Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant, Bank St, Pyrmont

Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant, Bank St, Pyrmont
Sunday 6 January, 2008

The first I visited this restaurant I loved it and was keen to organise a follow up visit. Today, I invited a few yum cha buddies along to experience the food. We arrived at 11am and it was near empty - here's a tip - on the weekend aim to arrive around 11am as you will easily secure a table. After 11.30am there is a queue down the stairs of eager diners and no empty tables in the huge open dining space.

We were directed to a table for 4 and sat there eagerly awaiting the first trolleys. Trouble is, when you are hungry the food seems to take forever. We were asked if we wanted tea and based on my last experience I asked what teas were available. Apparently, there was only one tea for our table - jasmine - or at least one tea that they were prepared to serve us. To be honest I'm not a big tea drinker myself so it didn't bother me that we were unable to secure a better tea.

The dumplings came out in force and it seemed for a while there that this was all the food on offer today. We sampled prawn dim sims, prawn dumplings, combination dumplings and prawns wrapped in rice noodles. When we asked for an extra chilli sauce the waiter disappeared never to be seen again.....and then as we were about to ask someone else 10 mins later he magically appeared with our chilli sauce. For a near empty restaurant that was unacceptable.

At this time a young waitress came by and asked if we were looking for anything in particular. Finally, someone who was prepared to give us a hand! We requested some BBQ pork, roast duck, salt & pepper calamari and steamed broccolini. The food was absolutely delicious and we devoured each dish. The BBQ pork was marinated in a soy sauce and served in small, bite size slices, the duck was crispy on the outside and slightly oily but tender on the inside, the calamari was served with large pieces of fresh chilli to give it a kick and the steamed vegetables was lightly doused in a hoisin sauce.

We sat there for several hours enjoying the buzz and couldn't believe how soon the dining space had filled. It honestly felt as if we had just sat down in a near empty restaurant and then 5 minutes later turned around again to a packed, buzzing restaurant filled with families and friends.

To finish off we managed to secure some egg tarts. I love egg tarts and for me a visit to yum cha is not complete unless they make an appearance.

I'll be back.

Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant - Bank St, Pyrmont - (02) 9660 9888