New facelift for an old friend
Sydney Chinatown’s East Ocean Seafood Restaurant has undergone a swanky renovation emerging with artistic koi themed decor throughout, offering diners an elegant and refined dining experience.
Now, elegant and refined aren’t two words you would usually associate with yum cha but with the replacement of the roving yum cha trolleys with electronic ordering via iPads, it does feel less chaotic, but for some people that is part of the charm of yum cha dining.
The Food
East Ocean serves up popular old favorites and remains conservative and true to the classic yum cha dining menu. Generous fillings in the two bite delights stuffed, pinched and twisted into freshly seared, steamed or fried manifestations.
The evolution of the Yum Cha experience
Yum Cha / Dim Sum is the ancient Chinese brunch practice with roots to the ninth emperor of the Qing dynasty. It’s gone through much change since its introduction to Australia fifty years ago.
The focus over the decades shifting from tea drinking to the small bite size parcels to the use of bespoke ingredients and aesthetic design driven by social media culture of today.
Bustling trolley carts of random items are now a thing of the past at East Ocean.
In recent times, check list order methods have popped up in other establishments and in an age where society is concerned with freshness, efficiency and waste, having your yum cha selection cooked to order makes sense.
iPad ordering: Love it or hate it, you’ll still find the same delicious yum cha delicacies in bamboo steamers.
Pros
- Know what food you are actually ordering with the iPad displaying the item name and a photo
- Food prepared fresh to order
- You can have a conversation without the constant interruptions of trolley aunties hawking their wares
- No bill shock because there is a running tally of your bill as you order
Cons
- The drama and sheer theatrics of roaming food trolleys
- The element of surprise, randomness and excitement is now gone