East Ocean, Haymarket

My friend Mel and I decide to catch up over yum cha. We typically go to The Eight, Marigold or Sky Phoenix however on this occasion, we decide to try out East Ocean for something different. It's a quiet Saturday morning as we walk into East Ocean.

East Ocean is located in Haymarket. You enter by walking up some stairs and you walk through a room to get into the main part of where the yum cha action occurs. I've only been here for dinner so this is my first time for yum cha. There are a few tables of people but it's quite a large room of empty tables overall.

Mel and I order some tea and start talking about our worlds. We have had so many yum cha catch ups over the years, we are so familiar with each other's preferences. There's a few trolleys about which is sufficient for the amount of people there.

I order a few dumpling dishes including my favourite har gow (prawn dumpling). It's not bad however the balance of prawn, sesame oil, bamboo shoots and ginger seems to be off. I can't quite put my finger on what exactly. We still eat the har gow.

I also order the garlic prawn and spinach and prawn dumplings as well. The garlic prawn dumplings are delicious with the thin translucent skin and flavoursome filling. The dumpling is full of garlic flavours with a nice prawn ratio.

The prawn and spinach dumplings are bit dry on the other hand. The spinach is dense. I am not a fan of siu mai but Mel goes for it and tells me I am not missing much. She eats one and decides to leave the below average pork dumplings for her bf.

The Rice Noodles also known as Cheong Fun are very popular at yum cha so Mel and I also order the BBQ pork version. The rice noodles are thin and enjoyable to eat. The BBQ pork is incredibly dry and I wonder if this is several days old. Mel and I struggle to finish this dish.

Finally, we order the mango pancakes which are normally my fave however I had a really horrible experience on this occasion. The dough is slightly tough and full of cream. There is a small slither of mango. Both Mel and I leave the remaining mango pancakes.

Summary: Overall, I had a very mixed experience at East Ocean for Yum Cha. Unfortunately the one time that I decided to try a different Yum Cha in East Ocean did not leave a great impression. I've had a much better experience at dinner time. I still prefer Marigold, The Eight or Sky Phoenix for Yum Cha.

Price: $20ish per person

Location: Level 1, 421-429 Sussex St, Haymarket

Opening Hours: 
Mon - Fri - 11am to 2am
Sat, Sun - 10am to 2am

Weekend Food Escapes dined anonymously and paid independently. All words, photos and opinions are my own.