By Mr. Taste
You can usually tell whether a restaurant is any good by looking at the front door. A good restaurant will have a nice mix of locals and out of towners, loitering around the foyer, tippy-toeing up and down to check if there are any empty tables. You can see them eyeing the seats of the diners who have just finished off their desserts and ready to pounce once the diners stand up to pay.
Crab Claw - Large
Cabramatta’s Vinh Phat is one of these places. It also happens to be our favourite place for yum cha in Sydney.
Vinh Phat
Vinh Phat has been around since I was a kid. The great thing about this place is the incredible consistency. The same shopfront, the same decor, the same 15-20 tables in the same layout, the same long wait, the same unique dishes, the same waitstaff.
The same folding partition in front of the toilets...
During our latest visit, we arrive on a Saturday at 9:30 in the morning. Any later and we’d have to face the long lines and ridiculous parking situation at Cabramatta. When we enter the restaurant, we’re a little disappointed to see the tables have already been filled. Then out of nowhere, a family of 6 sitting at a table for four stands up and is ushered onto an larger table. The mother and kids carry their teapot and bowls still half full with food across the restaurant. We are gestured to move into the newly vacated four seater table.
Chai Tow Kway - Extra Large
As soon as we sit down, Ms Taste gestures for the Chai Tow Kway and it teasingly sits there in front of us before we have even gotten our chopsticks and yum cha card. Many Cantonese yum chas don’t have this dish so it’s a ‘must order’ whenever we come here. The steaming hot mixture of soft but firm, slightly burnt flour cubes with the sweet soy and the egg and the radish means that this is polished off very quickly.
Crab Claw - Large
The minced crab claws also get a lot of love. You only get three, so if you’ve got an even party, you might need to barter for the rights to one for yourself. Or you could just order another serving of them!
Seafood Spring Roll - Large
The seafood spring rolls here are a favourite from my childhood. My mum and I would come here when I was little just and get a serve of these each for ourselves. The soft, crunchy skin covered in a sweet and sour sauce and the always hot filling of minced prawns and water chestnuts are a winning combination. I don’t think I’ve ever seen these anywhere else.
Seafoody goodness
Seafood Dim Sim - Medium
When I see those yellowskins, my tastebuds have been programmed to expect a nice mouthful of pork with specks of tiny prawn bits but these dim sims are filled with a juicy minced prawn mixture.
Prawn Rice Noodle - Large
Steamed rice noodle dishes would have to have the shortest yum cha shelf life. If not eaten fresh from the steamer, the taste and texture can drop from a perfect 10 down to a 1. Another advantage of a small restaurant, these get gobbled up by every table as soon as they leave the kitchen so they’re as fresh as you can get.
Prawn Dumpling - Medium
These prawn dumplings always come with bright bits of bamboo shoots in the filling. Other places do this dish a lot better but these are pretty satisfactory.
Chicken Feet - Medium
Ms. Taste cleans up the Chicken Feet any time we have yum cha. I would have one and she would eat the remaining three or four. Again like the prawn rice noodles – the quality of the dish decreases exponentially with time.
Iced Coffee
Total damage for the 7 dishes and a drink? $35. Is there any other Yum Cha in Sydney where you can get such excellent bang for your buck as Vinh Phat? Feel free to prove me wrong but I don’t think that there is.
Vinh Phat
40 Park Rd
Cabramatta
NSW 2166
# 02 9726 2720
Open daily for lunch and dinner
This is pretty much what we get every single time we come here.
I think that is the biggest appeal for us, the fact they have all these dishes most other places don’t
