The Eight, Haymarket

It's been some time since I've been to yum cha but over the years I now know some of the ins and outs of what to do and what not to do. For example, at the Eight in Haymarket, you should get there a bit before 11am on the weekend to ensure you get a table and a head start on the trolleys. After this time, it becomes very challenging to get a table and the food is slower to get around in the trolleys. I can completely relate to some of the reviews about the slower customer service in the peak yum cha hours on the weekend.

I head there with 2 friends just before 11am on a Saturday as planned. I order some chrysanthemum tea as this is a refreshing change from the usual jasmine tea.

We are catching up on life and delve into love, work, food and reflections on 2019. We pour several cups of tea before we start ordering off the trolleys. The trolleys are plentiful right now but slow down from 11:30am. Luckily we order enough to begin with. We start with the rice noodles with prawns - also known as cheong fun with prawns. The rice noodles are soft and soak up the sweet soy sauce. The prawns are fresh and enjoyable to eat with the rice noodles. This is one of my usual dishes.

I don't typically eat Siu Mai (Pork and prawn wonton dumpling) and one of my friends is allergic so my friend P ends up eating all of the Siu Mai. I prefer the soft translucent skinned dumplings. 

We also order my favourite Har Gow, the prawn dumplings. The skin is a little bit hard but quickly loosens to reveal a tasty filling prawns, bamboo shoots and a subtle sesame oil flavour. I generously dab the har gow into the chilli sauce. It's great. The vegetarian dumplings are mostly made from mushrooms, the skin a little bit sticky is reflective of the dumplings being slightly over cooked. 

We also order some greens which are piled up and drizzled with soy sauce. The scallop seafood dumplings were perfectly cooked and probably my favourite on this day as there's a nice prawn and scallop flavour.

Summary: Overall, I enjoyed my experience at The Eight in Haymarket. The food is of quality and variety - You just need to get there early. My go to dishes are always the cheong fun with prawns, the scallop seafood dumplings and the har gow - the prawn dumplings. Check it out! Please note yum cha is only available during the day time

Price: Today it's $87 for 3 people - that's about $29 per person

Location: Top floor of Market City, 9-13 Hay St, Haymarket.  

Opening Hours: 
Weekdays Mon-Fri 10am to 3:30pm; 5:30pm to 11pm
Weekends Sat-Sun 9am to 3:30pm; 5:30pm to 11pm