It’s a girly afternoon that brings my friend Gina, Teena and I to Sky Phoenix. We’ve left the boys behind and are going to Yum Cha, shopping and the latest Sex and The City movie. The boys don’t mind, they’re more than grateful that they don’t have to sit through the movie which for a straight man is as bewildering and foreign as washing the dishes or the world of shoe shopping. The only part that the boys would miss is the Yum Cha. We usually go to Sky Phoenix as a) it looks chic inside b) we never have to wait and c) the food is good and the trolley ladies always stop and explain to us what they have in English. Having waited once for a table for 2 hours at Yum Cha (Kam Fook), I’ve been permanently scarred by the experience and we’ve also had trolley ladies whiz past us not willing to stop (Marigold Citymark) where I also saw Adman Siimon Reynolds get just as frustrated at the trolleys flying past and not stopping for him either (I guess they really didn’t know who he was 
).
Pork with honey and black pepper sauce $9.80
We want to sit near the window but they won’t let us, despite the fact that the two areas are empty and remain so even after we leave. Many trolleys stop by and we take advantage of this and crowd our table with dishes so that we can talk without being interrupted. The first dish we select happens to be a “kitchen special” ($9.80), a small square plate of pork pieces coated in a honey and black pepper sauce. The pork is crispy and fattily delicious and the sauce deliciously sweet with a hint of hotness. I don’t know if the small serving necessarily warrants the price tag but it’s delicious nevertheless.
Scallop dumplings
The scallop dumplings are next, plump with seafood with the delicate translucent skin, although it could be prawns as well as the prized scallops for all we can discern.
Spinach and Seafood dumplings
The spinach and seafood dumplings are next, one of my firm favourites. They’re delicious and flavoursome with crunchy pockets of water chestnuts and all at the table murmur our agreement at its goodness. And having so much spinach in them can only attest to how healthy they are, right?
Yam dumplings
One of my favourite yum cha dishes is next, the yam dumplings. Although I prefer the steamed dumplings, I can never go past these dumplings. Coated in a fine lacey golden deep fried outer that crumbles and collapses in the mouth to reveal a gooey yam mash centre with mung beans and pork. I love dipping this in sweet and sour sauce and reveling in it’s soft and crispy textures.
Prawn Har Gow
The Har Gow is a favourite of mine and my husband’s and we’ve been known to order 4 of these at a Yum Cha seating. These are 4 plump prawn filled dumplings. There are two kinds of Yum Cha restaurants, ones that will serve piddly little Har Gow with tiny minced up prawns or the ones that serve these big plump dumplings with whole or halved prawns. Thankfully most good ones will have these although when I do come across one of the smaller ones I’m not happy. It’s also handy as it’s the only Chinese Yum Cha item that I know how to say in Chinese without eliciting a puzzled expression.
Ham sui gok
The Ham Sui gok (ok this is a second item I can vaguely pronounce), a pale, deep fried football of goodness, has crispy, sticky outer courtesy of the rice flour that sticks to your teeth. It’s filled with a delicious minced pork and dried prawn interior. And despite my rather poor explanation, they are better than they sound.
Custard dumplings
We’re done with our savouries now and going onto the sweets. We’ve spotted a cute pumpkin shaped fried dumpling and we’re told it has not pumpkin, but custard inside. The pumpkin stem is actually the top of a bird’s eye chili. As Gina points out, it’s someone’s job to put the little details on these things and one of them being putting the chili stem onto these dumplings. The blistered pale deep fried surface is similar to the Ham Sui Gok and hides a delicious thick custard inside. It’s like a tastier, cuter custard puff.
Black sesame and mango dessert
Our last dish is the one chosen simply because it looked like sushi and we had never seen it before. It has a black sesame jelly outer and a mango pudding filling. Black sesame can either be gorgeous in desserts or jarring and in this case it is jarring with a smokey, savoury sesame oil flavour to it. We peel off the outer jelly and eat the delicious mango pudding jelly inside.
We’re full and ready for a spot of shopping and the movie to end all girly movies. And the total damage? $56.10. More money for Manolos which would make Carrie proud.
Sky Phoenix
Level 3, Skygarden
77 Castlereagh Street Sydney NSW 2000
Open 7 days
Also a location at Manly, Rhodes and Castle Hill
http://www.phoenixrestaurants.com.au/
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14 Comments | Add your own
What interesting looking desserts! I’ve never seen anything like them at the Yum Cha places I frequent. I love their presentation (even if, unfortunately in the case of the second dessert, the sesame doesn’t work quite well – the outer jelly is so dark I thought it was licorice at first).
