Mantingfang Yum Cha (North Shore City, New Zealand)

Who does not love Yum Cha, I fell in love with it all the way back when I was introduced to it when I was in Hong Kong the only problem with it you cannot crave for it any time of the day because traditionally this is served only during lunchtime until we found this place, Mantingfang. They offer this all day round how good is that! and as a bonus all their dishes are 15% all the time. Their menu items are already reasonable in price but add a 15% discount to it this place is a hidden gem.

Now you might ask what’s the catch? Well there is none, the food is good quality as well and the place is clean, it’s so good it just doesn’t make sense. Honestly I still can’t believe that there is a place like this that exist, even the owner is quite friendly, she takes time to talk to the diners in a smiling face.

Another bonus that I found in this place is that they play Hillsong music ambient in the background, I love their music and the first time I came in here I thought I forgot to turn off my car stereo. For those who don’t like Christian music it’s not annoying as they don’t blast the stereo on loud but it’s just playing silently on the background.

Now how’s the food? Like I initially said the quality was great and they cook it as you order. We dined in here several times so the quality and taste is very consistent. There is quite a selection as you can see from the menu below.

But during this visit we quite splurged a bit as it was really good. Staring with the Spring Rolls ($4.50), it was the perfect crisp while having the filling juicy and tasty.

Then we had this Prawn and Pork Mince Siu Mai ($5.50), again it was seasoned really well and cooked to perfection. The texture was perfect as well, it’s not using minced meat but rather finely chopped meat. This small difference makes a big impact on the texture as the chunky tender pieces along with the dotted pork fat is just a pleasure to the senses compared to minced meat.

Then we also ordered my daughters favourite the Fried Squid– which I noticed they only used the tender parts of the tentacle or the smaller quid variant hence you don’t have that tough thick part of the squid. Again it was perfectly fried, you can feel the oil used was fresh than most of the yum cha we ever tried.

Then I also ordered a personal favourite the steamed Beef Tendons ($5.00). I simply love its texture, that melt in your mouth sticky tendons is just a pleasure to my senses. It was mildly spiced and perfect to eat on its own or even pair it with rice.

Now let’s go to the full dishes and were just starting. First up was this Stir Fried Yu-Shiang Eggplant with Pork Mince ($18.00), if you hate eggplants you need to try this, it will change you and you will not even notice you are having some eggplants, it’s so tasty.

Then we also had this Chicken with Cashew and Spicy Sauce ($20.00), it’s loaded with fresh capsicums or what American call bell pepper which I never thought was good until I had a bite. It was crisp and fresh tasting, it also absorbed all that sauce goodness so it was quite a good blend of flavours.

Then like what most Filipinos do in Yum Cha we have to order rice otherwise we will not stop and not be full, this is a requirement to any meal time for Filipinos. We grabbed some Fried Rice with Prawn and Pea ($14.00) and this was also faultless, it was not oily but it was done really well, rice was fluffed perfectly and they did not skimp on the shrimps, there were tons of it.

For dessert first we had this Sesame Seed Ball ($4.50) though we looking for some red bean ball this was almost similar, not our preference but we loved how they prepared it here, again not that oily and the sesame filling was not that strong compared to others.

Finally, we had this Durian Ice Cream with Glutinous Rice ($5.50) my daughters favourite after one of my Chinese friends introduced this to us. It is quite weird in many ways, first the durian ice cream then stuffing it inside glutinous rice but well it works and works really well. A very nice sweet dessert to complete a very nice dinner.

The prices I indicated above are the list price on their menu so it’s not yet the final price, when you pay at the cashier they less 15% of the total amount. It was quite affordable yet the place was better that most Yum Cha places, it’s even better than most places that are expensive, couple that with great food, good people and a better crowd I think this is our favourite Yam Cha restaurant from now on.

Mantingfang Yum Cha
Address: 6b/544 E Coast Rd, Windsor Park, Auckland 0630
Phone: +649 479 9666
Website: http://www.mantingfang.co.nz/