Sunday, May 8, 2011

Kam Fook, Chatswood


Wishing all mother's and people who celebrated Mother's day, that you all had a lovely Mother's Day. My side of the family have a Mother's Day tradition, where we always have yum cha at Kam Fook in Chatswood. Since, Chatswood is a good midway meeting point for all three families involved. With Dumpling Mummy and siblings, my aunties and their families at 10am we managed to get a table for the fifteen of us, as no bookings are permitted for yum cha.



My Cantonese is truly limited, I can order yum cha dishes perfectly fine by speaking Cantonese, but ask me to spell these dishes out, it's a different matter all together. My family forgives me as I am an ABC, so hopefully you will too. There's a lot of us, so there's a lot of food. My side of the family are mainly restaurateurs, so we all eat lots and well. We generally eat the standard favourites, so I won't babble on each one.

We start with har gow, and I think we ordered four servings. It's a favourite of Cheesecake Boy's and my other family members, but I never eat these.

Har gow or prawn dumplings
Deep fried vegetarian bean curd skin roll
Pai gwa or black bean spare rib

I am getting these dumplings mixed up, but the more steamed dumplings the better, I say. It gets hard to remember the different types at this time of night.

Steamed dumplings...
and more steamed dumplings

Snake beans with mince is always a favourite of Cheesecake Boy's. It's the first time that I have actually noticed it at yum cha though.

Snake beans with mince
Meat balls with corinader and Worcestershire sauce
Deep fried calamari and white bait

Cheesecake Boy did manage to try a piece of tripe, but it was not up his alley. Kudos to him for swallowing this and eating the whole piece :)

Beef tripe

When everyone else goes for the har gow or prawn dumplings, I go for these. Siu mai is one of my must haves at yum cha.

Siu mai or pork and prawn dumplings
Scallop and seafood dumplings
Chive and seafood dumplings

You sometimes have to especially order the ja leung or rice noodle rolls filled with you tiao at Kam Fook. If you're lucky you might be able to see this floating around at times.

Ja leung or rice noodle rolls filled with you tiao

Since, I was a young I have referred to these deep fried dumplings as footballs, as I kept forgetting what they were called. It's now the name our whole family has adopted and my friends, for these crunchy savoury dumplings that have a slight sweetness and chewiness about them. It's a delightful contradiction all in one.

Ham sui gok or football shaped dumplings with shrimp and pork mince
Chicken spring rolls

Cheesecake Boy likes the sauce of the chicken feet, but can never get over the texture. I can eat these, but they are never a must eat for me.

Fung zhao or chicken feet with black bean sauce

I think one of the uncles ordered the beef tendon, and I never tried it. Cheesecake Boy was not even going to attempt this one.

Beef tendon
Deep fried calamari
Cheong fan or pan fried shallot and shrimp rice noodles

I tried a piece of ox stomach, and the texture was not an issue for me. However, I was not too fond of the sauce. There was no use asking Cheesecake Boy to try, the visuals for him were more than enough to stop him in his tracks.

Assorted offal

I like chiu-chau fan guo or steamed dumpling with pork, shrimp and peanuts as they are a bit different with the inclusion of peanuts that gives it that crunch. Also, the chilli oil for dipping for these dumplings gives these dumplings a nice kick and that additional point of difference.

Chiu-chau fan guo or steamed dumpling with pork, shrimp and peanuts

Lo bak go or pan fried radish cakes are my number one must eat at yum cha. We never leave without these. However, they must be nice and crunchy on both sides for me to avoid disappointment.

Lo bak go or pan fried radish cakes

This was the first time that I tried chu kiok chou or pig trotters with old ginger, boiled eggs and black vinegar. However, Cheesecake Boy and I only halved an egg, we were not that brave. Plus, my stomach was about to explode.

Chu kiok chou or pig trotters with old ginger, boiled eggs and black vinegar

We got a few plates of the dan tart and shared. I decided to take a photo of the imperfect ones, as the perfect ones always tend to get photographed. Lovely flaky pastry that melted in my mouth with a nice sweet egg custard filling. Dan tart are definitely one of my favourite yum cha desserts.

