Red Emperor Restaurant
3 Southgate Ave
Southbank, VIC 3006
03 9699 4170
Sunday is the perfect day for yum cha brunch! Social, vibrant, pleasant and relaxed. And we do all that in front of a delightful degustation of “Asian tapas”.
I first ate here 2 years ago, at an all-you-can-eat Christmas yum cha function held for my workplace. My colleagues watched with open-mouthed wonderment as I unabashedly devoured everything in sight. Ahhh… good memories. I had a very contented belly.
I thought cousin Nick would like this place. They have floor to ceiling windows and you can see the Yarra river and some of the city while you eat. I made a booking and got Langy to come along. Yum cha is good in threes since a lot of the dishes comes three-in-a-basket. They sat us upstairs and the trolleys started rolling in.
We adhered to the standard fare. Many of the baskets came out on the dry and cool side. Maybe it’s because we arrived in the middle of a session and the food have been sitting out for awhile. I must confess I have forgotten exactly how the dishes tasted, it was a few days before I started on this post. And yum cha is hard to review because there are so many items involved. So I suppose this post will be more pictorial than critical.
Siu mai - pork and mushroom dumpling
Tasted dense, dry and unexciting
I’m not that fond of siu mai anyway. Most of the time, it tastes too porky.
Gow Choi - prawn and chive dumpling
No complaints. I like prawns, I like chives! It’s win-win.
I also like the translucency of these types of dumplings. You get to see what you’re eating!
For awhile, I mistook this for Har Gao (prawn dumplings). Lol, I’m so farang sometimes.
Combination Seafood Dumpling
So said the trolley girl.
Love the anglicised name. It makes the dish feel almost unauthentic.
I could taste prawn, chives and water chestnut in this one. Maybe scallops too?
Quite liked it.
Gai Keok - braised chicken feet
Tasted good. Tender braised flesh that falls off the bone easily. The seasoning had a nice balance of spices
…I feel guilty about deriving so much pleasure from dismembering toes.
The feet are also not too large. Dad always jokes how chicken feet served in Australia can be almost as big as his hand, haha!
Pai Kuat - steamed spare ribs with black beans
Epic fail.
They were squares of boring, tough pork meat that didn’t really soak up the marinade.
I didn’t even see a rib!
Luo Bo Gao - white radish cake
Mediocre. Served at room temperature. This dish should be served warm to taste good.
This cake is quite often mistakenly called “turnip cake”
Ha Cheong - steamed rice noodle roll with shrimp
I use this dish as a yum cha benchmark.
I loove ha cheong! The prawns were acceptably fresh and big here. However, it wasn’t served hot and freshly steamed.
Char Siu Pau - BBQ pork bun
Small, steaming hot, fluffy and dainty. Thumbs up.
I prefer these smaller versions to the big firmer buns you get at other joints
Mango pudding
Found it overly sweet and I’d prefer if there was more mango-ey zing in it.
At least we broke this heart into three pieces instead of two when sharing. Somehow, that feels less wrong.
Dan Ta - egg custard tart
More daintiness. Served at room temperature.
The custard wasn’t eggy enough for my liking. The pastry would’ve tasted good if it was served hot.
The above 10 dishes cost us $60 for 3 persons. I left the place feeling satisfied but not full. In a bigger group, I’d probably have stuffed myself a lot more.
The service was very attentive, they changed plates and worried whether we had clean spoons for our dessert. But i’m not sure whether I’ll come back again. Prices are stiff and I think I can find yummier yum cha at other places in the city
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Sadly no yum cha today but I wish! Red Emperor is definitely not where it’s at. It has the location and not much else IMHO. The Gold Leaf locations around the city are popular but apart from that most of the really good ones are in the eastern suburbs. I have heard Tai Pan in Doncaster is great.
Hi Lauren! I’ve been to Tai Pan, it’s quite alright but the service was very rude. I thought Sharks Fin Inn in the city was good, but am gathering more recommendations to try out!
OMG I *did* have yum cha today! At Plume, in Maribynong, which was something of an epic FAIL. But more on that on my blog later. My favourite is still probably Plume in Doncaster, though I think Gold Leaf is better value, and more consistent. I find Shark Fin Inn good on the whole, but definitely go for hte earlier sitting, ad they tend to run out of things in the later sittings. And Bryan, can you please do me a favour? Please, please, never use the term ‘Asian tapas’ ever again… it demeans us all. ;)
Haha! I was wondering whether anyone would pick up on that tacky analogy. Can’t wait to go to Movida Next Door & call it Spanish Yum Cha. :p Thanks for the recommendatons, now i’ve got a list of new yum cha places to check out! :)
I see red emperor has hit a rough patch. They used to be an upscale version of taipan (given they are owned by the same people). Taipan though rude + very busy, is worth the variety and quality. And please go to the earlier session and request a seat on the upper level. I remember in the days when the only Gold Leaf was in springvale, haven’t been back in a while but they are pretty decent. shark fin is rather hit and miss, and has sadly become increasingly “caucasion-friendly” no doubt to cater for its predominant customers. But nothing beats yum cha in hong kong, sadly enough. Although push trolleys seem to be only a remnant here in Melbourne.