That first pork dish looks incredibly good too, by the way!
That pumpkin looking dessert looks excellent! I’ve never seen such intricate work at Yum Cha
Hey there
I’ve been to the Sky Phoenix at Rhodes and even my dad loved it (picky yum cha eater). A man at the Ogawa massage chair shop at Bondi Junction said it was best yum cha in Sydney. He also mentioned that the best pho was actually in Blacktown! The food was great and was well balanced and everyone was very pleased. Dad was even more pleased with the bill! It worked out to be just a bit over $20 per person! We did have to line up for over an hour for a table of 12, along with all the other hungry families with their prams and children. That will teach us to go on a Sunday without booking!
I could go a custard dumpling right about now. Looks so pretty and delicious!
awwww–i love the little punkins! i’ll bet they were as delicious as they are cute. it looks like you had a lovely time with your gal pals!
Hi Y-I know, even though we were probably quite full, we had to try them, just to see what they were like!
It does look quite licorice-y and of course me being a bit blind thought it was sushi 
Hi Popeye-I’d definitely recommend that dessert, it was so good with the thick custard inside and crispy outside…
Hi Maria T-Oh cool! So it passed the fussy parent test
I like the idea of going somewhere that is so crowded with people because you’ll know it’s good. Just a pity about the actual wait in the queue! Good to know that it was all worth it in the end
Hi grace-They were really almost too cute to eat-ALMOST!
We did, I just don’t think I could go to SATC with my husband and enjoy it as he’d be snoring in no time.
I share your soft spot for Yum Cha. My family and I went through a 3 month stint of once weekly Yum Cha..it very nearly killed me but somehow I’m even more addicted! I love your blog – let me know if it would be fine to add yours to my blogroll!
I share your soft spot for Yum Cha. My family and I went through a 3 month stint of once weekly Yum Cha..it very nearly killed me but somehow I’m even more addicted! I love your blog – let me know if it would be fine to add yours to my blogroll: http://www.fooderati.blogspot.com
my friend and i conducted an experiment on the best time to go for yum cha. 10:45am (10:30am the earliest) .. it’s when the first round of yum cha dishes are done (if you go earlier, you don’t get the variety) and you beat the crowd which means more attention from trolley ladies.
also, it’s always quicker to get a table for 2.
anddd if you know what you want, just flag down the waiter (chinese style i.e. loud) and say what you want, you get it quicker
What did you think of the movie Lorraine? I’m yet to see it!
Those pork balls look so invitingly sticky and yum! I’d never seen Yam dumplings before.. they don’t look as tasty as you say they are.. but that’s what ‘grown up’ eating is about isn’t it?..lol! I generally don’t get put off by appearances when it comes to food! The crispy Ham sui gok looks lovely (the football!) – as do the *custard* dumplings.. YUMM! I thought they had cloves on them.. not chilli stems!
And very interesting black sesame and mango dessert. Just aswell that you could peel off that outer layer.
Hey and what’s with the not letting you sit by the window? Were they keeping the area free for VIP’s maybe?
Hi Maria-I LOVED it, it was just like watching half a season on a gigantic screen.
I know, they don’t look very tasty but believe me, they were pretty good! I still had a tiny bit of chili on mine and they were quite large. I think cloves might be a bit too strong a scent for them.
I know, thankfully we could “save” them by peeling off that bit. The inside was great!
I know, so weird. There were two separate sections by the window that weren’t used. Very odd, they said it was for a booking…
Hi Maria,
we are planning to visit Japan, was wondering if you could mail me something…like best time to visit, cities to go to (during this season), stuff to do..etc etc
After all you’ve experienced it all first hand!
Hope u can help!(if its not too much)
snoritaz123@yahoo.com
Thanks
Navita
Yummie! that looks really really good
best yumcha in brisbane?..the china house..totally recommended if you ever travel through brisbanes fortitude valley:)
One Trackback/Pingback
[...] Pumpkin dumplings appear to be popping up at Yum Chas everywhere. And of course none of them appear to have any pumpkin inside them despite their obvious pumpkin-y appearance. I had hoped for some pumpkin custard as the woman who was bringing them around said that they were pumpkin dumplings. One bite into the chewy, starchy, vividly hued dumpling and we see that it is filled with a taro mash. It’s unusual and despite the fact that I love yam, I think I prefer the texture and taste of Sky Phoenix’s custard filling. [...]
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