Its amazing how your weekend can be dictated by your dining experiences. You shuffle dinner plans, catch up over breakfast or as often is the case for us - lunch after a big night out to cure some serious hunger pains! What better way to sort this out than with a big Yum Cha lunch at The Eight Chinese Restaurant in Haymarket. By the time Demos and I stumble around and adjust our eyes to the light of day, it was 1:30 pm on a Saturday and being a self proclaimed yum cha veteran - I knew it would be peak hour madness.
After shoulder charging through the crowd to get a precious ticket, we use our smarts and avoid the heaving crowd and wait it out at the adjacent Chatime cafe kiosk. Hydration when its needed the most! I think with any weekend Yum Cha visit - you have to know what you are in for. Let's be honest here - and I'm not speaking just for my immediate friendship group..but Yum Cha is THE BEST HANGOVER FOOD and we were at The Eight for this very reason.
That being said there are aspects of Yum Cha that do not appeal to that particular state of being. The crowds and the never-ending wait can definitely tip anyone over the edge, add to that the Yum Cha boss lady on a power trip with her portable microphone machine.. its survival of the fittest. If that doesn't break you then i'm sure the fluorescent lights will.
But enough about that, once seated - if its food you want, then its food you are going to get! With Yum Cha, I always feel like its luck of the draw. You either get a good table where all the trolley ladies seem to pass, or a pretty average spot in the corner where you get all the boring dishes leftover. This instance, we were seated with a prime positioned table and as long as the wait was - the food came hella quick. See that tidy table pictured above? Its about to get messy!
I practically tackle every lady with bamboo steamers in their trolleys to get to my favorites - Steamed Pork Siu Mai and Steamed Prawn Gow Gee. I was quite impressed by the generous size of these dumplings and both were very very tasty. We were off to a good start with these two dishes.
Before even denting our dumplings, another lady with a tray of Peking Duck Pancakes passes by and I immediately grab her attention. I know from experience that you have to fight for these and that you have to be quick! Again, impressed by the generous chunk of duck in the pancakes - not just a sliver of meat here! The skin is still oh so crispy and both the duck meat and the pancake wrapper are still very warm. The plump meat with the sweet hoisin sauce made me want to hunt that tray down again!
