Hong Kong Cha Chaan Teng @ Yum Cha Tea Parlour 得閒飲茶, Lebuh Gereja Georgetown Penang

You can now have a glimpse and taste of Hong Kong's style Cha Chaan Teng at 得閒飲茶 YumCha Tea Parlour, a latest cafe located in Lebuh Gereja, Georgetown Penang. The cafe maintains a classic floor tiles with clever usage of wooden tables, perfectly emulating the kind of experiences you would have in Hong Kong with a better service crews' attitude. As suggested by the cafe's name, it is meant for patrons to meet up and hang out with each other over a cup of coffee or tea due to the menu focusing more toward drinks and snacks, along with a few options of mains. As much as we enjoyed the environment illuminated by neon lights here, the food here are on the opposite side with the Xiao Long Bao as the sole redemption factor.

We were surprised to see Xiao Long Bao and Sheng Jian Bao are on the menu of YumCha Tea Parlour, as usually only premium Cantonese or Chinese restaurants would have served these delicacies. Intrigued by it, we ordered Xiao Long Bao (RM 15 / 6 pieces) for trial and it was rewarding. These steamed buns were packed with generous and delicious pork fillings, along with nice broth. If the skins of the steamed buns are made thinner yet can hold the generous fillings and broth, these steamed buns definitely would have been excellent.

On the other hand, the Stewed Pork Noodle with Scallions (RM 15) and Minchi - Pork Lard Minced Meat Rice (RM 12) looks promising when served with colourful toppings but the taste lacks vitality. The chemistry apparently did not work when blending all the ingredients together, and the park lard did not appear to give these dishes a wow factor. Another dull factor was soy sauce, which barely register any aroma to the noodles, thus resulted a dull and blunt overall taste. 

Nevertheless, it was worthy mention that both main dishes were generous in portion and would definitely fill your hunger.

The Yuan Yang (RM 9) - mixed coffee and tea we had was not inspiring neither. It has the unconventional bitterness of tea that makes the drinks difficult to enjoy.

Overall, 得閒飲茶 YumCha Tea Parlour will be a great place for hang out as chanted by the cafe's name but a tweak on the dishes taste would definitely be helpful.

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