Cha Cha Dumpling Train

I'm quite a fan of fun food, so where there's new and creative gimmicks and I won't hesitate to give it a try!

That's how we end up at Cha Cha Dumpling Train - just like a sushi train, but with steamers of dumplings and buns rather than sushi- and it's 'opening special' of $3.50 per dish made it rather attractive too!

We arrive early as the yum cha train is rather small, seating about 20 people in total on the train, and we notice the place fills up quite quickly! The train is quite empty at first but the dishes fill up quickly as more customers start sitting down.

Scallop and Chive Dumplings

The steamers are labelled on their lids so you don't have to open each of them to figure out what they are. We're a bit disappointed that there are only a total of 5 different offerings in the steamers on the train- 3 types of dumplings (scallops, prawns and vegetarian) and 2 types of buns (pork or vegetarian), even though the sign at the front of the shop shows a lot more steamed options!

We go for the scallop dumplings first, and realise the dumplings are unlike the any of the varieties of dumplings you'll get from yum cha restaurants. These have a tasty scallop and chive filling, though the soft, gow-gee like wrapper reminds us rather much of our own home-made dumplings!

Prawn Dumplings

The prawn dumplings are pretty much the same thing but with a different shape and filling. We find the dumplings to be rather dry and bland and much prefer the scallop ones. 

The buns on offer don't look too attractive, and aren't great for sharing as there's only one in each steamer, so we move onto the non-steamed options. There's a couple of fried options such as lemon chicken and salt and pepper calamari, and we can see them cooked in through the window into the kitchen, they come in rather small proportions and not exactly what we're in the mood for. 

We go for these beef rice paper rolls, the yum cha train's alternative to sushi, which seem more a little out of place here as they look a bit Vietnamese to us. They're wrapped beautifully with a generous amount of tasty stir fried beef (a bit like kebab meat actually!) and veggies, though they're a bit difficult to eat!

Unfortunately, that was all on offer that we were interested in as we're not too big on Westernised chinese food when it comes to yum cha, though we did really enjoy the idea of yum cha train!

Cha Cha Dumpling Train
Shop 2020A Level 2 Westfields Sydney
Cnr Pitt St Mall & Market St