These days, when people ask me where I recommend for Yum Cha in Brisbane, I can only offer a despondent 'nowhere is particularly good'. It is quite a sad affair to see that prices have gone up exponentially while the quality has correspondingly dropped. Gone are the days when my parents could take me out for a casual family lunch on the weekend and we could get delicious hot dimsim for a fair price, nowadays it costs a moderate to high price for dumplings with thick skin or deep fried items which are served to you cold. As such, my search for a good quality yumcha continued, and we decided to venture down to the Gold Coast in search of hope. This is why we ended up at King Palace, after doing some reviews, it seemed promising and we went with a few friends.
I didn't know if there would be much of a crowd, so we made a reservation. Arriving at the opening time of 11.30, there was only one table other than ourselves. Service was efficient and a bit loud, reminding me of the yum cha places from back in the 90s. The menu covered everything you could want except for congee and offal. There were no trolleys but we gave our order to the friendly waiter.
Fresh Tieguanyin tea was served, it was strong and fragrant. They definitely didn't skimp on the tea leaves.
It didn't take long before our table was filled with baskets upon baskets of steamed dim sim
Starting off with the signature har gow and siu mai, these were freshly steamed to order. I like that the dumpling skin wasn't too thick. The prawns weren't overcooked, retaining a plump and moist texture. The same could be said for the siu mai. I liked how they topped it off with some flying fish roe as well.
My favourite steamed bean curd roll was done exceptionally well. There was a good ratio of meat to prawn in the filling, the bean curd was fresh and the sauce was flavoursome and light. This was undoubtedly the highlight of my meal. The beef tripe was done well and very tender. It was a shame they didn't have braised beef offal on the menu too, I would have enjoyed that. The BBQ pork bun was fairly standard though and didn't taste very different from the usual.
We also had turnip cake and BBQ pork rice paper rolls. Both were done well. There was ample turnip in the turnip cake but I would have preferred the rice paper rolls if they were a bit thinner.
Although a tad thick, the rice paper rolls were undoubtedly fresh and fairly soft. They complimented the crispy deep fried bread sticks they were served with and are undoubtedly better than the other options we have in Brisbane right now.
I didn't get much from the deep fried options, noting that my favourite deep fried taro balls were not on the menu. We did however have a serve of baked bbq pork puff. The pastry was light and flakey with a sweet meaty filling that we all enjoyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment