I was so excited when I found out that Tim Ho Wan was coming to Melbourne, Australia.  I remember seeing on the news, that on opening the line was so long and people would line up for hours to get in.  The restaurant itself wasn't very big and they do not take bookings, so I waited for a few months, when the hype had diminished.

Prawn har gows were served, my favourite!!! The skin was thin and transparent.  

The lights have lit up again on Greenhill Road opposite the Burnside Village Shopping Centre.  Eastern Garden Chinese Restaurant has moved and in its place is new restaurant called Empress.  The owners have certainly put a lot of effort into renovating this restaurant.  There is a takeaway section at the back and an impressive grand entrance into the restaurant.  Empress specialises in shared plates and yum cha.  We came here for yum cha one time, but I am just going to concentrate on dinner this time. 

There are more Chinese restaurants opening up in the Eastern suburbs.  Urban Duck has opened up amongst a group of eateries on Glynburn Road.  The restaurant itself sits around 50 people with a private function room at the back.  Modern design with dimmed lights attracted us for a visit.  They also have outdoor seating under umbrellas.  

What used to be Mong Kok Chinese Restaurant on Gouger Street has been replaced with the new Dragon Court Seafood Restaurant.  The decor has changed, staff has changed and of course the menu has also had a complete face lift.  It serves typical Chinese Cantonese food.  There were a lot of customers in the restaurant, so that must be a good sign.  The best way to go about it is to order a few dishes to share amongst a group of you.  It was no exception tonight.  The menu was very big.   There was a good range of Chinese food though.  

Real Chinese food in the burbs!

Siam Thai bistro on Unley Road has been replaced by a new Chinese restaurant called 'Yue Chinese Restaurant'.  There hasn't been a lot of advertisement for this restaurant and it was only by chance that I drove past Unley Road to discover that it existed.  The moment we walked into the restaurant we were welcomed by the friendly owner.  The menu consists of the dishes that you would normally see at a typical Chinese  restaurant.  In my personal opinion, there are probably only a handful of good Chinese restaurants in Adelaide.  Yue Chinese restaurant has been added to my list today.

I remembered this restaurant being called Neptune Palace, but it has had a name change for a while now.  The staff that approached us were very friendly.  We attended to dinner on a Friday night and being market late night shopping, you could imagine how busy it was.  Make sure you allow plenty of time for parking and make a booking to avoid any disappointment.  Now straight to the food, typical cantonese food.  This is not the first time we dined at this restaurant, it seemed that we would order something different every time. 

This restaurant location used to be Cafe primo before.  The owners must have spent quite a lot of money on the decor.  There was traditional furniture, and all their plates and bowls had the name of the restaurant on them.  The high ceilings, the hanging lanterns and an open dining area is very elegant.  The menu itself was quite impressive, it was thick and full of colourful pictures. 

A new chinese restaurant has opened where Imperial Peking used to be .  It's called Chef Dong.  A completely new look together with the decor has made the restaurant look brighter and bigger.  I must say it was money well spent on the renovations, chairs, dining and lighting.  The menus were very new.  I felt like I was reading a book with a hard cover.

Adelaide has a handful of restaurants that provide yum cha.  Shanghai Tea House is one of them, it is situated in the beautiful Burnside Village Shopping Centre.  It certainly offers a lot of tea.  It is one of their specialties.  However, it is quite dear... unless if you are a intense tea drinker, and you can tell which tea leaves you are drinking, I say just stick with the basics. 

I walked past this restaurant on Wright Street, didn't even know it existed.  The entrance of the restaurant looked very welcoming.  The restaurant had been opened for two weeks apparently.  One open area and I could see all the tables and chairs, mainly all white in colour.  As I walked in, I also noticed there were two function rooms on the right and a feature wall right behind where we were sitting.  The owner must have spent a bit decorating this restaurant.  

I never knew what Uyghur food was until tonight.  Halal, Uyghur, Halal, Uyghur erm what are the differences?  I went into the restaurant and on one side it said Halal and then the other side was Uyghur.   Apparently majority of the Uyghur food is Halal, a way that the food is prepared by the Muslim population.

Awesome Chinese food!!

The restaurant was formerly known as the Golden Crown Restaurant.  With the change of name there was a change of owners.  It has transformed into a lovely Chinese Restaurant.  They serve Yum Cha daily and the food they serve is of high quality.  The staff there are friendly and very attentive.  Although when compared to Hong Kong, the variety of dumplings were definitely subpar, but when compared to all the Yum Cha restaurants in Adelaide, I think this would have to be my favourite one.

I felt like Chinese food again, so off to visit one on Magill Road - Happy Corner Restaurant.  It wasn't very busy on the night, so we were able to get a table quickly.  It seemed like the restaurant served Szechuan food with a mix of Cantonese.

The waitress who served us spoke very little English, and she was very hard to understand.  I loved my tofu dishes, silken tofu cut into large cubes and topped with century year old egg.  

Best dumplings in Adelaide!!

Don't under estimate small restaurants, a lot of them deliver the best food ever.  This is a small restaurant on Magill Road.  I have ordered take away from there before but this was the first time that we dined in.  The dumplings were a must.  You could have them fried or steamed, I loved the steamed ones.  The skin was so thin and the meat inside was so fresh and tasty.  

