Eastern Treasures Seafood Restaurant – Bondi Junction, Sydney

Last week I attended the opening ceremony (sounds like the Olympics, doesn’t it?) of a new chinese restaurant in Bondi Junction. My dad is friends with the boss, the manager, as well as the head dim sum chef there. The opening was quite successful, it had the local MP, the board of directors, dancing lions, the whole shebang. I didn’t take any photos because I didn’t really know anyone there (only my dad’s cheffy friends) and I was bored.

Today my dad woke me up and told me we were going to go yum cha. While I am a fan of yum cha, I have grown to despise many yum cha restaurants around where I live. So every so often, I drive all the way to Parramatta (I live on the North Shore) and I have yum cha at The Prince in Parramatta. Main reason why I go there: my dad works there and I guess my taste buds have grown to only like the dim sum he prepares. But on days where my dad doesn’t have to work, he takes me around to his friend’s restaurants, having yum cha and testing out their flavours. Today was no different. We met up with his friend Peter Gor (he used to be the boss of Kam Fook in Hurstville and most recently New China Restaurant in Haymarket) to try out this new restaurant.

This reminds me of those olden day China shop signs.

I was met with the restaurant manager William Wong (黃明) who is my dad’s friend, who I had also met last Thursday. He didn’t recognise me, which I kind of like (I don’t like those people who ‘shine shoes’ 擦鞋 when they know who my father is). He was very polite though when he realised who I was but I didn’t mind. We were shown to a nice table where my dad was greeted by his friends. I whipped out the camera and was in my own little world of photography.

The interior is quite nice. The theme is very Chinese and Asian, but with a slight modern twist to it. Along one wall is a row of windows, this helps with the lighting of the restaurant. However, as the ceilings are quite low, there is a certain dimness to it. But I’m all for natural light since it does help the environment, so bravo to them.

I love this part of their ceiling. It looks like rolls of fabric hanging from the ceiling.

The lanterns are also very authentic with a clutter of modern placement.

Very clean and simple table decorations and cruets.

A wall of giant bamboo steamers.

焼売 Siu Mai (Pork and Mushroom Dumplings)
An open-faced dumpling stuffed with ground pork, chopped prawns and mushrooms in a wonton wrapper.

鳳爪 Phoenix Claw (Chicken Feet)
Chicken feet simmered in black bean sauce.

潮州粉果 Chiu Chow Fun Gor (Chiu Chow Dumplings)
A mixture of peanuts, garlic chives, ground pork, dried shrimp, dried radish and mushrooms wrapped in a chewy dumpling wrapper.

韭菜虾餃 Gau Choy Gow (Pork and Chives Dumplings)
A mixture of garlic chives and chopped prawns wrapped in a chewy dumpling wrapper.

蛋塔 Darn Tart (Egg Tart)
Egg custard baked in a flaky pastry cup.

雞包 Gai Bao (Chicken Bun)
Steamed bun filled with minced chicken and ginger.

炸两 Ja Leung (Chinese Donut Rice Paper Roll)
Chinese donut wrapped in a rice paper roll.

My dad ordered the Chicken Bun (雞包) when I had gone to the bathroom and when I came back there was only 1 left in the steamer. That’s why the bun looks so lonely.

My favourite dim sum lately has been the Chiu Chow Dumplings (潮州粉果). Although I do admit I only really like the peanuts that are usually present in the dumpling. Therefore I was slightly disappointed when I bit into the dumpling and there were no peanuts. Turns out that there are a lot of people allergic to peanuts, therefore they replaced the peanuts with pinenuts. I do, however, commend them on their chewy dumpling wrapper. It was thick, but not too thick, and it was quite chewy (which I like). Many yum cha places have not perfected the art of wrapper making and they come out with dumplings that just break apart on touch.

Sous Chef and Head Dim Sum Chef

Eastern Treasures Seafood Restaurant has an opening special:

• For every 3 dim sum dishes you order, you get the 4th for free.
• 10% off the total bill.
• Free tea.

It’s a pretty good deal and their dishes are reasonably priced. The only problem is the parking. Closest parking is in Westfield Bondi Junction and that only has 2 hours of free parking (Can people really go shopping in only 2 hours?). Alternatively you can catch a train, the train station is a couple minutes walk away. There’s also another shopping centre nearby which offers parking but I don’t know the name of it. Personally I would rather still drive to Parramatta to go have yum cha, but if you live near Bondi, why not try this place?

Happy nom nom nom-ing!

Eastern Treasures Seafood Restaurant

Level 1, No. 9 Bronte Road
Bondi Junction NSW 2022
(inside Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club)