spoke about plans of going there next month and he got confused as he often does.

Stirfry Style Chicken & Beef - Small but Tasty

Chinese Wonka Dumplings (3) $8

Fried sesame & sticky rice spheres filled with melted chocolate

Dessert! I was really hoping for deep fried ice cream, but they didn't have that. Instead there was... well read on to find out.

Wow that's a bad picture, but the table was pretty full so I couldn't move it closer, instead I leaned. Also towards the end it go colder and the lights dimmed. But these were good, I'd eat two.

Signature White Chocolate Dumplings (3 for $8)

Stuffed w white choc, topped off with peanut parline. Very sticky but yummy, needs more coconut. Much more.

Egg Custard Tarts (2) $6

Buttery pastry shells layered with sweet egg custard, traditional favourite

And we finished off with egg tarts, the classic yum cha dessert. Flaky in theory golden pastry, though it was white in this case, but still yum.

Dessert concluded with another round of drink orders, which I feel should have happened half way through the session. Also we were asked if there was anything else we'd like to order, as food was made and delivered in batches that wouldn't be available, but I feel like this is when you could ask for a salad.

Also something we noticed (ok, only Madison noticed, being the only adult in the group) was that the groups inside got stuff we didn't. In particular noodles and greens. There were no vegetables at all, other than a lettuce leaf.

Overall there were 16 savory things (that includes all the pork things I didn't eat) and 3 sweets. I didn't get a picture but there was pork belly.

I don't eat pork but there was plenty to eat. If you're a vegetarian don't bother. There's almost nothing for you.

The highlight was the peking duck (which we'll be sure to get more of next time).

I'd recommend skipping the fillers, like noodles and fried rice, and the vegetarian spring roll which was average. Next time I'll ask for all the sauces at the ordering drinks stage, including the plum sauce.

How does it compare to the normal menu? Well this menu is more traditional stuff so no fancy fusion food, like duck spring rolls. Read about our 2nd dinner/post-show snack here. But they had the same set of classic dumplings. Minus the scallop dumpling. I've posted a few prices to show how much this would cost normally.

The bill came to $99, for two drinks and all-you-can-eat for three people. Did we eat our money's worth? I'd say yes. Especially at Oriental Teahouse which is known for being expensive (see our $50 snack with drinks visit).

Service varies on who you get, I asked for a picture and one guy pretty much said no, while another moved (in a helpful way) when I tried to get a quick shot. Throughout the session we weren't offered water refills and weren't asked if we wanted to order more drinks. It was all very prompt.

Recommenced? Yes. Revisit? Yes, but first we'll visit the Chapel St store to compare.

Note - Not vegetarian friendly, but if you don't eat pork there's still plenty of prawn stuff. If you don't like seafood you'll have a harder time than me. If you're vegetarian, I'd call and ask if they can make you a salad or more vegetarian things.

Info

UNLIMITED YUM CHA $30pp
@CHAPEL ST - TUE nights, 6pm or 8pm (03 9826 0168)
@CHADSTONE - WED nights, 5:30pm or 7:30pm (03 9949 2071)
@LT COLLINS ST - FRI nights, 6pm or 8pm (03 9600 4230)
Book Online Here.

When was the last time you went to Yum Cha? What's your favourite dish?