Emperor's Garden Yum Cha, Haymarket Sydney

Soft meatballs with mushrooms, scallops and wintermelon

Yum cha yum cha!

When it comes to the yummiest yum chas in sydney's CBD the pecking order seems to go something like this:
1. Regal
2. Zilver (used to be Silver Springs but underwent a posh renovation)
3. East Ocean
4. Marigold

Chicken Feet in Black Bean Sauce

And then there's:
1. Sky Phoenix (yet to visit)
2. The seafood restaurant on top of Market City (ditto coz the lunch hour queue is kilometres long, and Poporo is next door and cheaper)
3. The random one in Broadway that no one's been to

AND THEN along came another restaurant to shake up the hierarchy:
Emperor's Garden Yum Cha
'Where's that?' you may be asking... and WELL MAY YOU ASK. Despite its obvious location next door to Market City, this restaurant could well be the cbd's best kept yum cha secret

The view from within our secret alcove

It was the morning after the 20-year-old's birthday bash and we were were at Broadway campus and hungry for breakfast.
I particularly wanted to try xiao long baos (Shang dumplings with soupy juicy insides) since the pig had been talking about them non-stop since we woke up haha

In our quest for xiao long baos, we ended up at Emperor's Garden

If you're at all a fan of asian buns you will probabably know about the Emperor's Garden bun shop at the Market City end of Dixon St that sells custard puffs, four for $1.oo. They also sell dan tarts and other pastries for $1.3o each and guess what, this is because it doubles as the dim sum outlet for the Emperor's Garden restaurant next door.

Juicy steamed beef meatballs with a really interesting faint star anise ? flavour

I'd never tried these before - the best thing about going yum cha with someone else is you get to try all these random new dishes that you're normally too chicken to try :)

Gu Tsai Steamed Dumplings <---- yum cha staple! Another unfamiliar dim sum - steamed pork and mushroom parcels
mmm the dumpling skins were so good

Presenting: Pigden
hahaha this photo cracks me up

Shanghainese Xiao Long Bao!

juicy goodness inside *________*

The Sole Survivor... waiting to be gobbled up

DAN 'egg' TART
These were soft and still warm from the oven. They'd be nicer if they were browner on top but the pastry crunch factor was totally there

Lol with dan tarts, you have to make sure you're absolutely satisfied and don't wanna order anything else before you sink your teeth into the sweet golden custard because the golden rule is: your dan tart should always conclude your yum cha dining experience :D

So where does the EG rate on the yummiest of the yums? hehe Welll it was really comfy and relaxed at breakfast time and they had good food all round.. I'd say somewhere close behind Regal, buut I think we'll have to go back a few times to really make sure ;3