Dim sum at Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant and Sydney Fish Market, Pyrmont, Sydney

On my last day in Sydney, I got up early, packed, checked out of my hotel and then caught a cab to my sister Jaded and brother-in-law JM’s house. I left my luggage at their place and we all went out to have dim sum for breakfast.

Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant, Pyrmont

First of all, har gow (steamed prawn dumplings). The plump dumplings were filled generously with bursty prawns.

Har gow (steamed prawn dumplings)

Next, steamed vegetable dumplings, which were tasty, but the dumpling skins had somehow stuck to the paper/steamer. Unfortunately, this made grabbing a dumpling with chopsticks tricky and messy.

Steamed vegetable dumplings

The char siu pow (BBQ pork steamed bun) is one of Jaded’s must-have dim sum dishes. You get three buns per serve here, which was perfect for us.

Char siu pow (BBQ pork buns)

The char siu filling was sweet, porky and yummy.

Char siu pow (BBQ pork buns) - innards

We also had rice flour rolls (cheong fun) filled with prawns. Just like the har gow, these rolls were filled with delicious bursty prawns. My only complaint with this dish was that it really needed to be served with a spoon. I like to spoon extra sauce over my rice flour roll for extra salty flavour. And yes, I like to drink up some of the sauce with a spoon rather than lift the dish up to my mouth – besides that it’s just not good table manners :-P the potential for clothing catatrophes is far too great when you start lifting dishes full of sauce right up to your mouth. Yes, I know it’s not good to drink all that salty sauce – I’m just talking a couple of extra spoonfuls/mouthfuls. :D

Rice flour roll filled with prawns

We got some loh mai kai (glutinous chicken rice) as well. These bamboo-wrapped packages made me think of insect cocoons for some reason.

Loh mai kai (glutinous chicken rice) - wrapped in bamboo leaves

In the sticky tasty rice there was egg, sliced Chinese sausage, chicken pieces and har mai (tiny dried shrimps).

Loh mai kai (glutinous chicken rice) - unwrapped

We also had siew mai (steamed pork dumplings). This is one of JM’s dim sum must-have items – I know it’s definitely Jac’s must-have item whenever we have dim sum, and my niece Ruby loves siew mai.

Siew mai (steamed pork dumplings)

These fried tofu skin dumplings looked like something out of an alien movie, but they were really chewy and tasty!

Fried tofu skin dumplings - OMG so yummy

We washed down our food with lots of hot Chinese tea. I’m not a huge fan of Chinese tea. I think it goes back to my childhood, when my late grandma gave me Chinese tea to drink and I always ended up having black bits of tea in my mouth, which totally turned me off it. That, and I always thought Chinese tea tasted like water that was undrinkably hot. I just didn’t understand why anyone would even want to drink this stuff! And if I left it to cool for too long, I thought it tasted even more terrible! Now as an adult I don’t mind it as much, but I’ll only drink it at dim sum. And even then, I still detest getting those black bits of tea in my mouth.

Chinese tea and our docket

Out of all the dishes we had, there was only one real dud – the pork spare ribs, which turned out to be fatty knobbly bits of bone with practically no meat on them. I sucked on a couple of pieces which turned out to be nothing but gristle and fat – sadly, far more gristle than fat. For the three of us, this dish was a definite fail – none of us liked it.

Pork spare ribs - this was a fatty bony FAIL

My must-have item at dim sum is a sweet one – egg tart. I have loved these ever since I was a child, and I still love them. The pastry leaves an oily coat on your lips as you eat it, but the custard is so beautiful and sweet and smooth. The egg tarts were served to us still warm. Oh…a fresh warm egg tart at dim sum is one of the most delicious things ever. I have to lean close over my plate/the table as I eat my egg tart so I don’t end up with flaky pastry all over myself.

Egg tarts - my must-have dim sum item

Throughout our meal I couldn’t help but watch the fish swimming in the aquarium. It was a wall of fish from the floor almost to the ceiling. JM called it “the million dollar fish tank”. I could’ve sat there and watched the fish swimming for ages. I was mesmerised by the sight (and I know it’s standard practice at Chinese restaurants) but at the same time I always can’t help thinking it’s not good for that many fish to be all squashed together like that. Same goes for the aquariums piled high with the freaky-looking big crabs.

The million dollar fish tank

We were among the first patrons in the restaurant for dim sum that morning. We soon realised it would’ve been better to turn up later, maybe like a whole hour later. Because there were not many customers in the restaurant initially, we didn’t get the full range of dim sum items coming out on the carts. Only as we were full-bellied and getting ready to leave and the restaurant was getting busy did we see more carts loaded with other new items coming out – deep-fried squid tentacles, piles of roast duck and steamed kailan with oyster sauce. But then we agreed it was probably good we ate a mostly steamed meal. It can be too easy to stuff your face on all the deep-fried items at dim sum and ignore all the healthier but just as yummy things on offer (did I really say that?! :P).

I enjoyed the dim sum at Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant and would happily eat there again (I will stay well away from those ghastly spare ribs). From what I understand, my sister Jaded is a regular dim sum diner at this restaurant. :)


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Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant
Level 1 Bank Street
Pyrmont, Sydney Fish Market, NSW
Telephone: (02) 9660 9888

Fisherman's Wharf Seafood on Urbanspoon

Sydney Fish Market, Pyrmont

After dim sum, we had a walk around Sydney Fish Market, in the same complex where the restaurant was.

I felt kind of sorry for this mud crab, sitting there with his claws tied up.

Live male mud crab - I am not seafood

Corny crab captions in my head:
“Stop cooking me with your eyes!”
“You’d be crabby too, if you were me”
“Patiently, silently, Bob plotted his revenge”
Feel free to suggest your own! XD

Live male mud crab - I can't help being crabby

This was ocean trout, the fish of Tetsuya’s signature dish that I’d eaten on Thursday night.

Ocean Trout

Having eaten kingfish sashimi for the first time on Thursday night, I was quite interested to see what kingfish looked like.

Kingfish

What a great idea to sell sashimi right here at the fish market. You’re surrounded by the freshest of fish and can see up close just how fresh the sashimi is!

Sashimi

On the way out I took a photo of the cooked seafood that was on sale – half crayfish, scallops topped with cheese, deep-fried soft shell crabs, tempura and all kinds of other seafood, battered and on skewers. I’d have liked one of those scallops I’m sure, and, mmm…deep-fried soft shell crab. But I was too full to indulge.

Fried and au gratin seafood

This is the last of the posts from my Sydney trip. It was a very short trip, but I had an awesome time and got to eat some amazing food. I hope I will have more opportunities to travel in future so I can try and discover new and delicious foods, and tell you guys all about them, of course.

See the list of posts from my trip to Sydney.

So what’s your must-have item when you eat dim sum?

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