From Blakehurst to Rooty Hill, your guide to Sydney’s best yum cha

The Lunar New Year – also known as Chinese New Year — starts on Sunday. From Blakehurst to Rooty Hill, here’s where to find your Sydney’s best yum cha in the Year of the Rabbit.

Delicious delights at The Palace Chinese Restaurant. Picture: Supplied

In recent years Sydney has lost two yum cha institutions in Marigold and Golden Century, but that doesn’t mean the appetite for the meal has died with it.

In fact, now more restaurants in Sydney are offering yum cha on their menus — from Little Pearl in Manly’s vegan yum cha offering, to Surry Hills’ Chin Chin’s summertime Yum Cha feast complete with tea-inspired cocktails in glass teapots on Saturdays and Sundays.

Is there anything better to do on a Sunday than plop down with family or a handful of hungover friends for the crowded, messy, rushed vibrancy of Sydney-style yum cha?

You’re bumped and jostled. You crane your neck to see what’s on the approaching trolleys.

The sauce from a moving plate of crispy-skinned chicken ends up on your sleeve. The solution to everything is another round of prawn dumplings. And pour me another Chinese tea.

Here are some of the best yum cha locations in Sydney.

THE EIGHT, CHINATOWN

The Eight Yum Cha Restaurant.

Bypass a western-style brunch for the torrent of fluffy barbecue pork buns and mango pancakes – both are excellent here – on the top floor of Market City in Chinatown. Arriving early ensures a spot at this very popular yum cha destination, which opens at 9am on weekends. This is a ballroom-meets-ballpark sized room – it seats 750 – with the low ceilings and mirrored columns of so many in this ilk.

The Eight is at the top of many people’s culinary lists, and it does shine bright.

Try the wu gok, a textural pork and mushroom morsel encased in a thick layer of taro batter. It looks brittle but dissolves like fairy floss in your mouth.

Little bites from The Eight. Picture: Supplied

THE PALACE, CBD

The Palace Chinese Restaurant. Source: Instagram.

This is the messy, noisy, hectic, quality yum cha destination of our happiest stereotypes.

The trolleys are fast, the steamed baskets piled high, the tables enormous and the prawn-filled cheung fun – folded rice-noodle rolls – slippery and perfect.

The food is eclectic but identifiable, spanning thick golden spring rolls and little rounds of prawn toast, transparent jewels of steamed dumplings.

There are more inventive dishes too: think XO kangaroo and garlicky, deep-fried quail.

This is a no-fuss and yet discerning yum cha, where produce quality is high and cooked to perfection.

CHU BY CHINA DOLL, ROOTY HILL

Chu by China Doll at West HQ. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts

Who doesn’t love China Doll? So combine the flavours of this classic Sydney restaurant with a yum cha menu, and what’s not to love? Situated inside the West HQ complex, Chu by China Doll offers a yum cha menu on Saturday and Sunday that’s become quite the hotspot. The restaurant includes all the yum cha favourites, like steamed buns and dumplings but also includes some new additions like cheeseburger spring rolls or Hokey Pokey Parfait with finger lime and Asian pear.

Duck Pancakes, Barramundi Fillet, Pork and Prawn Shu Mai, Vegetable Gyoza, Pork Xiao Long Bao, Hokey Pokey Parfait and ChuÕs Mango Pancake at the CHU Restaurant by China Doll. Picture: Jonathan Ng

EAST OCEAN, HAYMARKET

This slick, elegant restaurant in the heart of Haymarket takes the idea of yum cha up a notch. There’s the usual march of trolleys wielding steaming baskets and plates of wobbling custard tarts but the koi-adorned fabric on the chairs, the neon blue strip lighting, black walls and plush navy carpets make this one of the more sophisticated yum cha spots in town.

The usual gastronomic suspects are here.

East Ocean Seafood Restaurant. Source: Instagram.

Think: chicken feet, rice noodle rolls with Chinese doughnut, an endless array of dim sum. Don’t miss the deep-fried ma tuan with black sesame paste, glutinous and crispy, a perfect chew before giving away to the nutty, soft centre.

GOLDEN UNICORN, MAROUBRA

There’s a queue running up the stairs to Golden Unicorn from Maroubra Road, but bypass it and grab a ticket for a table first.

There’s no denying the popularity of this eastern suburbs yum cha spot with its slightly toned-down, less noisy offering.

Trolleys move about the tables as though in a ballet, pausing to pirouette momentarily, taking a bow and moving off stage.

Look out for sea-sweet prawn hair gow, slippery cheung fun, and chewy pork, vegetable and peanut siu mai that are fresh and textured. The black fungus dumplings and pipi, fish or chicken congee are among the best in Sydney.

THE DYNASTY, BELMORE

The Dynasty is one of Sydney’s finest Asian dining experiences.

Who needs jet lag, or a time machine, when you can transport yourself to ancient China via the Canterbury Leagues Club?

In a wonderfully-faux yet somehow fabulous rendition of what might be a banquet hall in ancient China, The Dynasty often demands hour-long waits for a table unless you book ahead. A bamboo curtain ceiling, indoor rainforest and waterfall create the strangely authentic, fun vibe.

Mark yum cha orders on paper and the bamboo steamers arrive on a trolley at once, while any additional orders are walky-talkied in.

IMPERIAL PEKING, BLAKEHURST

Imperial Peking Blakehurst. Picture: Facebook.

Situated on King George’s Road, this restaurant is often called ‘Yum Cha Daily’ thanks to the large banner advertising the service that hangs on the front door.

It’s been in the area for 30 years, and, on the weekends the crowds show no sign of abating. The restaurant is known for its traditional yum cha service, complete with chicken feet.