Awards are controversial. Not only do people expect more but if it’s closely fought they tend to compare the contestants. And that’s exactly what I’m doing today when we’re dining at Palace Chinese restaurant this beautiful Sydney Sunday morning. And why was I up so early? Well I have to admit I set the alarm ready to go to an outdoor festival only to wake up and realise that it was next week. Yes embarrassing. So Teena, Philippe and baby Annabel and I make hasty alternative plans to Yum Cha in the city as Philippe wants to trawl the nearby luxury goods strip later.
Even though we are dining relatively late at 2pm (Yum Cha ends at 3pm) there is still a sizeable amount of people in there. Mr NQN and I usually prefer to eat a bit late as I hate queuing for a table and at this time we walk straight in and are seated. And a good thing as Philippe claims to be a “Starvin Marvin” and within minutes, our table is filled with all manner of delicious dumplings. The bamboo steamers are a little fancier and the service a little pushier. When we say “No” repeatedly to one who proffers up a single steamed basket in an effort to offload it, she proceeds to put it down on our table and then reach to stamp the card.
BBQ Pork buns
Har Gow
My favourite Yum Cha dumplings are the Har Gow. These are plump with prawns but a touch bland.
Spinach dumplings
I adore spinach dumplings but these suffer the same fate as the Har Gow above. And I’m to learn that it’s a bit of a trend for the steamed dumplings here…
Scallop dumpling
Yes again it is packed full of seafood but yes you guessed it, it was a bit bland.
Rice wrapped in lotus leaves
These little bundles of steamed, flavoured glutinous rice are delicious with bits of pork and boiled egg inside.
Spring Rolls
Our only concession to the deep fried trolley is the Spring Roll. Crunchy with flaky pastry they’re not bad although without a lot of filling.
Prawn rice paper rolls
These “slippery little suckers” are filled with plump prawns but the sweetish soy with a hint of sesame is lacking here and I find myself tarring this with the same bland brush.
Salt and pepper squid
My favourite item and not usually something that we order, it’s crisp and perfectly seasoned. I am glad we said yes to this one as I was fearing for my tastebuds for a second!
A dessert trolley whizzes past with Western style fruit tarts, jellies, and puddings.
Custard Tarts
The eggy custard tarts are a little firmer than I like (probably as they were baked a while back and kept in a warmer). The pastry isn’t as layered or amazing as I’ve had at other places. Indeed, I can’t count the layers on some egg custard tarts at some places as there are so many.
Mango Sago pudding
The Mango sago pudding with cubes of jelly, slices of tinned lychee, pearl sago and large sago balls is quite moreish and a nice way to end a meal that was disappointing in parts.
There isn’t anything particularly unusual here and for me the food, particularly the steamed dumplings, erred on the bland. If anything I prefer the Yum Cha at East Ocean or Sky Phoenix. What is interesting though is watching the trolley ladies after they finish. There are roughly 3 tables left at 3.30pm and the staff roll out a trolley of the leftover Yum Cha goodies to eat. Then out comes gigantic slices of leftover wedding cake for dessert!
So tell me Dear Reader, are you often disappointed when you eat out?
Palace Chinese
Shop 38 Level 1, Piccadilly Tower, 133 – 145 Castlereagh Street Sydney 2000
Tel: +61 (02)9283-6288
Open 7 days
On weekends parking vouchers can be purchased for $7
http://www.palacechinese.com.au
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37 Comments | Add your own
How disappointing that the steamed dumplings were all bland – that’s the reason I go to Yum Cha
You didn’t try chicken’s feet? 
I always order that, and love it 
At least you ended on a high note with the mango sago pudding!
My 3yr old has a name for this kind of food. She calls it Yummy Cha! – certainly a more apt name. Sadly we avoid being
disappointed by sticking to our
favourite places…boring I know.
Leftover wedding cake??? Bizarre… and I never knew that the staff ate the leftover yum cha items
i love their Mango Sago pudding to finish and salt and pepper squid. you missed out on one of their signature dishes though for yum cha, the scallop and prawn siu mai, it’s the best but i believe only available thurs-sat so not sure when you ate or if you saw it. check it out at http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/01/palace-chinese-restaurant-yum-cha-22.html
Too bad abt the har gow and spinach dumplings! Those are my fav.
And I really love dim sum, but I can’t stand the pushy ladies!
I just returned home from a run and saw this post. I am so hungry now. I may have to head for Chinatown! Great pictures.
Ah that’s a shame that you found the dumplings too bland. I don’t mind Sky Phoenix either but I prefer Palace & SP to any place in Chinatown. Less MSG, better service and I find the food better.
I find one of the most frustrating things about eating out is going to a specific restaurant for a special dish and finding that they’ve altered the recipe and it’s just not the same anymore…this can be so disappointing!
