Breakfast Chronicles 2 – Yum Cha at Shark Fin Inn

In my first Breakfast Chronicles I said a bad breakfast can ruin your day, well Yum Cha can also ruin your day with overindulgence. Well ruin is a bit of an over-exaggeration, it will ensure you cannot move for the rest of the day and therefore cannot do anything. But it is oh so worth it!

A few years ago my friends Janice and Jeremy introduced me to the wonder of Yum Cha. We would scour Chinatown in Melbourne trying to find the best. We found a few that were good but then we found something great. On the recommendation of my work mate Ben I discovered a Yum Cha Banquet at Shark Fin Inn. For $36 you could eat as much dim sum as you wanted! Sounded like a dream come true, as we could sample and taste all the dumplings and dishes you wanted without the cost being added to do your bill. We found this great as we could try a bit of everything and find our favourites and be introduced to things we normally would never try.

If you have never had a Yum Cha experience before, it can be a bit daunting. It is noisy and chaotic but everything seems to run smoothly and is a lot of fun. Yum Cha actually translates to drink ‘Drink Tea’ which is what you traditionally drink with the Dim Sum, which is what all the small dishes to accompany the drinking of the tea are called. I definitely recommend ordering the tea as it helps with digestion when you have overindulged.

Chinese Tea, trust me you'll need it as it helps with digestion

Once seated waitresses will come around with carts or platters piled with dishes from which you can order as much as you want. Once they give you your selection they write how many quantities you have taken on a piece of paper which they will use later to calculate your bill. They will keep circulating with different dishes until they bring out the dessert carts and then the service is finished.

As I have now been here countless times I will run through a few tried and true favourites of mine.

Pork Shumai (Pork Dumpling) are almost standard at any yum cha fare. I like mine dipped into a bit of chilli and soy sauce.

Pork siu mai

The pork spare ribs are cooked in a soy sauce, black bean and bit of chilli. If you order them from a waiter they will come straight from the kitchen steaming hot.
Pork spare ribs

Crab and Corn Dumplings


Prawn and Chives Dumplings

As I mentioned before, I can’t go past a nice dessert to end a meal. Even if I am full to the brim, there’s always another part of my stomach reserved for something sweet. Shark Fin has a great egg custard tart, which if you get it fresh enough, will be warm, flaky and will practically melt in your mouth. The custard filled donuts dusted with icing sugar are also great when they are fresh and warm.

Egg custard tarts

Custard donuts

Shark Fin and the place is full of people, great food and a lively atmosphere on a Sunday afternoon which I think is part of the fun of a Yum Cha experience. Service is always fast, with staff coming around and clearing plates and refilling your drinks throughout your meal.

The place is always packed out on a Sunday and bookings are absolutely essential unless you would like to wait in the line stretched out the door. I don’t you can really go wrong with a place that has me daydreaming about dumplings, always coming back and has both floors teeming with people all weekend long.

Personal Tip: If you are booking, request an upstairs table as the food comes around more frequently and there is a greater variety of food.

Yum Cha sessions run daily at 11.30am and 1pm.
Shark Fin Inn
50 Little Bourke St
Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9662 2681