East Phoenix

The best thing about yum cha is that as soon as you sit down a bamboo basket of plump shu mai dumplings is offered.

Or bright green steamed Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce. Or vegetable gow gee dim sums, their ghostly, translucent skin revealing greens inside. Or steamed pork buns so pillowy and unblemished they resemble baby's cheeks.

All this within five minutes of entering East Phoenix, the fifth of the Phoenix Group's restaurants in Sydney. Part of Zetland's East Village shopping centre, it's a vast and modern space seating 450 people at highly starched white-clothed tables.

Arriving at East Village has already prepared us for a modern vibe. The car park does not provide tickets, preferring to use machines that scan the car's number plate on arrival at the gate. On leaving, make sure to punch the number plate's letters and numbers into another machine before going back to the car. On this afternoon groups of perplexed people trying to remember their number plate were only outnumbered by people queuing at the gates waiting for a ticket.

In East Phoenix, the chic decor mixes black, honey-toned wood and flashes of red. The glowing yellow bar is well-stocked and a striking foyer of tall bamboo sticks and luminous red walls make your eyes go funny after looking at them too long.

Lighting is low with tables spot-lit, creating a feeling of intimacy in a big room. It's still easy to see East Phoenix attracts every nationality and age. Asian families are at many tables, but there are also Greek, Lebanese and Italian groups wearing everything from fancy clothes to tattoo-revealing singlets. Children are everywhere, mingling with high-heeled ladies sporting sculpted blonde hair and a group of Audi employees in branded shirts chomping on noodles.

We're also munching, oohing and ahhing at crisply deep-fried whitebait, soft prawns wrapped in wonton skins, slippery rice noodles in salty, sweet sauce and vegetarian dumplings. A pot of Chinese tea flows fast, and sticky rice, steaming after being unwrapped from its leaf, goes quickly too.

We are asked, mid-trolley flow, if we would like barbecued duck. It arrives in five minutes, a magnificent platter of dark-orange bird seasoned with star anise and peanuts.

Service here is great. Every trolley stops for us. We never feel as though scintillating, just-cooked treats are passing us by to some other more deserving table, and every trolley lady explains the dishes in English. When one of us looks up to catch a waiter's eye, they arrive in a shot.

The small girl at the table becomes a staff favourite and takes the extra attention - "Beautiful girl!" "You love dumplings!" - in her stride. She also becomes a fan of food she has never previously encountered – garlic-coated green beans, small Chinese chicken pies and, later, a glass dish of red, blue, yellow and green jelly cubes so jiggly the ones that miss her mouth bounce like ping-pong balls across and under the table.

We're also trying to eat some delicious puffy doughnuts heavily coated in sugar without covering our faces and chests in powdery sweetness. Fried ice-cream, ordered specially, is a coconut-covered marvel.

An hour after we arrived for lunch, the room is almost full. Trolleys still whiz by, laden with dishes we haven't tried but have no room for.

Behind us, the private dining rooms, still empty at present, look like James Bond sets. Their dark-red walls, champagne-hued padded chairs and contemporary tear-drop glass chandeliers are glamorous and fetching. 

We feel less so, stuffed full and lightly dusted in sugar that, later, is also discovered in shoes and the small girl's hair and pockets.

On rising, any leftover food is swiftly decanted into takeaway containers. And there is time, as the bill is finalised, to sit on the long caramel-coloured leather banquette in the glowing foyer, to savour an old-fashioned yet very modern yum cha feast.

THE LOW-DOWN
THE PICKS BBQ duck; rice noodles; sugar-coated doughnuts
THE SERVICE Friendly, efficient, occasionally hovering