Sinofood Chinese Restaurant

Where: Sinofood Chinese Restaurant

Chef: Xiong Lin

Prices: $3.80 to $5.80 per dish (usually containing 3 to 4 items)

Hours: Yum cha Wednesday to Monday 10.30am to 2.30pm. Open seven days for lunch and dinner

Bookings: 4962 1888

Bottom line: About $50 for two, including a bottomless pot of tea

Just because there is insufficient demand in a town the size of Newcastle for the yum cha palaces with their circulating trolleys seen in bigger cities, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible to find some good yum cha in this town. Sinofood in Hamilton uses a tick the box menu to ensure the customer receives the most delicious, freshly cooked dishes. And they have taken the subtle flavour of traditional southern Chinese Cantonese yum cha and given it a spicy Sichuan, western Chinese twist.

Yum cha, the tradition of drinking tea with a succession of small dishes or dim sum, is similar to tapas or other shared plate traditions in that it provides a great excuse for friends to spend a convivial couple of hours eating and talking.

And as I keep on saying the more friends you can muster, the greater the selection! Just one caution – many dishes come with three items, a challenge if there are four sharing. One solution – order two dishes and divide.

You will find the usual steamed dumplings, and fried wontons with their fillings of prawn, pork or vegetables. But don’t let childhood memories put you off trying one of the more unusual dishes. Beef tripe strips are chewy but

not offensive, even for an offal hater, and come bathed in a fiery Sichuan pepper-spiked sauce.

Chicken feet can be another challenge but if you are a fan of lip-smacking, gelatinous dishes like ox tail or lamb shanks you will love these; just remember to spit out the small bones. And there’s that unexpected pepper/chilli kick again.

The fish balls are so good we order a second serving. Looking like porcupines with tiny cubes of bread crusting a luscious quenelle of white fish puree, these are delicate but full of flavour.

Multiple flavours and perfumes assault the senses, from the slight numbing effect of the Sichuan peppercorn and chilli oil to the sweetness of the dipping sauce and custard

tarts. Chicken or pork may fill the sticky rice, but the lasting impression will come from the unique flavour imparted by its lotus leaf wrap.

Yum cha is also a textural adventure. There’s crunch in the fried wontons, fish balls and curry puffs; the noodle wraps on the different dumplings are silky; there are chewy bean curd wraps, and lovely sticky rice inside the lotus leaf; julienne vegetables in the steamed vegetarian dumplings are nicely crisp and there are chunks of prawn in the prawn dumplings.

Western tastes equate custard tarts with dessert, but in yum cha, this treat can appear at any time. The pastry is light and flaky, the custard creamy but not too rich. It’s not too sweet, and incredibly moreish.

It’s a challenge to decide how much to choose. This is fast food at its very best and if you can catch the busy waitress’s eye you won’t have to wait too long if you decide you haven’t had enough. Failing that, you can return and try the dinner menu.