Looking for a yum cha spot in Sydney? Sunny Seafood Chinese Restaurant at Central Park Mall is a hidden gem serving delicious Cantonese yum cha with a 100 item menu and without the crazy queues. Find out what to order and whether it's worth going to!
One of my favourite things is finding new places for yum cha in Sydney and it's a sunny winter Sunday when Laura and I meet at Sunny Seafood Chinese restaurant. I can't even remember how I found this restaurant as it barely makes a mark on social media.
"Why is it so empty?" muses my favourite yum cha companion Laura (Mr NQN isn't as he complains about yum cha a lot). And it's true, looking around Sunny Seafood on the second floor of Central Park Mall. It is less than a quarter full and isn't bustling in the way that other Yum cha restaurants are.
They bring tea ($3 per person) and the trolleys start arriving. You can either order straight from the trolley or there's also a menu on the table, including a menu of specials. The items in the trolley tend to be the more popular ones but the actual menu is huge with around 100 items including some interesting sounding dishes. Large items are $11.80, EX are $23.80 and L are $14.80 (there are no small dishes and only one medium, the egg tarts).
We start with what's on the steamed trolley. Laura loves the spinach dumplings as do I and they're very good with a good amount of spinach in them.
I love haw gow and these are plump and bursting with prawns. The size is also slightly larger than others.
They pass by with a platter of fried items and we order both kinds of footballs. The first is him which is the glutinous sticky football Ham Sui Gok filled with pork mince. This has a crispy outside and a chewy inside with a slightly sweet hit to it. Very satisfying.
The taro dumpling is also very good with a feather light coating and a smooth mashed taro filling with mince inside.
We both love the sesame prawn rolls and these are very tasty, especially dipping into the sweet and sour sauce.
Next up are the items from the specials menu – first is our favourite red rice paper rolls wrapped around a long Chinese doughnut stuffed with prawn inside. These rolls usually come with shredded chicken but they make ours with prawn as we had shown the picture of it with prawn. These crunchy rolls come with the sweet soy that chee cheong fan rice noodles usually come with. I actually think this would be even better with mayonnaise like we've had at other places.
Next up are the prawn and pork siu mai with truffle. The truffle aroma is distinct in these and they are very tasty and a touch larger than normal. However they are more pork than prawn although only prawn is mentioned in the description.
We also tried the feng yan dumpling which is their signature dumpling. This is made with prawns and a touch of broth as well as finally diced carrots. This is actually both of our favourite dumpling as the flavour combination hits just right although it tends to be a bit difficult to pick up when it's hot so you do need to leave it for a few minutes before picking up.
We go back to the menu and peruse it to see what else we want to try. They recommend the chicken and mushroom pies which are like the pastry encased barbecue pork buns. The pastry is buttery, short and sweet and inside is chicken and plenty of slippery mushrooms. These are really tasty and warming as they come out piping hot.
Whilst they have all the usual sweets including big bowls of mango sago with pomelo, mango pancakes, mango pudding and tofu pudding, we go for the red bean sesame balls that are crisp and hot and stretchy with sweet intensely sweet red bean filling.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever found a great restaurant that barely anyone talks about online? Do you prefer ordering from the trolley or from the menu at yum cha?
This meal was independently paid for.
Sunny Seafood Central Park Mall
R201/1 Level, 2 Central Park Ave, Chippendale NSW 2008
Phone: (02) 8358 4689
Monday to Friday 11am-3pm, 5-10pm
Weekends 10am-3pm, 5-10pm
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