Oriental Yum Cha

From experience this place ranks in the middle somewhere. Whilst the carts are hot and the yum cha dumplings are reasonably sized… a few things did erk me.
The beef balls were massive but they had big chewy floury bits in them I did not enjoy. One of my all time yum cha faves the shanghai dumpling was over cooked and alas stuck to the rubber cupcake holders and all the soup was lost.
Service was questionable and for the $ 19.80 price tag I felt it was a little dear. My family of 5 eat and it usually comes to just over 30 dollars.
Improvement may be in the cards but it’s worth a try.

What’s not to like about Yum Cha? Nothing as far as I’m concerned. This is standard Yum Cha fare but it’s very good Yum Cha fare because it’s made from scratch rather than just a packet of frozen ha gao dumplings tumbled into a pot of boiling water, then wacked into steamer baskets. I visited Oriental twice in as many weeks, once on a week day and once on a Sunday. Both times the service was spot on as far as keeping us fed and watered and miracle of miracles, there were signs on the trolleys naming the meals. No mysterious things in bamboo steamers that you’re not quite sure what they are. Owned by Aspley Oriental, they know a thing or two about running a restaurant as the Aspley location has been going strong for dozens of years. Sometimes when you have Yum Cha, they can’t deliver to the table fast enough or offer the variety you crave. Oriental had no problems with either of these issues. Even better, they offer a set price $ 19.90 all you can eat for 1 hour. This is perfect when you are going with a large group as everyone pays the same price (no arguing about the bill) and everyone can have as many pork buns as they want (no arguing over 3 items between 4 people). When we ate on the weekend, the bill also worked out to a round $ 20 a head so either way, it’s good value.

When they first came to my neighbour hood, I was so excited. but then after a few times, i just so disappointed for their food and the service… once, my dumpling was uncooked and asked Waiter (he seemed to be manager or so) to check, then he just throw it into the cart without any saying. How Rude ! it is convenience for me to get there for i just don’t want to go back…

Have been to this restaurant previously but for a night time sit down meal and it was good. Decided to go on the weekend for the Yum Cha (as we were driving through the Valley) — sadly, not as good as previous visit. It was busy and noisy, and whilst the food itself was ok, we’ve certainly had better elsewhere.
My biggest annoyance was that you had no idea of what price each dish was as it was selected — so had no idea how much had been spent until the bill arrived. There is a very scant price list on the table but no way of figuring out which actual dish is a small, medium, large, special etc…
Staff were ok but seemed to be running everywhere at the loud instruction of what I assume was the owner. It is a good location for when you have a group of people and I would go again, but probably not for a while.

On a whim, several of my friends and I came here because I had bought a Scoopon for 2 hrs of unlimited yum cha. Much to our chagrin, we left after only an hour unsatisfied.
Service: When we entered, the host grabbed the Scoopon from me and stapled it to the dim sum list and quickly ushered us to an unoccupied table. He barked a couple orders to a nearby server who amiably asked us if we wanted Chinese tea.
Trolley Logistics: We had a couple 15 minute lulls when not a single trolley was within sight of our table. The place wasn’t even that big and I could see other tables where people were impatiently waiting for food as well. Needless to say, it’s not really a dim sum place without any trolleys roaming the floor! Also, there wasn’t much variety in the carts as the same ones kept coming back hawking the same exact wares.
Food: This was the most shocking part of the experience. When we actually did get a trolley to stop at our table, we ordered everything so that we could sample each item at least once. Curry squid, pork dumpling, shrimp dumpling, chicken feet, pork bao. We tried all of the staples, and honestly some of them were just downright inedible. My friend commented that the shrimp had a fishy slimy texture and didn’t taste fresh. The pork siu mai (dumpling) was cold on the inside and chewy which shouldn’t happen since everything should be steamed and cooked thoroughly. I was truly most disappointed by the fu zhu juan (tofu skin roll) that comprised of the tofu skin wrap with meat and bamboo shoots in a brown sauce. The sauce was congealed and the skin incredibly slimy as though it had been sitting out for some time.
Overall, outside of the decent service, I was not a fan of this dim sum place and would agree with Terry that there are definitely better places in Brisbane. Especially for its location in the upmarket part of the Valley, Oriental Yum Cha fails to deliver in food quality and organization.

Today I went to Oriental for an all you can eat yum cha voucher. For what we paid for the voucher it wasn’t bad, but I don’t think I’d be willing to pay their normal prices for what we got.
The atmosphere isn’t great, it feels rather sterile, and it took us a while to get the servers attention. When the servers did come over the selection was rather limited and there weren’t a lot of options that didn’t contain prawns available despite the fact that there are several non-​seafood options on the menu.
However the food we did get was very tasty. The pork spare rib was absolutely delicious!

I’ve just had a read through Terry’s review, and am going to come from the opposite viewpoint.
I’ve not had fantastic yum cha. The first time I went was in Sydney, and I did love it, but in Brisbane I’ve been pretty underwhelmed. They’re all fine. Which is upsetting. But I really liked it at Oriental Yum Cha. The BBQ pork buns were the best I’d tasted in Brisbane. That’s not to say they’re the best, but I’m usually particularly disappointed with these. Also had salt and pepper squid, which wasn’t as crispy as I’d like but still tasty. Prawn and coriander dumplings were also good. Actually I liked the texture of them, not too sticky. The service was prompt and not as short as other places in Brisbane can be (short being rude in this situation).
I can’t really make a comment on price because I’m not sure, but Terry had the right numbers. There were a lot of people when I went and they seemed to have a lot more food. Though, we were still waiting for carts to come along.
I would come back. I enjoyed it. Even just for the BBQ pork buns. Plus, there’s free parking. Which is always a bonus in Brisbane. I’m sure there’s buses nearby, and while not as close to the Valley train station as others is still walkable.

Since no one had reviewed this new yum cha place in Fortitude Valley, I decided to take one for the team and it was pretty under whelming.
Sans the new-​ness and cleanliness, the food did not measure up to even the basic yum cha places. My sister and I would definitely not return here. They charge you for an extra set of sauce!!! You have to have sauce when eating yum cha. *Note: my sister and I LOVE yum cha and have tried many in California. The best place I’ve had it still stands: Boston.
They only had two carts available when we arrived and the selection was not as great as I thought it would be. We had pork buns, shrimp dumplings, shrimp and shallot dumplings, pork dumplings, and chicken feet. Those were all OK. I beg of you NOT to order the banh cuon that is on the special menu. It is not done inappropriately and my sister and I couldn’t even take another bite.
Most of the items were priced at medium ($ 5.90) or special ($ 6.90) and we weren’t exactly sure what each item cost. You are charged $ 2.50 per person for the tea but it is bottomless. I wouldn’t go out of your way to eat here. There are better places out there.