Plume Chinese Restaurant

Plume Chinese Restaurant

546 Doncaster Road, Doncaster

(Ph) 9840 1122

P and I were craving some good yumcha again - I wanted to go to Plume this time since I had such fond memories of it last time.

We got there just after 11am - it was about half filled already, but mainly of Westerners with flowers and wine and all. We felt a bit out of place haha =P

We sat down and ordered our tea - I always order 壽眉 "sau mei", I guess 'cause my mum likes it so I grew up drinking it. As opposed to 普洱 "pu er" which is so strong and bitter - my brother likes it =/

The first dim sim cart came along - P ordered his few typical favourites - 蝦餃 (har gao), 燒賣 (siu mai), 排骨 (pai gu)

Ever since I've been with P I've really loved 排骨 (pai gu - spare ribs) as much as he does - steamed with black bean sauce ahhh delicious! We've tried making it at home ourselves but it never tastes as good and always so watery - most likely 'cause we don't have a proper steamer so the condensation falls back onto the dish =(

I'm not a fan of 蝦餃 (har gao - prawn dumpling) 'cause I don't like prawns - so P had the whole dish himself - he liked them =) The 燒賣 (siu mai - pork dumpling) were quite good - wasn't a whole hard lump of pork mince as it is at some places.

I saw 芋角 (woo kok - taro puff) and had to order a dish even though I know P doesn't like taro. It's my favourite dim sim at yumcha <3

Mmm.. combination of my favourite things - taro and crunchiness <3 Inside is filled with minced meat with an outer layer of taro paste and coated in crunchiness and deep fried.

P ordered a 叉燒腸粉 (cha siu cheung fun - BBQ pork steamed rice noodle roll)

T'was pretty good - the rice noodle was not too thick or tough. And I love the sweet soy sauce you dip it in =)

We saw some fresh 煎堆 (jin dui - sesame glutinous ball) and I had to order some.

It's a soft chewy glutinous rice flour pastry with a large hollow inside, partly filled with a red bean paste, and super crunchy on the outside after it's been deep fried =)

I couldn't wait any longer when the waiter brought out a fresh tray of 蛋撻 (dan tart - egg tart)

Even though I usually like the short bread crust more compared to the puff pastry - this was delicious! The egg custard was so creamy and YUM =D I'm such a sucker for sweets and fried food =P

It was 12pm already and the buns still hadn't come out yet, so we decided to actually order them. They don't have 流沙包 (luw sa bao - runny sand bun) here boo =( We got a 叉燒包 (cha siu bao) and a 麻蓉包 (ma yung bao)

The 叉燒包 (cha siu bao - BBQ pork bun) was so delicious - soft bun with juicy BBQ pork on the inside. We were so full but still managed to eat them both =)

I'm not sure what the filling inside 麻蓉包 (ma yung bao) is really - it's meant to be a sesame paste, but you'd expect sesame paste to be black. I think it's a mixture of sesame and sweet bean paste - whatever it is, it has such a unique and delicious taste, with a slightly grainy but liquidy texture - like the Runny Sand Bun =) Not as tasty as the Runny Sand Bun but very high on my favourite list! <3

We were so stuffed after all this - couldn't finish all the food ><

The bill was a bit shocking - for 9 dishes and tea it was $60.. we were expecting more like $40-50. The price has definitely increased since the last time we were here - I think they're aiming more at Western people now so have jacked up their prices... Not sure if I'll trek all the way here for yumcha again..

7.5/10

C.
xo

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02/08/13

Came back here recently with my parents... I had forgotten how expensive yumcha was here! Dim sims are good here but really - $5.50 for a small?! $7 for a medium and $8 for a large =O

We had all the usual dishes though this time we did get the Runny Sand Bun

It was runny indeed, though wasn't as flavoursome as I would have liked. There was salty egg yolk flavour but it was like it had been diluted with some custard or something - a bit disappointing =( Shark Fin ones are still my favourite! <3