yú – burswood
Fully booked till 8.30pm! Wow this place must be good.
It was quite a special night I guess (with little forethought for dinner), being the last night of my sister’s single status. So dinner had to be somewhere nice and elegant.
We chose Yú, somewhere we had always wanted to go, to see the revamped restaurant (Genting Palace used to be one of our favourites) and the chef’s renowned Cantonese style dishes.
As soon as we walked over the bridge which sits upon a modern, non existent river – the hostess babbling on the phone acknowledges our booking. After some time, another hostess escorts us. Yú still retains the dark intricate wood framing that decorated Genting Palace. The deceivingly quiet reception gives way to a winding passage, where we pass couples whispering away to each other in dark booths. We eventually arrive at our table, amidst large parties of gamblers, girls on a night out and tourists, all roaring with laughter and noise, which the wooden screen do little to filter out. This place is very popular it seems.
This place takes the cake for the most ornate chinese restaurant in Perth. It’s a bit old world, yet stylishly antiquated and this makes the restaurant feel quite special. It’s the little details – the waitresses in cheong sams, the candle lit warmer for the tea pot and golden chopstick holders. The menu is quite expensive. In fact, they are pushing the limit on prices even when taking the plush decor into account.
The service is a bit slow tonight. Eventually, our order is taken and we wait a good while for our dishes, biding our time people watching and trying to ignore the blare of a table filled by a group girls who obviously pride themselves on their party animal behaviour. It seems even Yú is not immune to the rowdiness that infiltrates the hotel’s other eateries (i.e. Victoria Station – think you are getting a romantic dinner? Think again).
Our dishes arrive in quick succession. The hot and sour soup is delicious! Originating from Szechuan, it’s a soup of many ingredients, some quite exotic – black fungus, lily buds, dried scallops – combined with pork and tofu and flavoured with pungent red vinegar and chilli. It packs a punch. Yu’s version was amazing – each ingredient was high quality, served in high quantities and the stock was extremely flavoursome. I doubt I’ll have another hot and sour soup just as good as Yú’s. Yum.
Coral trout with ginger, beansprouts and snowpeas
Braised e-fu noodles with shredded chinese mushrooms and towards the back, deep fried chicken in garlic vinegar sauce.
We intended to have a small dinner, but it somehow exploded into a full blown feast, due to a combination of our greed and staff error. The stir fried coral trout with snow peas was delicately flavoured. The snow peas were vibrantly green and barely cooked – I like my vegetables stir fried to an almost raw crispiness, but this cooking style might not agree with some palates. The e-fu noodles were stir fried with bean sprouts and mushrooms and had an earthly, rounded flavour. I love e-fu noodles because they are satisfying and filling, plus even though they are originally deep fried, when braised like this, it feels less naughty.
The chicken in garlic vinegar sauce was good, but not out of this world. Talking about amazing chilli-and-vinegar chicken, (ooh digressing here, sorry) we had the most delicious version to date at Golden Seafood BBQ just the other night. Man, the clarity of flavour was crystal clear and the chicken was moist and crispy. Okay, back to Yú. The chilli and vinegar chicken here fried to a crisp and a tad dry. The tang of the sauce cut through the greasiness, so the dish still worked despite the chicken’s dryness.
Shelled prawns and asparagus with salted egg yolk batter
Now, there was a bit of a mix up with the order. We were expecting just one other dish, when two dishes arrived. We sent back the obvious dish that wasn’t ours – but mistook a dish of battered asparagus and prawns as the dish we ordered earlier. Not realising the mistake, we started hoovering it up (I thought I read the asparagus dish wrong). All the while thinking ‘Hm the batter seems thin on salted egg yolk..’ Lo and behold, the waiter comes back 10 minutes later and tells us they served us the wrong dish! And asked if we still wanted it. We said yes, thinking he would cancel the original order because there was far too much food for the four of us. Well, you guessed it, the asparagus with salted egg yolk batter arrived!
Never mind, both dishes, though very similar, were fantastic. The prawns were absolutely fresh and gilded with the lightest of batters. Sweet and succulent, the asparagus was really addictive. The asparagus was amazing – thick, crunchy and golden, the batter was an oily coating of heaven riding on each asparagus spear. Salted egg yolk batter has become quite widespread in local chinese restaurants. As the name suggests, crushed salted egg yolks are within the batter, imparting a golden yellow colour. Deep fried, it gives a velvety texture to the dish. Lovely.
Yeah, we chowed our way through four massive dishes, not including the soup. We managed to get through most of the dishes and Yú doggy bagged the left overs. Yep, every chinese restaurant – even the best ones – have doggy bags!
Rub his tummy for good luck!
Up’s: Beautiful traditional decor with modern tweaks. Food is fabulous.
Down’s: Expensive. Good opportunity to use the Entertainment Card!! Sparse service, lacking in personality.
Food: 4.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Service: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5
Yú, Burswood Entertainment Complex Great Eastern Hwy, Burswood WA 6100
T: (08) 9362 7551
W: http://www.burswood.com.au/Restaurants/Yu/
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| {3 comments} |
I’ve heard from a few sources that this is apparently the best Chinese Restaurant in Perth, but unless it were for a special occasion I’m not sure I’m un-stingy enough to go here when Northbridge is on my doorstep and certainly offers personality, hehe. Good review, loooks and sounds like some good eating though it is disappointing that Burswood hooligans are inescapable!
@Conor
Those bogans I tell you, they’re everywhere!! =P I would say it’s the most impressive – I’m in the same boat as you, I’d rather spend my dollars in Northbridge and battle it out with the guy who sells the roses and the occasional drunkard. That’s if we can escape the lure of our local – Foo Wah (shhh don’t tell anyone!). Thanks Conor!
I ate there once to celebrate a friend’s birthday and was very shocked to see that the waiter taking our orders could not speak a word of Mandarin or Cantonese. For an expensive Chinese restaurant, I find that quite difficult to forgive. For the price, the food was delicious but the price was too high.