Oceanic Tastes Rhodes Yum Cha Review $9.80 Dumplings and Dog-Friendly Dining

Dogs, outdoor eating and $9.80 yum cha? At Oceanic Tastes in Rhodes you can bring your four legged friend along to your yum cha and all dishes are a flat rate of $9.80. So what is it like and is it worth going to?

Laura and I both came across Oceanic Tastes at the same time. Outdoor Chinese restaurants are not particularly common in Sydney but Oceanic Tastes has a large outdoor section as well as an indoor section. You can also book a table for yum cha and bring your dogs along. And make sure to bring cash because the yum cha is $9.80 per dish if paying by cash or $10.80 if paying by card.

Laura and Lima Lima Delta arrive first. She texts me that there are dogs galore from a Siberian husky, corgi and Labradoodle. We're bringing Teddy and Milo along. It is hectic from the moment that we sit down.

Three trolleys made a beeline to us as tea is being poured and steamer lids are lifted. We get a selection of steamed items and then another trolley lady comes by but we like to enjoy our steamed items before the fried because we don't want the fried items to get cold.

We start with the round spinach dumplings. These end up being my favourite dumplings of the day with the right amount of perfectly seasoned prawn and spinach in them.

Most of what is on the menu here is fairly standard like most Yum Cha restaurants. The only thing that really stands out is the steamed dim sims with black truffle. These are meaty and delicious with a generous amount of black truffle paste and are surprisingly aromatic. And these are $9.80 like the rest of the dumpling selection.

Unfortunately the xiao long baos really don't have any soup in them at all which is a disappointment. I would skip these in favour of other items.

The mushroom dumplings have a variety of chopped vegetables inside. They taste like they're on the healthier side!

Mr NQN's favourite dumplings are har gows and he gets two steamers worth and pretty much demolishes both of them. I don't know if I even got to try one!

We always love the steamed glutinous rice parcels wrapped in a lotus leaf and these ones are quite large and filled with a good amount of filling from lup cheong pork sausage, seasoned pork mince, egg yolk and mushroom.

Lima Lima Delta has never tried chicken feet before so we order some. I enjoy them because they are steamed until extremely soft and really do melt in the mouth. These are actually some of the better ones. His verdict: "They're not bad!"

Lima Lima Delta loves steamed prawn rice flour rolls so we order these. I didn't find that they had a lot of flavour to them - perhaps it was because I didn't have enough sauce on them. Unfortunately, they don't have our favourite crispy prawn red rice paper rolls.

Lima Lima Delta has to have fried rice at Chinese restaurants so we order the salted chicken fried rice which is actually delicious and goes well with the dumplings. It's basically an egg fried rice with tiny pieces of salted chicken dispersed through it.

The baked barbecue pork pastry is interesting. It actually has a strong flavour of coconut of all things which is a surprise. Usually they just taste like the filling of barbecue pork or char siu.

It's time for the deep fried items but the trolley lady is nowhere to be seen as the restaurant has emptied out. There is a paper menu to help you order and there are 5 deep fried items on the menu so we order one of each. We start with a deep fried taro dumpling with feathery wisps of pastry encasing a mashed taro and delicious pork mince centre. These are hot, fresh and very tasty.

The deep fried prawn dumplings have a ruffled edge and are filled with lots of plump prawns inside. These are served with mayonnaise but I like these dipped in both the mayonnaise and the sweet and sour sauce.

One of my favourites is a deep fried sesame prawn roll with a light, crisp, thin wrap surrounding tender prawns and a crunchy sesame seed coating.

We don't usually order the spring rolls but these are excellent with a good balance of flavours inside. Perfect for dunking in the sweet and sour sauce.

A while later, they bring out the deep fried ham sui gok footballs filled with minced pork and vegetables. They come out piping hot as they're freshly fried and the glutinous shells are thick, chewy and crisp.

Laura always orders egg tarts at yum cha. I usually end up leaving them for her after trying a little bit as I find them quite rich although these ones are actually quite good and not too overly rich as I usually find them.

Lima Lima Delta and Mr NQN take Teddy and Milo to the park across the way while Laura and I wait for the last dessert to arrive. It's the black sesame ball in a glutinous rice shell. And it is worth the wait as it comes out piping hot and crispy on the outside with a nutty, sweet black sesame filling.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you eat the steamed items and then the fried or do you like it all on the table at once?