Yum Cha @ Ginseng at the Hellenic Club

Located upstairs at the Hellenic Club in Woden, Ginseng offers yum cha every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The place is buzzing and busy by 11.30am (when yum cha commences) and I double check my watch to see how late I am. How are there so many people already eating?

We are seated in the partitioned area to the left and I find a constant flow of food coming through.  It’s a little noisy inside, but still easy to have a conversation with those at the table. It doesn’t take long before someone with a tray or pushing a trolley of yum cha treats comes by, and we all select our favourites.

We asked for Chinese tea and fellow foodie Tales of a Confectionist, our Cantonese-lingo expert, ordered some dishes from one of the staff. Congee is available to be ordered but we decide to skip it.

We order the fried five-spice chicken wings ($8 for a serve of four) which are crunchy and juicy. We order two serves of the BBQ pork pies ($8 for a serve of three). These are rectangular in shape and brushed with egg yolk on top. These are just like the steamed BBQ pork buns, but wrapped within a buttery flakey pastry. I think it’s slightly sweeter than the other pork buns.

The deep fried seafood dumplings ($12 for a serve of four) served with mayonnaise is one of my favourites. Crispy and fried until golden. The baked BBQ pork buns ($7 for a serve of three) have a lovely sticky glossy light brown top. Again, its basically the same as a BBQ steamed bun but with a different casing.

Lo mai gai or sticky rice with Chinese sausage wrapped in lotus leaf ($8) comes in a serve of two and we shared between the four of us. The steamed seafood bean curd rolls ($8 for a serve of three) is a surprising favourite of mine. Stuffed with a generous portion of seafood mix, it is delicious smothered in a thick gravy.

Other dishes ordered include the har gow, prawn dumplings ($8, four per serve), seafood and coriander dumplings ($8), pork spare ribs ($7), cheung fan (rice noodles) rolled around you tiao or deep fried savoury dough sticks ($9) and the fried glutinous dumplings, hom sui gok, ($8). The glutinous dumplings are another must-try for me. If you haven’t tried it before, it’s both sweet and savoury. Think savoury pork mince wrapped around glutinous rice flour and deep fried, giving it a chewy mochi-like texture when cooked.

Dessert are custard egg tarts ($5 for two) and custard buns ($7 for three) but by this stage we were all pretty full.

I was also saving my stomach space for mango pudding ($7) with some condensed milk on top. Coconut pudding is available but I’ll need to try it next time.

Some dishes come in sets of three which is awkward between the four of us, but we were able to chop these items in half and share. This worked out well so we could save stomach space for other things.

My favourites are the savoury fried mochi balls stuffed with pork mince, lo mai gai, the tofu stuffed prawns, and the cheong fan. Between us, we spent roughly $35 each and were completely stuffed by the end.

Note: All ACT residents must be a member or be signed in by a member in order to dine at the Club.

Ginseng at the Hellenic Club
Matilda Street, Phillip, Canberra

Opening hours:
Yumcha lunch: Saturday – Monday from 11.30pm

Foodgasm 8.5/10
Value for money 7.5/10
Service 8/10

FPJ score 24/30

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