Yum cha @ Akiba

Akiba recently introduced yum cha on weekends between 11-3. I was interested to see what it would be like so I booked an outdoor table with some friends. The yum cha menu that day (below) looked like the regular Akiba menu but shorter. This was confusing – what was the yum cha aspect? Thankfully our waitress informed us that the yum cha trolleys coming around would have additional yum cha items not on the menu.

We were more interested in the trolleys and waited for those to come around. The trolleys are half empty by the time they reach us.

The cute bell on the trolley announces its arrival and is rung when entering or leaving the inside of the restaurant. Trolleys need to physically be lifted up through the door since the restaurant is on a slightly higher level.

There were a few goodies passing by and the staff would describe the dishes on offer.

We started with the mushroom dumplings which were fat and stuffed full. Very tasty! I have no idea what the price was of this dish nor of any other dishes we ordered from the trolley. There was no docket on the table indicating which dishes had been ordered like the traditional yum cha. I just hoped it wasn’t too expensive.

Next was a fish fin with glossy smooth fleshy white meat underneath. This was a nice dish but quite difficult to share amongst the group.

We couldn’t say no to the edamame which came sprinkled with chilli seasoning.

The prawns in nam jim sauce came served in the shell. I assumed this was eaten with the shell on as they were quite small to have to peel. Crunchy and full of flavour.

I liked the deep fried salt and pepper squid which came in decent serve and were fresh out of the fryer. The squid itself was cooked perfectly. I enjoyed eating this.

The only other dumplings available that day was the lobster fried dumplings which were crispy but pretty average.

The pork belly with plums was just that. Pork belly and plums. The part that I took was pure fat so I left that aside.

The pork spare ribs looked good but had been demolished by the time I got to it.

The fried lamb cakes were different and stuffed with pulled lamb. I quite liked the crispy fried shell and it’s a good size. We ordered two serves of this to share amongst the group.

This yum cha session is not what I expected. I was hoping for the more traditional yum cha with more than two dumpling options, the staple steamed har gow, some lo mai gai (glutinous rice filled with meat and wrapped in banana leaves), and maybe mango pudding. If that is what you are wanting, you will not find that here. Akiba’s yum cha is a more modern take with tapas/sharing plates. It really isn’t yum cha as I know it so I was disappointed and left still hungry. On the bright side, Akiba does do its tapas/sharing plates very well and I have no qualms with that. I just don’t think it should be called ‘yum cha’. Perhaps it will be more yum cha-ish in the near future. Service-wise, we found that there weren’t many options by the time the trolleys had reached the outdoor tables. At one stage, we asked whether more dumplings were coming out and were told more were being made. But after much time passed, no more dumplings came out. After ordering the first round of beers/drinks, we were not asked if we wanted top ups. No one came by to take further drinks orders. Maybe it was an off day.

I’d actually dined at Akiba the week before for a quick breakfast. Sweet corn and brie fritters with smashed avocado ($12) and a side of smoked salmon ($3). I got a nice surprise with the fritters which had melted brie in the middle. This was nice but nothing spectacular.

I was also there recently for its regular lunch. The kingfish with coconut, nam jim and coriander ($14) is delicious and looks great on the plate. Good presentation is a key feature at Akiba.

The chilli soft shell crab with sesame dressing ($10) was crunchy, only mildly spicy (good for me) and very easy to polish off.

I tried a new dessert of mango and coconut sticky rice with macadamia and palm sugar ice cream ($9) which was also listed on the yum cha menu above. Small yum cha portions of this would have been awesome as it’s difficult to share amongst a group.

I do like the food at Akiba (previous dinner review here) and will be going back for its sharing plates. I love that the food comes out so quickly. I’m just not loving the so called ‘yum cha’ which doesn’t look any different to its regular menu. Hoping it improves! For now, I’ll stick to The Scholar in Dickson for yum cha.

Below scoring is for the yum cha session. Quite difficult to score as it’s purely based on my experience and expectations of yum cha. Would love to hear your experience of the yum cha session.

Foodgasm 7/10
Value for money 5/10
Service 5/10

FPJ score 17/30

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