Admittedly, being stuck at a standstill on the M1 for 50 minutes didn’t put me in the best frame of mind to start with. But that really didn’t have any tangible connection to the fact that quality Yum Cha at Shangri-La today just.was.not.going.to.happen.

I’d been there before on several occasions, and dined with family as well as with several Asian colleagues. It was pretty spot on each time, and both Asian recommendations as well as family menu and trolley choices yielded pretty tasty outcomes.

So after the almost 90 minute drive (usually takes just over 30) and parking the car, I was well and truly ready for yum cha delights. The queue not too long, we collected our number (29, as it were) and proceeded to wait. And wait.

The number calling system at Shangri-La is pretty random – 56, 21, 45, 21, 79, 21…21.. 21??? No 21? So you never really know when you are ‘next’. And after another 25 minutes, we approached the bench to be told they had called our number several times and our table was gone. Would we care to wait?

Wait we did, and pretty soon we were rustled along to a table and offered the usual refreshments, (tea for us, thanks) and watched the carts rumble along the adjacent aisles. And watch was pretty much all we got for almost 15 minutes. The interesting thing was, that 2 soup carts rolled by us in that time and on both occasions the girls went past quickly and didn’t make eye contact. Husband passed a remark that indicated we would not have been passed by had we had our Asian friends with us, but I poo-pooed that. But no soup dumplings for us :(

Eventually, we requested rice sheets and pork buns from a passing staff member, and with that a trolley was redirected our way. Finally served we were prepared to relax and enjoy what is usually pretty awesome yum cha, but not today. We had to ask several times for soy and chilli sauce. I had a broken tea cup and my plate was dirty. My replacement teacup was lipstick stained. (I got myself one in the end from a neighbouring table). The chicken’s feet and rice sheets made to order *were* very good. The variety on the carts was not there – nothing but the same old same old. Our dumplings were coldish. No pork and chive. Prawn dim sum good. The calamari was stone cold and greasy. The eggplant had been sitting there a while. The coriander dumplings were really nice and a new taste, a prawn and corn dumpling in a sweet corn soup, also good.

As is our (probably rather Western) tradition, we like to finish with an egg custard tart. None to be seen, we asked a passing trolley – “next trolley I bring you one” she said. We waited, and when she passed again, with her trolley, she had only one custard tart on a plate. “I have only 1 left”, she said. “I come back”.

Nope.

10 more minutes and many more comments from husband about the service, I place an order for tarts. Duly placed, we wait another 10 minutes. By now, it’s coming up 3.00 – and we left home at 11.20 – and I can see husband pretty much over the whole thing. I ask again about the tarts. “Oh, no tarts, we finish serving now, too late” I am told.

Overall, unimpressed today. In fact, perhaps Shangri-La has had it’s day, and it’s time to find somewhere new?

Brisbanites, please do share – where’s the best yum cha these days?