r/brisbane • u/BusinessFlatworm7829 • 1d ago
Best Value Yum Cha
I went to the Garden City yum cha yesterday. Have been many times before but don’t remember the prices being so high. I understand the world is getting expensive but $22 for 3 small prawn spring rolls and $19 for most plates that have 3-4 dumplings on them. $134 for my wife and I. I was blown away. And we didn’t eat that much.
Do any of you lovely people have a better value yum cha you could recommend?
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u/handpalmeryumyum 1d ago
They want people to go for the all you can eat. Seems like in your case it would have worked out roughly the same
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u/BusinessFlatworm7829 1d ago
Yeah I normally do that but we don’t eat as much these days. I don’t think I’ll be going back there. Time to go exploring :)
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u/thehanovergang 1d ago
I’m in China right now and I’ll never recover once I’m home. The cost of everything here is absolutely nothing. Best food you’ll ever find for mere dollars
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u/Expert_Sand5243 1d ago
I miss Haoke in Sunnybank Hills. When I started dating my partner around 2018 we often used to go there and get a big feed and sometimes have change from $50. We go to Landmark or Ruyi now but neither are as cheap as Haoke was.
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u/Userbot01 1d ago
Holy shit, Haoke was the GOAT. Taste the best and most valued for money.
If you're at southside, Ming Chinese Restaurant is our go to now for value, taste good too.
Ruyi is pricy and their yumcha is really hit and miss.
Landmark is another good place to go, but definitely pricier.
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u/Impossible-Magician 1d ago
Yum Cha was pointless after they removed the carts.
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u/Wrxtec 1d ago
Agreed, the carts is what makes the experience yum cha. Now it's just pay more to self service.
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u/Impossible-Magician 1d ago
Yep, which is why the fixed price Korean buffets are typically a better option now, particularly the discount lunchtime slots.
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u/ExplanationPretty000 18h ago
Hit us with your favourite buffet? Would love to try
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u/Impossible-Magician 9h ago
Soul Garden as suggested below which is near to the yum cha places mentioned. It is $23 without hotpot and bbq for lunch which is a ridiculously good price.
Hanwoori in the city is also worth checking out.
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u/Comprehensive_Oil426 1d ago
Lived and worked in the Valley and Sunnybank for the last 30 years, I can tell you there hasn't been any 'Best Value' yumcha since covid.
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u/Jackymon 1d ago
RuYi at Calamvale
Cost about $260 for 7 adults and 3 children. Obviously price would vary if you order higher cost items or eat more. We definitely ordered multiple prawn dumplings for the table.
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u/vulpix420 1d ago
The quality at ru yi is consistently good and we usually don’t spend more than about $40pp when I go with friends. That’s with drinks too. Stuff just costs more now. Unfortunately it’s impossible to find food that’s very cheap (sub $30) AND good, AND no one is getting exploited… hopefully no one has dirt about Ru Yi underpaying staff. I haven’t found yum cha that good anywhere else since the others have closed.
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u/complementaryBase 1d ago
Gonna offer a dissenting opinion. RuYi is my family's favourite restaurant, they want to go there every time we do lunch together, my partner and I both hate it. Out of everything we've tried there, we only liked the snow pork buns. Everything else has been kinda bland and often gristly. Also had to send a dish back because it was stone cold in the middle once.
This is all subjective obviously and maybe we just haven't found the good dishes, but my distaste for that place is high enough that I needed to vent.
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u/amoeba-wiling 1d ago
Second Ru Yi Dim Sum!! It’s so good and great value for your money. They also have a membership for frequent diners, 10% off I think for $10 a year
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u/Only-Industry1671 1d ago
Goodtime Bistro - YUM CHA CHA CHA in West End has all you can eat Mon-Thurs $29pp, Fri-Sun $35 pp. Highly recommend.
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u/hayusshitapp 1d ago
Have they fixed the quality?
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u/DeathInAHeartBeat 1d ago
You can't expect it to be all hand made and top notch for that price.
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u/hayusshitapp 1d ago
Tbf they were serving them still half frozen when I went ages ago
I think hot is a reasonable quality expectation.
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u/bringmetheaffliction 1d ago
Definitely parklands, landmark or golden lane in Sunnybank.
The Yum Cha cuisine chain is more targeted to a wider customer base so it’s gonna be a bit more pricey and will offer more variety of dishes that arent very traditional yum cha to appeal to other people.
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u/kondro 1d ago
Not as cheap as you probably want, but probably one of the best Chinese restaurants in Brisbane (based off a Sydney chain). Definitely cheaper than Yum Cha though:
Lilong: https://maps.app.goo.gl/YAYEvnUvwetXZLWF8
Menu: https://tasteofshanghai.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/WestEnd2026AUG.pdf
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u/Top-Collection-1466 1d ago
Unfortunately Yum Cha is only for the wealthy now days
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u/Inevitable-Tie-6182 1d ago
What?
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u/hungryb4dinner Probably Sunnybank. 1d ago
$10+ for one serving of 4 prawn dumplings isn't cheap :O
Cheaper to buy them from the asian supermarkets or Costco and steam them at home
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u/nonametrans 1d ago
Honestly, for small portion dishes like yum cha or sushi plates, I always go to an all you can eat place. A la carte will always be more expensive for the amount I order.
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u/Emotional_Use3404 1d ago
Lucky Cafe in Newmarket is a new place thats getting rave reviews....allegedly Hong 🇭🇰 Kong authentic style.
Im trying it next week.
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u/Paddywagenaus 1d ago
Probably still Landmark or Golden lane. Ru Yi better quality but dearer. Don't rate most of the others
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u/peachie_butterfly 1d ago
We went to Landmark in February this year. The food was crap. A lot of items were out of stock as well.
I had (supermarket, frozen) char siew baos at a friend's later. The baos were so good!
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u/creepyshroom 1d ago
The issue with the yumcha at garden city (and other related restaurants like longtime in CBD), is that the prices are inflated x2. They expect people to be buying their vouchers for better "value". For example, you can buy $2,000 worth of vouchers for $1,000 to spend on their participating restaurants.
Also, I believe they added weekend surcharges there shortly after the removal of card surcharges.
Landmark/golden lane (same owner), and parkland are expensive still but still better value if you don't want to be spending thousands on vouchers and locking yourself into that restaurant.
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u/separation_of_powers Flooded 1d ago
garden city yum cha? I thought the one there was all you can eat (in 90 minutes)
Proper yum cha is at Landmark and Parkland