The Empress – a yum cha favourite
TRANSLUCENT dumplings, sweet barbecued pork, plump and fluffy white steamed buns – Sundays at the Empress offer up yum-cha dining as it should be.
WE have a booking, but our celebratory group is standing in a line snaking well out of the restaurant door. It’s for Sunday yum cha, a Chinese tradition so popular that some disorganisation in catering to the constant flow of diners is a given.
As the 11am and noon crowds filter out, the Empress crew are quickly setting 1pm tables, some possibly for the third or fourth sitting of the day.
During the week, yum cha at the Empress is a nice little feast, but the charm of this Chinese event is a bit lost because you just tick the dishes off a paper menu, and wait for it to come to the table.
Sundays are better. Every table is packed for the big hubbub, and the ooh-I’ll-have-that, and-that, and-that, fun of food being rolled on trolleys, as per tradition, from table to table.
The passing wafts from open steam baskets filled with translucent dumplings, sweet barbecued pork encased in plump and fluffy white steamed buns, the colour of gnarly long fingers of spiced squid, or possibly dragon beard prawns are temptations that keep up the chorus of “one more please”.
It’s a truly enjoyable Sunday lunch. As the waiter sets down another plate or basket, and ticks the dish off the table list, you might wonder if this bill is adding up fast.
Yet today, our hungry group of 10 pays just $37 each for a feast, including Chinese teas, two bottles of white wine, and a $1 per person holiday surcharge. We only skip dessert.
The evolving spread has included prawn and scallop dumplings, shared buns filled with salty sweet barbecued pork, extra squid, loose and tasty chicken salted fish fried rice, sticky pork ribs, shallot cakes that are among the better versions about town, and moreish fingers of stuffed eggplant.
Others might choose authentic yum cha staples such as stewed tripe, chicken feet with pickles, and Singaporean radish cakes. It’s perfect for groups and families with different fancies, at a very reasonable price.