Last week I was delighted that some very special people came to visit Canberra, and that I got to spend some time with them. Of course while they were here we very much needed to go out for some delicious food. And what better way to have some fun then go for all you can eat yum cha?
I've been to XY Dim Sum Dumpling House a number of times on the weekend, but not on a weeknight and I was happy to find that it was not only cheaper ($16.80 rather than the $18.80 for weekends) but there was no drop in quality.
The first dish to come past our table was the deep fried calamari. Delicious strips, fresh from the kitchen and with just the right amount of salt. They had a nice batter and were not too oily- you can see that they are nice and brown.
There were more goodies on the way! Apologies for the blurred photo I was too excited to eat. There were some deep fried wontons which were nice if a little strong on the pork flavour and some delicious steamed veggies with oyster sauce. Its always nice to have some greens when there is fried food, and they were indeed good; I think I ate most of the plate!
Next there was har gow, lobster tails and vegetable dumplings. The har gow were nicely done, with real prawns inside and not at all floury. The lobster tails were fresh and the edges nice and crunchy. I wasn't quite sure of the ingredients in the dumplings but there was definitely a nice crunch of water chestnut. These three dishes didn't hang around for long! You can also see the chilli sauce in the background, it is kind of like the sauce you get at Korean restaurants but a little more spicy.
I don't know the name of these but we call them 'coconut prawn balls' because a friend of ours thinks that the crunchy batter strips remind him of coconut. There is actually no coconut at all, rather there is an egg batter covering a ball of prawn mix. They are one of my favourites and I never say no when the plate comes by!
We also got some pork spare ribs, but the table was not a fan- I'm not a big pork eater so I didn't try them but I'm told they tasted like they had been boiled rather than braised and had little flavour or fat. They were really the only disappointment of the meal.
Of course no yum cha meal is complete without some steamed BBQ pork buns. As you can see they are cooked quite well and had a decent portion of meat inside- you can kind of see it at the edge of the fold.
These are one of my favourites, they come in beef, prawn and pork. These ones are beef, minced and seasoned and wrapped in flat rice noodle with soy sauce. YUM! They slip down nicely though are a little hard to grasp with the chopsticks!
We also got some wheat noodles with vegetables, soy sauce and sesame oil. Very delicious and very filling! Being as it was mid-week there were not quite as many dishes as usual, but the owners did bring the menu around and allowed us to pick some things to order, which was very nice of them. There were also a couple that I didn't get pictures of as I was too busy eating. Of course we also needed some dessert and one of my favourites is coconut jelly:
I'm a big fan of the coconut jelly here, you can really taste the coconut milk flavour (they may use cream even) and its not too sweet. I don't normally even eat jelly but I can get through two portions of this if I save room!
All in all it was once again a good experience. I've found it to be very good value for money and the quality is always consistent. We had an excellent time and didn't at all feel like we were being encouraged to stop eating, which is always the fear with all you can eat restaurants.
XY Dim Sum Dumpling House
2 Cohen Street, Belconnen ACT
(02) 6251 7318
I've been to XY Dim Sum Dumpling House a number of times on the weekend, but not on a weeknight and I was happy to find that it was not only cheaper ($16.80 rather than the $18.80 for weekends) but there was no drop in quality.
The first dish to come past our table was the deep fried calamari. Delicious strips, fresh from the kitchen and with just the right amount of salt. They had a nice batter and were not too oily- you can see that they are nice and brown.
There were more goodies on the way! Apologies for the blurred photo I was too excited to eat. There were some deep fried wontons which were nice if a little strong on the pork flavour and some delicious steamed veggies with oyster sauce. Its always nice to have some greens when there is fried food, and they were indeed good; I think I ate most of the plate!
Next there was har gow, lobster tails and vegetable dumplings. The har gow were nicely done, with real prawns inside and not at all floury. The lobster tails were fresh and the edges nice and crunchy. I wasn't quite sure of the ingredients in the dumplings but there was definitely a nice crunch of water chestnut. These three dishes didn't hang around for long! You can also see the chilli sauce in the background, it is kind of like the sauce you get at Korean restaurants but a little more spicy.
I don't know the name of these but we call them 'coconut prawn balls' because a friend of ours thinks that the crunchy batter strips remind him of coconut. There is actually no coconut at all, rather there is an egg batter covering a ball of prawn mix. They are one of my favourites and I never say no when the plate comes by!
We also got some pork spare ribs, but the table was not a fan- I'm not a big pork eater so I didn't try them but I'm told they tasted like they had been boiled rather than braised and had little flavour or fat. They were really the only disappointment of the meal.
Of course no yum cha meal is complete without some steamed BBQ pork buns. As you can see they are cooked quite well and had a decent portion of meat inside- you can kind of see it at the edge of the fold.
We also got some wheat noodles with vegetables, soy sauce and sesame oil. Very delicious and very filling! Being as it was mid-week there were not quite as many dishes as usual, but the owners did bring the menu around and allowed us to pick some things to order, which was very nice of them. There were also a couple that I didn't get pictures of as I was too busy eating. Of course we also needed some dessert and one of my favourites is coconut jelly:
I'm a big fan of the coconut jelly here, you can really taste the coconut milk flavour (they may use cream even) and its not too sweet. I don't normally even eat jelly but I can get through two portions of this if I save room!
All in all it was once again a good experience. I've found it to be very good value for money and the quality is always consistent. We had an excellent time and didn't at all feel like we were being encouraged to stop eating, which is always the fear with all you can eat restaurants.
XY Dim Sum Dumpling House
2 Cohen Street, Belconnen ACT
(02) 6251 7318
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