Dan tart or egg tarts

Kam Fook is mainly the place of our large family get togethers be it yum cha or dinner. We come here mainly due to the consistency of the food and convenience of location with three hours parking available at the Westfield. Yum cha is awfully popular on the weekends here, and the queue does tend to get crazy, so try to get here early for a table. Otherwise, you will really have to wait your turn.


Happy celebrating, Dumpling Girl.


Kam Fook
Westfield Chatswood, Level 6
Anderson Street
Chatswood NSW 2067

Ph: (02) 9413 9388
http://www.kamfook.com.au/

Kam Fook on Urbanspoon

18 comments:

Cooking Gallery said...

I cannot believe that you don't eat har gow, it's my favourite...;)!! The photos make me droll, BIG TIME!! I used to eat in Kam Fook too when I still lived in Sydney, but the one in Market City - it's not called Kam Fook anymore though, I think...?

Dumpling Girl said...

Hi CC, I had a bad experience with har gow when I was young, and have never touched them since. Kam Fook at Market City changed it's name a few times, but they are now owned by new people and is called The Eight now. They don't have yum cha like this in Germany?

chopinandmysaucepan said...

Hey Dumpling Girl,

What happened to the wu gok? That's my all time must have at yum cha! Apart from the siu mai, I can already guess which is your favourite dim sim :) :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Hello chopinand, Hope you're well. I have not had a wu gok in years, now that you mention it I want one really badly now, lol. I will need another yum cha fix now.

I guess it is not hard to know what my favourite dim sum is :)

Mel said...

It seems that Cheesecake Boy and I have the same tastes when it comes to Yum Cha and yours & mine are totally opposite. I bet he's a ABA too (Australia born Aussie). LOL. I LOVE green beans with mince, and the Salt & Pepper squid. Oh, and duck.

Dumpling Girl said...

Hi MissPiggy, lol, right on he is an ABA, better yet a country boy from Tassie :)

Helen (Grab Your Fork) said...

omg you have all my favourites here. I'm the same - the majority of my ABC vocab extends to the names of all my favourite yum cha dishes. lol. I love ham sui gok! And ja leung - the you tiao in rice noodles. Yum!

Dolly said...

ive never had
Zhaliang or rice noodle rolls filled with you tiao

very interesting.. ive always walked past kam fook never tried.. maybe next time :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Hello Helen, glad I have some company with the ABC vocab, lol. Thank you for subtly pointing out that I have the incorrect spelling for ja leung must be the Mandarin version that I have sourced. Will correct, once blogger gets back to normal and allows me to edit my posts :)

Hi Dolly, you are missing out, it's a must try at least once or every yum cha visit.

chopinandmysaucepan said...

I didn't think it was the ham sui gok if that was what you were thinking :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Morning chopinandmysaucepan, you are on the right track, as it's not ham sui gok :)

chopinandmysaucepan said...

yup, and it's definitely not the snake beans with mince either :)

susan said...

that's a lot of food there! I love yum cha. Especially anything that has bbq pork in it are my favourite things.

Dumpling Girl said...

Hey chopinandmysaucepan, that's right it's not the snake beans either, I see that as a dinner dish. Do you really know, or is it a process of elimination??? Lol.

Hi Susan, yes my family can really eat. You don't want to see us at Christmas or birthday dinners,it's much worse. I missed out on the shot of the BBQ pork buns, maybe better luck next time :)

chopinandmysaucepan said...

Hi Dumpling Girl, of course I know because it's got your name written all over it! Let me just eliminate a few more for you ok? It's definitely NOT:

1. Black bean spare rib
2. Meat balls with coriander & Worcestershire sauce
3. Beef tendon

Am I still on the right track? :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Hey chopinandmysaucepan, lol you are definitely still on the right track, want to take a guess?

chopinandmysaucepan said...

ok Dumpling Girl,

I think it's the one that couldn't resist a mousey little nibble before the obligatory blog pic? :)

Dumpling Girl said...

Lol,chopinandsaucepan I am amazed you got it. However, I swear my reputation probably precedes me, but they really came imperfect like that and for once I didn't nibble, I promise :)