Yum Cha at Campsie

 

That morning dawned cloudy, cool and windy but this did not stop us from heading out to Campsie, a suburb with a population that was predominantly Chinese, Asian and Middle Eastern.

 

Our Yum Cha gathering at Sun Ho restaurant
in the Campsie RSL

This was a popular shopping destination for fresh fruits and vegetables as the Asian grocers here have a high turnover of goods that assured their regular customers will have a consistently fresh supply to choose from.

 

There were several shops very much like mini-markets that stocked a wide selection of home equipment and household essentials as well as stationery and grocery items.

 

When I walked along the aisles inside one such a shop that stocked a great deal of items, I just wondered how they could ever do a stock check of that myriad of merchandise.

 

Auntie Polly at the poster for Sun Ho restaurant

Meanwhile, cousin Malcolm had invited their friends, a couple, Alex and his wife Gina, to join us for yum cha lunch at Sun Ho, a Chinese restaurant within the Campsie RSL.

 

I have heard him say the acronym, RSL, several times in different conversations. To satisfy my curiosity, I asked him what those letters stood for.

 

He explained that RSL was the acronym for Returned Services League, a club for former servicemen and those who served in the wars.

 

Four plump siew mai within a steamer tray

While these clubs catered to ex-servicemen and members, the public are also welcome to use their facilities like restaurants, bars and slot machine arcades, but they must register with official identity (Identity Card or driving license) before permitted to enter.

 

The RSL’s were essentially clubs that catered to retirees who may spend time together over leisurely meals or drinks, and enjoy fun and entertainment at the slot machine arcade.

 

On the way to Campsie, we learnt that cousin Gillian and her husband, Michael, were taking her parents out to lunch too, so we arranged for them to join us for yum cha.

 

Deep-fried sesame coated rolls stuffed
with (plenty of) prawns

The phrase, yum cha, in Cantonese dialect literally means, drink tea. Here, however, this phrase is taken to mean a dim sum meal, usually for breakfast, brunch or lunch.

 

While the phrase dim sum in Cantonese literally means, touch heart, it is used to describe the small snacks, freshly prepared to savour or serve guests. Incidentally, some folks here refer to dim sum as dim sim. [By the way, the word, sim means heart in Hokkien and Teochew dialects.]

 

Whichever way we say it, this yum cha meal comprises handmade snacks like dumplings or pau – either steamed or deep-fried – served in small portions on plates or small, round steamer trays, somewhat like Chinese tapas dishes.

 

These giant deep-fried fish balls were so big
that we had to have them cut and split up

These snacks are traditionally served to the table by waitresses in push-carts or trolleys while some restaurants serve the small plates to the table in large trays.

 

In the olden days, the waitress will move slowly around the restaurant with the dim sum in a push-cart or on a tray, calling out in Cantonese, “Siew Mai! Har Gao!” (for example!) so diners who wished to savour those items should signal them with a wave.

 

Then the items will be served to their table and duly noted on a piece of receipt, placed on the table.

 

"Wah! Such a big siew mai!"

When we arrived at the reception desk of the RSL, each one must be registered before entering the premises. The Chinese restaurant in the Campsie RSL was located on the upper level so we rode the escalator upstairs.

 

At first sight, this restaurant seemed like a typical Chinese restaurant, where diners were seated around round banquet tables, both big and small, the atmosphere abuzz with conversation in Chinese dialects as they dined on dim sum.

 

I was pleased to see that the dim sum was served from traditional trolleys pushed by waitresses around the restaurant. However, I did not hear them call out the names of the dim sum that they were serving…

 

Cousin Gillian and her family were already seated when we arrived and I saw that they had placed their dim sum orders as Auntie and Uncle were already eating.

 

My eyes zeroed in on the dim sum and I looked with wide eyes because the size of the dim sum served here was so much larger than the size we are familiar with.

 

Uncle enjoys shopping for
fresh fruits and vegetables

For instance, the portion of four pieces of siew mai served within the steamer tray, were so big and plump that the four pieces fitted so snugly in and their sides touched the inside walls of the steamer tray.

 

These were simply huge compared to the dainty pieces of four siew mai served by our dim sum restaurants, that just sits in the middle of the small steamer tray!

 

More orders for a variety of dim sum were placed on our arrival and when it was served to the table, I could only marvel at the extraordinary size of each serving.

 

But I was not complaining. This only meant that there was more to savour with each serving of dumpling. Yummy!

 

Picking their choices of cauliflower

In fact, I discovered that one piece of juicy (giant!) siew mai, made with minced pork and prawns, tasted simply delicious, especially when there were at least two or three prawns within.

 

In addition to familiar dim sum like siew mai and har gao, we enjoyed the taste of other interesting dim sum like deep-fried sesame coated rolls stuffed with prawns, deep-fried giant fish balls and minced meat rolls wrapped in soya bean sheets.

 

It was a thoroughly enjoyable yum cha meal as conversation flowed freely while plates were passed around and the different dim sum were being tasted and commented upon. And one of the prevailing comments must be, “Wah! So big!”

 

Our hands full of fresh fruits and vegetables
after shopping at the Asian grocer

Someone may have accidentally made double orders of certain items because we were surprised when the plates were served. We however, accepted all that was served to the table and enjoyed eating every morsel.

 

Even though the dim sum tasted good, the portions were just bigger than we were used to and everyone had plenty to enjoy. Burp! It was quite impossible to finish everything so the next best thing was to pack it up as takeaways to eat later.

 

After such a satisfying meal and with the dim sum takeaway safely stored away, it was time to take a walk to the Asian grocer to buy some fresh vegetables and fruits.

 

Fruit and vegetable shopping together on a bright and breezy afternoon, was a fitting way to end our yum cha gathering at Campsie.

 

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