Nine Thoughts We Had at the CBD Diner Trying To Rethink Yum Cha

I, Callum McDermott, am not Cantonese. Yep, it’s true. So I can’t say what yum cha’s supposed to be, but it’s a meal that still means a lot to me. Growing up, my favourite restaurant was Marigold, the CBD’s grand old yum cha institution. It was love at first mango pancake. But ever since it closed, in 2021, I’ve had a pork-bun-shaped hole in my life.

But it’s time to stop mourning and start looking for a new place that can scratch my yum cha itch. Maybe that place is Yum Cha Project, which has just opened at the Circular Quay end of George Street.

The team’s made up of restaurateur Howin Chui (of the Hong Kong-inspired Kowloon Cafe chain and Nihao Bar), Waiwing Lau, Jacky Huang and Colin Ho, and they’re aiming to turn the traditional yum cha experience on its head, ditching the trolleys and, according to a statement, making the dining experience “more accessible, flexible and convenient”.

With an empty stomach and a heart full of hope, I headed there for lunch. Here are nine of my thoughts.

1. I’m not getting massive yum cha vibes yet
You’ll know you’re at Yum Cha Project when you hit Grosvenor Place and see a neon sign that says “Dim Sum Body Say Yum Cha?” Maybe I dim. It’s all pretty trad food court stuff. No big round tables, no lazy Susans, no trolleys full of steamer baskets! You order at the counter or via QR code. And then you wait, collect your food and eat in or take away. It’s cool, calm and collected – not quite that classic Sunday morning yum cha hustle and bustle.

2. I miss the trolleys
Although box-tick menus are common with yum cha – particularly post-Covid – it’s always been about the trolleys for me. Yum cha, to me, is seeing the prawn hargow trolley from across the room, standing up, waving your hands like an idiot and beckoning desperately towards your own table, being ignored, and having to sit back down, ashamed. It’s locking eyes with the table across from you and racing to see who can flag down the last few plates of char siu. Is yum cha really yum cha without the frantic scramble for the servers’ attention?

3. Where are my mango pancakes?
I scan the dessert section: there’s a bunch of sweet buns and a Portuguese egg tart – but no mango pancakes. This really takes the wind out of my sails.

4. Is that a cheeseburger spring roll?
I don’t know if Dan Hong invented the cheeseburger spring roll, but putting it on the Ms G’s menu definitely made it Sydney-famous. There’s one here at Yum Cha Project. I ordered it. So did the office lunch group in front of me. And behind me. Yeah, it’s good. Nice. I can feel the wind returning to my sails.

5. Hyphens are important
This one’s probably on me, but I assumed that because the cheeseburger spring roll was next to something called a “fried chicken dumpling” that I would be getting a dumpling full of fried chicken. Instead, I got a fried dumpling full of chicken. Two very different things. Is this fusion cuisine’s fault? Or is my reading comprehension deteriorating?

6. Hook this dumpling sauce to my veins
With his experience running Kowloon and Nihao Bar, it’s fair to say Chui knows his dim sum. And it shows in the sauce. One whiff of this blend of chilli oil and chinkiang vinegar and you’ll be primed to start deleting dumplings with reckless abandon.

7. Maybe I shouldn’t have ordered the pizza…
I saw the mini Hainanese chicken pizza on the menu and I just had to do it. (Don’t.) It tastes exactly like the barbeque chicken pizza at Crust (iykyk). No shade to Crust – it works there – but it’s contextually weird here. Yum Cha Project plays pretty fast and loose with the concept of yum cha, and it takes a lot of big swings. Most of them land, especially with the classics – just not this pizza.

8. These teas are a nice touch
Yum cha literally means “drink tea” in Cantonese. Yum Cha Project’s drinks are a fun nod to that. There’s a great range of hot and iced teas, ranging from twisted classics, like chrysanthemum and goji, to zany options like dark-roasted oolong with egg pudding topping.

9. Portable yum cha might just be a bit of a vibe
CBD office workers will get a kick out of a new lunch option that’s not another Fishbowl, but Yum Cha Project also seems really picnic-friendly. Gather some mates, get some dim sum and tea, then take it over to the Royal Botanic Garden or The Rocks for a harbourside feast – that’s really taking the spirit of yum cha on the road.

Yum Cha Project
Shop 3/225 George Street, Sydney
(02) 9252 3774

Hours:
Mon to Fri 10am–3pm

yumcha.project.com.au
@yumchaproject