Time to give it a miss!!

I have never been to a Chinese restaurant where I wanted to rush my dinner so quickly.  This restaurant is located on the busy parade in Norwood.  As soon as we entered into the restaurant, we felt like we were at the markets.  There were outdoor lights used indoors.  Literally we had to shout to talk to each other, and we noticed that patrons went outside to take phone calls.  We were seated down promptly, however it took a long time before someone would come to our table to take orders. 

Cheap Malaysian food!

Christmas pageant was on Saturday so you could imagine the number of people within the 5km of the Adelaide CBD.  We decided to wait till the lunch time rush was over before heading out to the city.  I have walked past this restaurant many times, it's tucked away in between the T chow restaurant and a internet cafe on Moonta Street.  I don't recall it being busy.  It's very easy to miss.  

Some people asked me if I had been to Dragon Tea House for Yum Cha before, the answer is yes.  I went there within the first week of the restaurant opening.  It is situated in a convenient location, right in the heart of Adelaide CBD.   The idea of yum cha is the steamed or fried dishes arrive at your table and a group of you can share.  We went on a week day and therefore it wasn't as busy, in fact half the restaurant was empty. 

Super delicious crispy skin chicken!!

In my opinion there are not many outstanding Chinese restaurants in Adelaide.  The owner of the restaurant used to own Gouger Palace on Gouger Street, now long gone.  I remembered going to yum cha there in those times.  This restaurant is located on Payneham Road and there's a handful of Chinese restaurants down that way.  This restaurant serves yum cha and opens for dinner at night except for Tuesday.  I must say the service is not great, the owner of the restaurant is always friendly but some of the staff there are just rude.  However I do commend their food there, it has always been consistently good, from the time it was Gouger Palace till now.

Food arrives at your table in no time!!

If you want a quick bite and don't want to pay too much, then this is the place to be.  Although you may not get the friendliest service compared to other places around chinatown, the food is not bad.  It's one of those places that you go to when you can't be bothered thinking of what to eat, and you just want something quick and then go.  They are open all day, so if you decide to go and get something to eat but you have missed lunch time, you can always come here.

Food arrives at your table quickly!

You may not get the friendliest service or the best quality but If you want quick and cheap eats then this is the place to go.  This cafe is located in the centre of Chinatown, with only a few tables indoors and outdoors.  You are not allowed to sit down at a table, because if you do you will get told off by the angry boss.  You are meant to order at the counter and they will allocate your table, and too bad if you didn't want to sit outside.  Someone got told off in front of us, the boss was quite rude.  They are pretty strict about that, I am not sure if I like the idea.  

The best Dầu Cha Quẩy (Fried Chinese Curlers) and the Bánh tiêu (Chinese Savoury Pancake) in town!!

Cheap eats for afternoon tea!!

This restaurant is situated in Adelaide's Chinatown, we dined there once when it  first opened.  It was not a good experience and we said to ourselves that we would not go back there again.  However we have heard mixed reviews about this restaurant, so we decided to give it another go.

I have been to this restaurant a few times, but it had been at least a couple of years since my last visit.  The restaurant still looked the same, a few carpark spaces on Glen Osmond Road at the front of the restaurant. and a few limited carpark spaces at the back which you had to access through the side of the restaurant.  They should provide more lights from the back carpark to the front of the restaurant, as it was dark and quite a way to walk.  The inside of the restaurant still looked the same, we didn't make a booking on a Saturday night and they were not very busy.  We were seated down at a table quite quickly.  The menu had changed a little bit.

Yummy steamed fish

Best quails in town

This restaurant is located on a quiet street. I have heard that this restaurant has won a lot of awards.  We decided to give it a go.  This restaurant certainly didn't disappoint us.  There was another wedding function on upstairs, so we were offered a table downstairs in the middle of the restaurant.  The ambience was authentic chinese with a modern feel.  Although the lights were dimmed, there was a light shining on top of us at each table.  We could see our dishes very clearly.  Their wine list was pretty comprehensive, featured Teusner's winery and all the wines were very reasonably priced.  In fact somewhat on the cheaper side, especially for a fine dining restaurant like this one. 

Xiao Lung Bao, soup filled dumpling is a must try

Don't know where to go for dumplings - Xiao Long Bao?  Plenty of tables and spread over three floors.  Doesn't matter what time of the day or what time of the week, this place is always fully booked.  Make a booking if you don't want to be disappointed. 

We have been to this restaurant many times, and now it's time to sit down and write a review about this place.

Spinach with century year old egg was quite tasty

Ming's Steamboat is located near Chinatown.  This restaurant not only allows you to have steamboat, which is a hot pot where you order dishes and you cook yourself in a hot broth of your choice, but also order dishes to share. 

Quails with pine nuts

This restaurant is located in Chinatown, in fact in one of the best spots in Chinatown, directly outside the food courts. Always full of people, especially on a Friday night where it is Market day. We have been to this restaurant a few times now, and every time the standards have been inconsistent.

When the waiter put the tea cups on our table, they were full of lipstick marks and dirt on them.

This was by far the worst yum cha place there is in Adelaide. The service was very bad...