QY Dumpling Bar ~ Chinese - Ultimo

QY Dumpling Bar is a classic of homestyle Chinese cooking, a mum and dad eatery located in the strange little food court off Broadway





We love the little food court off Broadway, it's just so strange. The chairs are like rejects from a function centre, the lighting is bright and the food stalls are never really busy. They've tried to give the place a bit of class and style but the mix of patterns and colours just makes it even more highly b-kyu. QY Dumpling Bar is one of just three main stalls besides the chicken and burger joint and a bubble tea shop on the main street that straddle the entrance.

It's bloody hard graft running a food stall, especially one in a small centre that relies on lots of students for business. QY Dumpling Bar is a two person enterprise as far as we can tell, friendly folk run it and the food is good. They sometimes seem like they're just there helping out for the day, but will reward you with enthusiastic support for your choice when it gets served up.

The rou jia mo is a good quick lunch/snack, at $5 it has a good spoonful of chopped and slightly salty meat to keep the bread dough just stuck together.

Beef Noodle soup is a bowl filled with middle weight wheat noodles (not too thin or thick) with slices of cooked beef in a circular layer along the top. A handful of coriander leaves sprinkled over the lot and some branches of bok choy add greenery. The broth is plain but you can punch it up with some chilli oil. We have grown to love these simple soups, especially after some indulgence in spicy little numbers.

Fish flavoured pork with green capsicum and black fungus. There's a great base in the flavour here from the oddness that is 'fish flavour', which is not a fish flavour at all but made from the same ingredients that would be used to cook fish (ginger, garlic, soy and star anise, thanks Fuchsia Dunlop, oh how we love you!) The strips of pork are gently soft and work wonders with the flavour. A great one person lunch.

Hot and sour soup with dumplings. There's a freshness to the dumpling filling here, married with the heat and sourness of the soup it's a winner. About 10 dumplings and no noodles, which is a great variant on the regular old noodle soup we love.

QY Dumpling Bar is at 185 Broadway, Ultimo. Follow the random jumble of patterns inside.