Going for Yumcha with the family is one of my favourite things to do in the weekends especially on a lazy Sunday. Chatting, drinking tea, and eating assorted dimsum: dumplings, egg tarts, Chinese congee, fried sesame balls and both savoury and sweet pancakes just naming a few…How can life get better than this?! I always get spoilt with choices and end up leaving the place with a full tummy (sometimes I had to roll out of the door…literally)!
Asian Wok in Browns Bay is one of our favourite Yumcha go-to places on the shore as it is consistent in the quality of the food that it delivers. Most importantly, it constantly aims to attract (and retain) its customers through innovating new dishes that cannot be found elsewhere in Auckland! While I can never get sick of a good prawn dumpling, I can not say “No” to new (and especially CUTE) new dishes that come my way.
Last Sunday, we went to Asian Wok again and we started off with some classic Chive & Prawns dumplings. The dumplings were large and juicy and the prawns used were super fresh.
In addition to the traditional steamed dumplings, we also got the pan-fried version. It’s also packed with prawns as well as assorted vegetables, including peas (a family favourite)!
Then, NEW DISH #1 appeared. It’s a RED chungfen that has TEMPURA prawns wrapped in them rather than your usual BBQ pork, prawns or mushrooms. They tasted absolutely delicious!
The tempura prawns were still crispy and super yum. The chungfen itself is thicker than the standard ones but I loved them so didn’t mind the extra carbs consumption haha.
Then we ordered the Szechuan spicy wontons which are essentially pork and vegetable dumplings (because there are no soup) that are seasoned with chili oil and soy sauce.
The flavours were great and I loved the dipping sauce! We also ordered the standard Siu Mai, fried prawn spring rolls as well as pan-fried turnip cakes….before NEW DISH #2 made its grand entrance.
Think POLO BUN (a classic sweet custard bun sold in Asian bakeries across Auckland), but combined with CHOUX puff pastry! The fact that there’s variety in one plate also ticked all my boxes (so the flavours are matcha, chocolate and vanilla). Although the flavours were quite subtle, I’d give them 11/10 for effort alone! But wait there’s more…
Turned out these buns were actually BBQ PORK filled. This was mind-blowing, Asian Wok essentially combined three things into one and really, we gotta give thumbs-up to the chef!
An ALL-TIME favourite of mine are EGG TARTS- it’s something that I have to get each time I go Yumcha. I like the traditional ones (with either flaky or biscuit base), however, I appreciate it when they also come in Portuguese style. Those ones are torched and generally sweeter and has softer textures. Grabbed them here at Asian Wok and no regrets!
Since I warned you about my tendency to overeat at Yumcha…here’s NEW DISH #3! This really reminds me of flavours of Beijing. ❤ Pan-fried glutinous pumpkin pancakes are a childhood favourite and I still remember the first time mum took me to a Cantonese restaurant where I tried it for the first time.
Although nothing would ever beat those ones, I gotta say the mini ones that Asian Wok served was pretty tasty. They even have red bean fillings inside which was a bonus! The only thing that I thought could be improved was perhaps drain the oil a bit (at least don’t make it appear so oily) although I’d probably get it again if I see it!
The good (and probably bad) thing is the variety and free-flowing nature of dishes. You can get your “entree, mains and dessert” whenever you want. As a big fan of sesame paste, of course I couldn’t let the fried sesame balls despite literally having 0 room in my stomach…
Overall, I honestly rate Asian Wok and I think it’ll continue to remain as a family favourite…for a long while!
A Treasure Chest 