Sakura

I love getting dumplings as an entrée when in a fancyish Asian restaurant, especially Chinatown, and now some genius has thought of making food court style dumplings and conveniently put a shop in TTP!
They make them all on site, in view and have lots of variety of chicken, prawn, pork buns, vego etc. They also sell Asian salads, soups and other small entrée items.
I’ve eaten here twice since it opened and both have been great experiences, one time I had to wait for my dumplings, but at least they were damn fresh and hot!
There is some seating inside and a drinks fridge, but it can get kinda cramped, so they have put some private style booths out in the mall. It’s not the most stylish place, but I love dumplings!

This Sakura hides in an odd little corner next to Target in TTP. I noticed the queue out the front and decided to try it, as it was past my mid-​afternoon snack time.
I saw the price of the sushi and started having doubts. I dislike paying over $ 2.50 for sushi, but I sucked it up for the sake of research. Then I spotted the prawn and seafood rolls over to one side. They looked way too good to pass off for $ 2.50.
And they were fantastic! Forget the sushi, I’ll eat these until the fat starts seeping from my pores. I wouldn’t ask what the seafood in them is, but it was super tasty, and there were identifiable prawns in them too. They didn’t taste like they’d been sitting there too long, which was what I was most worried about. The batter was crispy and good. I’m always a sucker for deep-​fried seafood somethings.
However, I was very disappointed with the size of the sushi roll. They seem to have made them so small by cutting out most of the rice, which is better than cutting down on filling, however the rice is still important! I had the chicken and avocado, and the filling was, I must admit, delicious. Whatever sauce they used was great. Yet would I pay $ 2.60 for that again? I don’t think so.
Though I will be coming back for those seafood whatsits.

This store appeared recently and is proving a hit with the peckish shoppers. I ordered with great scepticism but G’day, we have delicious dumplings here! I had a mixed plate of pan fried dumplings and the spicy pork and veg in particular was really good. The dumplings are soft and squishy on the top and have a crunchy base, and all of the stuffing was fresh and tasty. They have salads for five bucks, pork buns, pancakes and rice, and obviously the dumplings, which are seafood, chicken and mushroom, pork and veggies, spicy pork and veggies, and tomato and egg.
The signage is somewhat confusing, it says Dumpling: $ 7.00. So we all thought ‘what? Is the dumpling stuffed with gold?’ It’s actually six dumplings for seven dollars, not one. I sat on my little chair, getting my elbow knocked each time someone opened the drinks fridge, and really enjoyed the food here. The woman sitting across from me raised her eyebrows when I stood up with my empty plate, and I knew exactly what she was saying: ‘good dumplings, huh?’ Good dumplings indeed, lady stranger, good dumplings indeed.

Slap bang in the middle of the upstairs section of TTP, I am a little bewildered as to why Sakura isn’t in the food court, but hey, who’s complaining — if they were down there it’d be way busier and more crowded, I’d probably have to queue to order, and they’d sell out of the most wonderful delight on the menu, the prawn and seafood bar… this crispy battered thing is packed full of prawns and seafood, mixed with some spices and I think a little coriander, ok, it’s not really sushi but it IS delicious… gorgeous… stonkingly good… and a bit of a bargain, too. If they put them on a plate with a dipping sauce you’d pay more than twice as much as an entrée in a restaurant.
The sushi… well… it’s good… it’s not stunning — they don’t do the BBQ Duck Rolls that I am totally addicted to at another Sakura near by… and for some reason, their Tempura Chicken is spicy, which has caught my oldest daughter out a couple of times… but those prawn and seafood bars make up for it all. Salt and Pepper squid is good value, too :)
I notice they have a Sakura Dumpling Station down near Coles, too — haven’t tried it yet but I’m sure I will soon — review to follow!