FOOK YUEN SEAFOOD RESTAURANT - Chatswood

What better way to clear the cobwebs after a long meeting than Yum Cha for lunch? As mentioned before, I work with quite a few dedicated foodies in my office and we are known to regularly frequent our local Chinese Seafood Restaurant Fook Yuen in Help Street, for Yum Cha. Today we were gathered for a rather important meeting, and the second it finished, the shout out for yu cha was met with great enthusiasm. Fook Yuen is a huge and bustling local Chinese restaurant that has been reviewed in the past as being one of the more popular yum cha eateries in Sydney along with Chequers (also at Chatswood - in the Mandarin Centre), it is always busy and full but the turnover of tables is fast and furious so you can usually managed to get a table if you haven't pre-booked. The restaurant must seat literally hundreds in the main area and has private rooms that you can book for functions. I think that half the fun of the place is watching the action, and and trying to make your conversation heard over the noise! Trolly Dolly's doing their best to offload their steaming baskets of freshly made morsels then stamping your card with fervour (and more noise!). The comedy of the speedy hostess throwing down plates and clattering bowls on top, whilst balancing a pot of steaming tea in the other hand, all while keeping an eye on the punters at the other tables to see if any assistance is needed. I can't say that I've had a bad meal here in the 4 years I've been coming, but in our group we certainly all have our favourites and don't vary much from that. I have to be honest and don't know the names of the dishes (perhaps I should do some research for fun) but we regularly have the Roast Duck, BBQ Pork (trying to pick up the cashews with the chopsticks is always a fun challenge), steamed greens with oyster sauce, usually choi sum. Steamed pork buns are not one of our regulars, but do make an appearance now and then. Deep fried chilli squid is ALWAYS included - sometimes two serves (well..we usually have up to 10 at the table!), fried dim sims with vegies, and/or shrimp, rice noodle with prawn, dumplings with beef, pork or shrimp. The variety is endless and there is something that suits all of us. Some of the group are non green eaters, some are non wheat eaters, others will eat aything (err..I think that's me)...except the chickens feet. Some have tried them, some have not, but none of us really can be bothered with them. Once we have given the lazy susan a good workout, and the plates are all empty and multiple pots of tea have been drunk, it is usually time for the mango pancakes and egg tarts! Today however, none of us had time or space, but these are some of the most fresh and tasty we have all had and are usually anticipated throughout the meal. Fook Yuen is located on Level 1, 7 Help Street 9413 2688. It is easy to find, and find it you should. We usually end up leaving full as a googie for the grand old pices of $!7 per head. Sometimes we hit $19 (probably those dessert days), but it is ALWAYS under $20. Good food and good fun. Happi eating!