Nine Dragons 45 Dixon Street, Haymarket, New South Wales 2000

"Yumcha dinner was good given that you just had to tick what you want for your order. Saved time and convenient if you ask me. Was quite happy with the ambience and staff swere accommodating."

"(3.5 stars) The Dixon Street pedestrian mall hasn’t really recovered from the global pandemic. Visiting for a Sunday lunch with friends, it’s largely devoid of outdoor tables: even the touters are gone. This is despite City of Sydney finding, late last year, that 83 per cent of people interested in the future of Haymarket want more outdoor dining. The only venue that still boasts a queue is Emperor’s Garden Cakes and Bakery for their cream puffs. It all feels a bit sad as we climb the stairs into an empty Nine Dragons, an area stalwart that opened when I was three. Bar for a roving robot waiter, the dining room retains a traditional look with golden dragons, patterned circular shades, private rooms and plenty of large circular tables draped in white tablecloths with lazy Susans and high-backed chairs. The room slowly fills around us, with most eating yum cha ordered from a laminated card marked up with an erasable pen. Prawn toast ($12.80/4) eats like a childhood memory, though you might prefer dragging it through hot rather than sweet red chilli sauce. Rice noodles perform well across char siu ($11.10) and king prawn ($12.80), punctuated by XO green beans ($15.30). Char siu also scrubs up nicely in pillowy soft BBQ pork buns ($9.80/3). We load our lazy Susan with layers of bamboo steamer baskets, including beef ($10.10), pork ($12.80) and scallop-topped prawn and pork siu mai ($12.80). The standouts are crescent-shaped king prawn and chive dumplings ($11.30). Fried almond prawn balls ($12.80/3) are an interesting innovation, as are silky beancurd rolls filled with tenderly cooked vegetables dripping in a starch-thickened sauce ($9.80). While I finish on radish cakes ($10.10) slathered in hot chilli, the rest of the table enjoys bright orange mango pancakes ($11.80/3). Jasmine tea ($3.50/head) felt weak and uninspiring, so opt for TsingTao ($9.30) on this trip down memory lane. While Nine Dragons is not the best yum cha I’ve visited in Sydney, it does the job in the heart of town for a (slightly inflated) sixty bucks each."

"Very mediocre. Everything is lukewarm and dumplings are either stuck together or with very thick wrapper. Spinach dumplings & siu mais are decent but that's pretty much it. Stir fry long bean were not even cooked the proper way so it came out soggy."

"The staff are so kind, the food is delicious, and it is a good place for several people to go and eat. Also so good that BYO is possible."

"Came here for yumcha on a whim, didn’t expect much as we walked in and there were no yumcha carts or yumcha ladies but decided to give it a chance anyways. You order by writing on a menu with a whiteboard marker which is honestly kinda genius ngl lol but anyways the yumcha menu is very small. Service was kinda slow and tou didn’t automatically get sauces. The best dish was definitely the turnip cakes which was absolutely delicious, so fragrant by itself and you can add chilli sauce to make it even better. Chicken feet is a miss here though, they didn’t taste very fresh. All in all, this restaurant is more catered towards tourists"