Ah – a place I’ve been to before!! It’s upstairs from my church, so we find ourselves here every now & then (when we have enough money! LOL)…I’ve also been to Sky Phoenix twice…is it still there in Market Street, or did it close when Skygarden closed? Anyway, I think I agree that the yum cha is better at Sky Phoenix…but the convenience of it being upstairs to where we go to church is the reason we go to Palace!
I love Prawn Har Gow as well!
I sometimes have disappointing meals, though luckily not too often.
I guess my husband and I are what you’d call fairly plain eaters. I am definitely more adventurous than he (being that he doesn’t even eat ROASTS!!) but the few times we’ve tried to eat at places with white tablecloths.. (fine dining? lol) we have always been disappointed. Me with the blandness of the food and Hubby with the fact that often there is zero simple dishes. Give us a good Italian restaurant anyday
but the prawn in rice paper rolls look SO yummy!! oh my mouth is drooling!
(an aside: the trolley lady sure has her eye on you in that picture!)
I have been here, and wasn’t that impressed. It was still good food, but the price and the service wasn’t great. For that area, I agree with other posts that Sky Phoenix is better.
Hmm.. I actually really really like Palace for the food because they have some “special” ones not found anywhere else. If you get another chance, I recently discovered their duck steamed dumpling which is divine.
Also try their scallop and prawn sui mai (yep, I’m quite sure there isn’t any pork in those although there maybe bits to hold it together but I never tasted any!).
Yay dumplings!!! pity they weren’t as good as you hoped.
hahaha come to Singapore! then i bring you and try our nice dim sum
Quite often, the better food is served up earlier rather than later in the day, that’s why I prefer to arrive around 11.30 as I like to avoid crowds as well, my friends don’t understand why I want to eat lunch so early! Pity you had a poor experience with the dumplings, I’ve eaten at Sky Phoenix lots of times as it was 12 floors below where I used to work and for me, it’s definitely gone down in quality from when it first opened so I’m preferring Palace now, but maybe it also depends on which chef is in the kitchen doing the dumplings as well – assuming that restaurants of that quality don’t ship them in frozen!
I tried this place out for the first time last Friday. Like you, I was rather disappointed. We were there from 12:00 and found there wasn’t a lot of choices on offer like other Yum Cha places. We had the scallop and prawn siu mai, which had flying fish roe within the siu mai mixture. I found the cooked flying fish roe a bit odd and didn’t like it that much.
I agree that the trolley ladies were very pushy however I was quite impressed with the continous free chilli top-up on our table.
I too prefer my Yum Cha at East Ocean. Will have to try Sky Phoenix for comparison.
I love dim sum places. I could eat trays and trays of those dumplings. I’m just curious. What camera did you use? I haven’t dared taking pictures of my food in restaurants. Is it a regular point and shoot or a more sophisticated one?
Oh they are my favourite too! I just LOVE dim sum
. I have been eating my way around Perth dim sum places for a few years now 
.
there is one just above eating world in chinatown.. u go up escalators, and yes its filled with alot of the older asian people playing on poker machinese, but the food there is alot cheaper and nicer..worth the try tho!
Ahh too bad this place wasn’t as good as expected.
I dont know why, but I tend to expect any yum cha place to be good as other places – like Yum cha should be good everywhere LOL
Bad yum cha places are the worst. I find you really need to go to yum cha early (like 11-11.30) so it’s more brunch than lunch. Food is fresher. Also.. I think a sign of a good yum cha place is the number of trolley ladies. The more trolley ladies means the greater variety of food.
I like Marigold on George St at Haymarket. It’s pretty consistent.
However, if u want to go to good yum cha where you can book (as opposed to queue)and then try yum cha at:
1. Dynasty at Cantebury Leagues Club
2. Crown Dragon at St George Leagues Club
It’s a bit odd… but yum cha places are popping up in leagues clubs all over Sydney?! My mum finds all these new places via the Chinese newspapers.
Hi Betty-I know, they’re my favourite things
Hhee my dining companions weren’t keen and I didn’t want to eat the whole thing by myself! 
yes that is true!
Hi Fiona -Haha how cute!
Not boring, quite logical I think! 
Hi Tina-I know! I didn’t know that either although I suppose the leftover YUm Cha makes sense. The wedding cake was funny though!
Hi Simon-I don’t like Siu Mai so I would have given it a miss I think. I prefer the translucnet skinned dumplings!
Hi Sophia -yes me too! I ahd high hopes!
Yes pushy is no good!
Hi Julia-Hehe good idea! After all you deserve it after a run
Hi aptronym-Yes I feared for my tastebuds for a while until i tried the S&P squid
Hi Faith-Yes that can be very disappointing indeed!
Especially if it’s a favourite dish!
Hi Liv -Ah cool!
Hmm good question, the city keeps changing and I haven’t been up that end lately! Ah yes there’s a lo to be said for a place so close by! 
