Yum cha at Fortune8, Cabramatta

I am a big fan of Vinh Phat in Cabramatta for yum cha, but the lines there get ridiculous post 11AM on the weekend. It’s also well known by most people so I wanted to do a blog on my other favourite Cabramatta yum cha spot. In terms of top quality food, go Vinh Phat, for a relaxed dining experience with good food, go to Fortune8.

Fortune8 is a small family-run restaurant in the AA shopping complex. The service there is top-notch. Sure, they don’t have the traditional yum cha trolleys, but their staff are constantly carrying out a variety of dishes on trays. The first time I ate here, I thought the variety would be slim given they are a smaller restaurant than Vinh Phat, but they do a great job of rotating the food coming out of the kitchen to ensure you are offered as many dishes as possible. Their service is also more personal than bigger joints, and if you ask for an item off the menu, the service staff promptly bring it out for you.

I’d rate the yum cha food here about 7.5/10 if Vinh Phat food is about 9 / 10. There are 3 dishes that I typically measure my yum cha experience with: the har gow, the chicken feet and the tripe.

• The har gow, which is my favourite of all savoury yum cha items (because in the sweet category, nothing will ever surpass the mango pancakes) is pretty good here. The shrimp is tasty (and tastes fresh! – fyi, one of my pet hates is seafood that tastes like it has been frozen for a long time!) and the dumpling skin is chewy and soft

• The chicken feet is good though could do with a bit more of a black bean flavour and a bit more spice

• Now, the tripe… there’s two types of tripe at yum cha – the honeycomb one (usually thicker slices of tripe) and the lighter-coloured thinner tripe with ginger and shallot. I prefer the ginger shallot one. Fortune8 does this dish well, and the tripe has been perfectly cooked i.e. not tough, each time I’ve had it there.

What they don’t do well is the sweet silky tofu. The tofu just wasn’t that silky and the sugar syrup that covered the tofu needed a tonne more ginger for flavour.

That said, 3 out of the last 4 times I’ve gone to eat yum cha in Cabramatta, I have chosen to go to Fortune 8, where I know that although they usually have an almost full restaurant, I will enjoy delicious dim sum in a relaxed setting.

Details: Fortune8 Chinese Restaurant, 34/47 Park Rd, Cabramatta NSW 2166