Seng Kee Yum Cha
new food hall Adelaide central markets
this is one of our cheap eats favourites — tripe, chicken feet, maybe some crunchy squid or a dumpling and a melt–in–the–mouth egg tart. In fact I always wish I ws invisible so I could buy at least 6 tarts to take home because they are the only ones that come close to my favourite egg tart shop in Shanghai.
Seng Kee Yum Cha, basically fills much of my nostalgic longing in Adelaide. Located in the new part of the Adelaide Central Market food hall on the Southern wall they are the best daily dim sum of this type in Adelaide. This week I sat next to a tiny tot, about four who on her plate had two chicken feet and an egg custard tart. Mummy was quite strict (we love that) and I knew for certain she had been told to eat the chicken feet first and the egg custard tart last. In honour of her mother I refrained from my usual habit of gobbling my egg custard tarts first. Tiny and sweet, she might have been, but I am certain that she noted I had two egg custard tarts, not one! (Oink! Oink!)
Exquisitely behaved, I informed her that she was eating my favourites, which brought a sweet shy smile and she looked knowingly at my chicken feet, tripe and custard tarts. To my knowledge Seng Kee Yum Cha is the only food hall eatery that does such an excellent range of dumplings, lotus rice with meat and mushrooms, chicken feet, tripe, tofu wrapped parcels and those melt–in–the mouth flaky egg custard tarts. They also do a sort of fried squid/octopus tentacles that many Westerners might not quite get. It is rather chewy and firm but just the type of texture one comes to expect from the Chinese kitchen. Everything come with that luscious dark chilli and chilli oil and lunch even if you completely over order will not cost more than $14.