Hi Lisa-We sometimes have to order 4 lots of them
That’s good to hear! 
Hi Lulu-He doesn’t? I thought everyone (except vegetarians) ate roasts :O What a shame for you guys to be always disappointed. Ahh yes, that’s a good standby to have!
Hi the projectivist-Love those slippery noodles! Haha she does doesn’t she! I saw that when I was editing the pics
Hi Andrew-Yes I like Sky Phoenix and I like the fact that they have unusual dishes too
Hi Vivz-We must have missed those
Duck steamed dumpling? Mmm sounds good and something that I haven’t seen elsewhere! 
Hi Anita-I know
I don’t have Yum Cha enough for my liking and always look forward to it!
Hi ladyironchef-Hehe now that would be fun!
Hi Moya-Yes I think you’re right. Oh no, I hope they don’t ship them in frozen but you never know I guess!
Hi angevb-Oh what a shame! 12o clock is definitely peak time and they should have heaps of choice out then. Yes some were way too pushy-I wonder if they get commission there?
East Ocean Yum Cha is great I agree!
Hi Jackie-I used a Canon EOS 450D DSLR. It’s big compared to a point and shoot but I love it!
Hi Madelin-hehe what a great thing to do!
Hi Amy-Ooh thanks for the rec! Sounds great! I love those kinds of places
Hi Yas-I know
Haha I know what you mean! They should all be good damnit! 
Hi paulina-Yes that’s true but I’m never up and about that early on weekends
Hmm interesting, I must pay attention to the number of trolley ladies vs the variety! 
Oh yes I’ve heard of these. We went to Rockdale RSL and they had it at night which was nice as I’ve always wanted Yum Cha at night 
I find EAst ocean a major rip off.MY friends have never paid so much in there lives and i’ll never be able to bring them back there.
Ive been back to some places i use to goto recently and the quality has dropped, which is really disappointing.
What do you call those fried square turnip things? sorry thats the best i can describe it
That’s too bad to hear that the dumplings were bland because they look so tasty. Glad everything else was good. Har cheung fun and deep-fried squid are two of my favorite dim sum dishes.
I love the pork buns normally – but if you want them at home, go to Delight Dim Sim in Hurstville (although don’t eat in!!) They make all the yum cha stuff and supply to the local restaurants… and you can whole trays of frozen or fresh dumplings for less than $5. Worth the trip!
We went to the Palace on Saturday, and I got a massive thirst about an hour later – MSG, maybe?
I do like the trolley ladies, though. They are the slightly pushy, motherly types who will look after you.
gosh…sorry to hear that it was a very bland lunch…I just can’t picture having bland dim sum…and the har kau is also my fav of all dimsum items!
Wow…that waitress on the right doesn’t look happy at all! hehe Maybe she doesn’t like her photo taken?
Hi sydneyguyrojoe-Oh really? I thought that it was pretty reasonable? I wonder why? Such a shame! I think they’re just called turnip and radish cakes in English but I’m not sure of the Chinese name.
Hi Palidor-I know, I was so disappointed!
Mmm yum! 
Hi Vic-OH yes my mum has mentioned this place too! Thanks for reminding me!
Hi Belle-Oh no! Perhaps! :O Haha I guess it’s their way of looking after us-like a gruff motherly type
Hi Alexandra-I know, I don’t think I have! Yes I could eat dozens of those
Hi SoRMuiJAi-She might have been that really pushy one!
With a tight budget and a busy schedule, we don’t get to eat out often, and I’m quite guilty of always choosing the same, reliable places every time, rather than risk being disappointed.
The yum cha at the Sydney Fish Markets is awesome, great variety, fantastic dim sum and (unsurprisingly) really good seafood. I also always vote for Pizzeria e Cucina in Newport for family meals and Pilu at Freshwater for special occasions. I always have a fabulous meal and there is no risk of disappointment!
I love Har gow, but these foods vary with whereever you go.
The hubby and my sister just love the custard tarts.
Hi sissy-Ahh well that makes sense
I’d hate to be disappointed if I didn’t get to eat out much. It would feel like a waste of stomach space! Ahh cool, thanks for the recommendations! 
Hi ArtemisIII-I’ve heard that about London Yum Cha. Here I think one company makes a lot of the har gow although I’m sure some make them themselves. I like them too if there are lots of layers of pastry!
We went there recently and loved it. Found a really diverse range of dim sum compared to the usual standards. One was a seafood combo with nori mixed into the dough. Delicious. Also enjoyed a snow pea dumpling that rather than sprouts included finely chopped snow peas. Like others we were there around mid day on a Saturday and were in a great mood as no cues! Trying it again today to see if just beginners luck. PS Congrats your blog
PSS That should have read queues
Love this post! Usually the food at Chinese restaurants looks great but the restaurants themzelves look boring. This one looks nice,,great tip,,,Thanks!
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