Zilver, Haymarket
Monday, October 03, 2016
As the long weekend and USYD mid-semester break comes to a close, I barely managed to complete all the tasks and catch up's with my friends that I had planned. In fact on this particular Friday, I ended up having three outings to catch up with different friends. A successful, expensive and productive day yet still not enough. Anyhow that means I ate out three times and I have two more exciting food reviews (and an additional post about my Cirque du Soleil experience) to post!!
First up is Zilver. Freshly renovated and looking bright and beautiful, Zilver is reportedly one of the top Yumcha places in Sydney. The last time I visited this place, it didn't elude as much sophistication as it does now. It used to be all about the black, red and gold decor but now it's completely light, bright and white. I really enjoy it because it's much more pretty and ideal for photos. My photos are still amateur though so forgive me as I try to improve haha!
I caught up with a group of friends who I studied Chinese with at Uni and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately Hayley, James and Cherie weren't able to make it, but still good to catch up with the others. Half of us don't study Chinese anymore, myself included so it really makes me feel like we're all missing out. Last time we went to Zilver together, I barely had anything to eat because the group started without me 😭
Fun throwback photo:
Me looking and feeling like a kid on Christmas with the only thing left to grab off the trolleys; Mango Pancakes.
TODAY I made sure I was early and on time. I ended up being a few minutes past 11am yet still earlier than everyone else, with the exception of Edward. Now I know how bad it feels to wait for someone when you are hungry. But we persevered… and waited!
Funny thing was my sister and her boyfriend were also at Zilver this morning since they had a voucher that was about to expire. Or they are following me 😱
How gorgeous is this!
We waited around and Anna was the first to show, so us three went in first. Behold the new and beautiful Zilver.
These chairs are a work of art!
We are seated promptly as a waiter brings us some menu's, tea and chilli sauce.
The menu's are pretty but we don't really need them because we are here for the yumcha! I suspect these were bought out only to pipe our interests in choosing Zilver as a lunch or dinner option.
The restaurant is absolutely bustling but not crowded on this Friday morning. I'm pleasantly surprised at the great variety of Yumcha carts are being pushed around the restaurant. Usually it can be extremely hard to find the cart with the dishes you like on it, but here they will travel by you very often. Chinese broccoli is usually a hard dish to find as well.. you end up having to order it and it'll arrive at the end of your meal. Here, I must've seen it promptly come out of the kitchen various times.
The service is generally friendly and helpful, but there is always a sense of guilt when you turn alway a Yumcha lady because you don't want any of the dishes on her cart. Some of them will seem quite annoyed but I wouldn't take this as rudeness, just slight disappointment.
Also the prices for Yumcha dishes are never explicitly stated on a menu or anything. Rather you will have a sheet on your table and every time you grab a dish off a cart, the lady will stamp your sheet in a category where the dish fits into. I think they go by sizes as well as whether it is a speciality dish or not. But don't trust my word, I can't read or understand Cantonese. Mostly you should just try to ignore all the costs adding up on your sheet and of course, enjoy your Yumcha 😌
Pork Dim Sim with Prawn
Also known Siu Mai/Shumai, these dumplings are your very classic representation of dim sum. They are very delicious and I can't fault them here. The carrots topped on these open-top dumplings are so finely diced that I actually thought it was fish roe. Fancy!
Chinese Broccoli in Oyster Sauce
I can't go to any Yumcha WITHOUT ordering these greens. I could eat them for every meal. My favourite vegetable to be honest 😍 They are very briefly boiled/steamed so that they still retain a nice crunch. These stems are also very fresh. The oyster sauce here is served in a watery consistency yet it still is very salty and flavourful. Just what I like!! Although I do love when the oyster sauce is served thick because a lot of places literally water it down but because there is so much flavour left in Zilver's sauce, I very much enjoyed it.
Steamed Prawn & Spinach Dumplings
We actually didn't want this because we were waiting for the cart with prawn har gao dumplings, but the lady kept insisting that this was what we were looking for so we succumbed and got it. It's decent but not as satisfying as a prawn-only dumpling.
Hong Kong Egg Tarts
Served warm, these are bomb! The outer pastry crust is perfectly flakey and buttery. If you look closely you can see all the layers in that crust. The egg custard is very silky and sweet. Love this dessert!
Steamed Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce
I 100% understand if you think eating chicken feet is gross because I was just like you once upon a time. However once you get past all the gross feelings you have about eating chicken feet and just give it a try, you might actually end up really liking it! Edward really likes it so he ordered two 😂 But definitely this is also a must-order at Yumcha for me as well. The skin around the chicken feet is steamed until it becomes very soft and tender. It soaks up the delicious sauce.
FYI you eat this by taking it into your bowl and biting right into the chicken feet. The bones/joints of the feet come off really easily because of how it has been steamed. Then you eat around the bone you have bitten off. This bone then goes onto the plate underneath your bowl. Hope you learned something new HAHA
Steamed Prawn Dumplings
Also known as HAR GAO. The other very traditional dim sum. It is very delicious by itself or dipped into a soy or chilli sauce. Most people critique the dumpling by talking about how thick the skin is. Apparently a thicker skin is not all that impressive or ideal. The skin here is a little on the thick side as you can see by how the dumpling is not that translucent. However I don't mind it at all because it holds the contents well and doesn't rip apart when held with chopsticks or is stuck with the dumpling next to it. We got two baskets of this!
Hi Edward!
Look at all this food we ordered and yet the other two friends in the group still aren't here yet HAHAHA
Okay they actually arrived shortly after I took this photo. It was good to see Nancy again and meet a new friend of Edward and Anna who's name is Queenie.
We didn't actually order many more dishes after they arrived:
Steamed Beef Dim Sim Ball
This looked interesting! The texture of the meatballs was soft and springy. They are served on a bed of tofu skin. I found these alright but it might've been better with the sauce served on the side which I neglected to make use of until I noticed it at the very end.
Stir Fried Noodles with Soya Sauce
Didn't order this but my sister on the other table received this as a part of her voucher and she didn't like it so she gave it to us. It's very basic chow mein, with the noodles having a very dry almost rubbery mouthfeel and seasoned with onions and soy sauce. I liked it but I wouldn't order this at Yumcha just because it is so simple of a dish.
FRIEEEEENNNNDSSS
I was really satisfied with this Yumcha experience and very happy as it was a great place to share a meal and catch up with my friends. We all paid around $19 each so the total bill for 10 dishes (remember, chow mein not included, and we also ordered a mango pudding which isn't pictured) was $95. Kind of expensive in all honesty. But at least everyone somehow ended up feeling full and we even had takeaway for some noodles, broccoli, chicken feet, a dumpling, and a meat ball. Which was given to me hahaha so lucky, thank you friends!
If you are in the city looking for some Yumcha I actually will recommend Zilver to you because overall I thought it was great. Zilver also has a sister restaurant called The Eight (upstairs at Market City) which I really, really loved but I haven't been there in a while so I will have to revisit it and give you guys a review on that.
Thank you for reading! xx
TL;DR:
Price: Bit expensive
Quality: Fresh
Service: Good
Ambience: Loving the new light & bright interiors, very sophisticated and pretty
Zilver
477 Pitt St,
Haymarket NSW 2000
0 comments