The Battle of Yum Cha, part 2 Grand Century
- Photo by Fritz Kuchuck
Only two yum cha reviews in, and already this battle seems futile. There are just too many unknowns and variables to quantify a median let alone pick a winner.
At last Sunday’s yum cha, Pippi of Kilbirnie was quick to identify one. ‘You never know what you’re eating.’ The fact that she’s nine years old detracts little from the validity of her point. It looks like a dumpling, but what exactly is it filled with and what is it called?
Then there’s the matter of the optimum dim sum. Who makes the best, and who are you to say? Let’s not ask the Hong Kong street-hawker patronised by another of last Sunday’s judges. While the display model dumpling looked positively authentic, the specimen produced from the nether regions of the cart proved disgusting, inedible, a ghastly globule of foreign composition.
This would never happen in Wellington. With the benefit of your comments (thank you), I’m getting the impression that the best yum cha is in fact found at the Grand Harbour in Auckland, and the offerings in Wellington are all pretty good albeit much of a muchness.
Our nine-year-old panellist couldn’t comment on this, because she’s only ever yum-cha’d at the Grand Century – although, this makes her an expert in consistency. ‘They’re bigger than usual,’ she declared while mangling a barbecue pork bun into her gob. It did look big, but with a high proportion of filling to fluff it beat the Regal’s hands down. ‘Perfect’, said her mother, although she was hung over which is yet another variable in the equation. What the hey, let’s call the bun a 4.75.
Moving right along, our panel of nine diners more or less agreed that the Grand Century does mighty fine dim sum. The steamed dumplings had lots of filling: ‘Less padding, all business,’ (4/5). We liked the fact that the chive dumplings were chivey, the pork ones porky, and the crispy squid squiddy in the best possible way. The latter was considerately drizzled with a tangy sweet & sour sauce, not drowning in blah orange goo.
There were also a couple of dishes we didn’t see at the Regal – the stuffed eggplant for one – and I was positively ecstatic that the turnip cake and bean curd were no-shows. The all-important custard buns had the fancy accoutrement of a crispy-custard icing (3.5). The only disappointment was the Peking duck, which came cold and totally lacklustre (2/5)
As popular as ever, the gargantuan Grand Century was heaving, with a queue out the door and a 10-minute wait despite booking. Unless you count mayhem, it’s an ambience-free zone (2/5), and we were glad to be seated upstairs away from the mêlée. The service was standard (3), and despite being far away from the action, our score for ‘volume-and-speed of delivery’ was an acceptable 3.75.
Judges’ summary: ‘Top scoff, but the manic atmosphere may interfere with digestion.’ $20 each for a full stuffing. Total score: 3.5/5.
Next up: more dim sums and dodgy statistics: ’part 3 – The Majestic’
- By Sarah, 11 comments
- Posted 15 April 2011
11 comments
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I hope you'll be trying the Goodworld restaurant in the Hutt. as with most of the places around the duck isn't the best but the sticky rice and crispy pork is great and the char siu bao are awesome.
darn good value too. I think it's $3.40 for most of the standard dishes, $7 for the duck, roast pork or greens.
they also do all the classics such as chicken feet, tripe, stuffed and steamed intestines etc. not my cup of tea but good to see the choice.
By Robin, 23 April 2011
Thanks for the tip, Robin. You can never have too much of a good thing, can you?
By Sarah, 27 April 2011
Dragon on Tory is my favorite. Excellent sticky rice and fried squid. Solid on the dumpling front as well. I find Grand Century too big and depending on where you sit the food may or may not get to you as it gets demolished by the people near the kitchen-pretty poor effort really considering I expect to be bombarded with dumplings and goodness in any yumcha place. Atmosphere in Regal and Big Thumb are ho hum. Majestic is a close runner up to Dragon in my books.
By Elaine, 27 April 2011
Friends and I are frequent diners at Grand Century and I love the pork dim sims. Although as Elaine mentioned most of the dishes never seem to make our table and we wait patiently too often. I would definetely advise you try the Roast Duck and many delicious dishes from the HK Barbeque in Cambridge Terrace next to Wellington Motorcycles. Excellent fare and they have takeaways.
By Michelle Sternberg, 28 April 2011
I really like the Big Thumb Restaurant in Allen Street off Courtnenay Place. I have been there several times for Yum Cha with extended family of Chinese descent, homestays from Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and China and everyone really liked it. The tables are large but there is enough space between them, the service is quick and friendly and the food is fresh and
delicious and not too greasy. They are open on Saturday and Sunday for Yum Cha and you may not need to book on Saturdays but it is advisable on Sundays.
By Jacqui, 28 April 2011
We usually go to big thumb. No pressure to leave by a set time and the service is friendlier than some other yum char places. Delish food which seems cheaper too :)
By Debbie, 28 April 2011
Support the Good World comment in Lower Hutt - awesome food. We particularly love their steamed pork buns, pork dim sims, sticky rice, rice and prawn rolls and pressed turnip cakes - yum yum cha!
By Dawn Muir, 28 April 2011
I second the comments Re: The Dragon on Tory. Beyond the food, the service is exceptional and friendly.
By Ben Woodward, 10 May 2011
We regularly frequent Regal upstairs in Courtney Place (near Sweet Mothers Kitchen). Great sticky rice, prawn dumplings etc. Nice staff. Have been to most of the other Yum Cha's mentioned and I agree with Elaine #3 regarding Grand Century - sure the food is good, but there is nothing more frustrating than being in the middle and having them run out before they get to you, then the next waiter comes out and starts from where the last person did and they run out before they get to you too!
We also like the Majestic. Really good dumplings and attentive staff but the sticky rice is better at Regal. Am definitely going to try Dragon, haven't been there yet....
By melissa, 12 May 2011
Out of the five Wellington yum cha places (that I know of..??) and the one in Lower Hutt, my absolute least favourite was the Dragon. When we were there, they had barely edible food - some of the dumpling were so dry and chewy, I felt like I was trying to eat a rubber. So definitely not going back there again.
Goodworld in LH is cheap and the food tastes great. I love the dumpling dish that's covered in eggs but i cant remember what it's called.
I havent been to Big Thumb too many times but I do remember enjoy eating there... i think it was quite cheap too
Regal and majestic both have nice food but i havent been back to majestic because occasionally you may encounter... unpleasant services
I like Grand century too although i was told by Chinese friends that their food are not authentic enough.. but i do enjoy eating there nonetheless
i can't pick an absolute favourite out of the six but dragon is definitely my least favourite (although they do have great looking desserts, much more so than other yum cha places, but thats pretty much all the good things i can say about my yum cha experience there...)
By Mike, 17 May 2011
Not a fan of Grand Century.. We tried it out and were surprised to see how crowded it was. It was nice that it was a bigger space (compared to Majestic & Regal) but the food wasn't good. Things had textures they shouldn't have had, and there were interesting tastes that weren't consistent with good dim sum. Dragons on Tory is probably one of the best in Wellington city. Just my opinion :)
By Corinne, 8 July 2011