Review Open Kitchen He Tai Yum Cha - Macquarie Park

Very spacious and well decorated interior. Price is on the high side but food tasted very fresh and delicious. Food comes out hot. Most dumplings were amazing except their special cuttlefish dumplings which were great but not overly impressive. Didn't have to make a booking as we went early on a weekday, and parking at macq shopping centre is easy.

Overall, the food is good, but nothing mindblowing. I gave them a higher star as the service was great and efficient even though they are busy. The fried stuff was probably the one I was disappointed. The fried prawn dumplings were served a bit cold so it's not made to order but been cooked for a while. Also explains why it arrived first. Fried shrimp balls, fried dough and taro puff were just good, but nothing great. Durian puff was surprisingly good though. Steamed dishes were a tad better except for the xiao long bao. The XLB wrapper is so thick and the soup is lacking flavour. Dipping sauce has no ginger too. At least the har gow and scallop dumplings were great. Surprisingly best wrapper I've tasted and the filling is quite flavourful. Overall, it's an ok lunch. A tad expensive, but it's overcome by decent food, nice interior and excellent service. Like I never have to ask my tea to get refilled as they keep refilling it.

We visited The Panda Yum Cha, located at the entrance to Macquarie Shopping Centre Sydney, and tried out their Cantonese Dim Sum and Chinese Cuisine. We dined leisurely in the elegant space, complete with beautiful tiled floors, handing pendants and giant television screens showcasing their offerings. The Panda Yum Cha is on a grand scale so could certainly accomodate functions. They even have private dining rooms for smaller events. The restaurant offers ala carte and yum cha. We are there for the weekend yum cha. We try a range of delicious dumplings including pork and prawn siu mai, vegetarian, scallop, cuttlefish, as well as Chinese broccoli and steamed beef ribs with black pepper sauce meatballs. Can’t forget a few bbq pork buns. The little guy even enjoyed these. We enjoyed the food and appreciated the kind hospitality at The panda yum cha.

My family went to The Panda Yum Cha recently with a group of friends for dinner. The place is spacious and service was great and efficient even though they are busy.. I would recommend Braised Pork Belly 招牌秘制東坡肉 which is very good. It is a must try dish. Other good dishes included Lobster with Garlic Butter sause and Noodle 龍蝦蒜子牛油生面底，Live Pipi in XO Sause XO醬炒蜆，Fruity Sweet and Sour Pork 果香咕嚕肉，and Thai Style Roast Prok 泰式燒豬頸肉. We also had Steamed Egg White Tofu 海棠豆腐，Stir-fried Gai Lan with Ginger 姜汁炒芥蘭，Stir-fried Water Spinach with Fermented Bean Curd 椒絲腐乳通菜，and Chinese Mango Pancake 芒果班戟. However Roasted Pigeon 紅燒乳鴿 is not as tasteful as I expected. The skin of the Crispy Fried Squid 七味椒鹽鮮魷 was a bit dull. You might need to add some spicy salt to it which was not provided. The look and the taste of Mango Sago with Pamelo & Coconut Jelly 楊枝甘露 was different to what I normally had in other shops. Overall, I would rate it above average. Price was reasonable, foods were decent, and service was excellent.

Venue: 8/10 felt weird seeing the ceiling shaking whilst eating. The lamps were swinging all the time. 🤔 Staff: 4/10 Location: 8/10 Food: 7/10. Price: $$$$ Food service: pretty slow for Yum Cha Took about 3 reminders "where's the rice that we ordered?" You won't see the rice in the pics 🤦🏽‍♀️ Trolleys are now only being used for serving the food you ordered... Can't select from the trolley¿?

Awesome yum cha spot, lovely interior, great selection of food on a Sunday, best tofu pudding. Came to a hefty bill, but you pay for better quality items that are handmade. Bit hard to find as there's no entry from inside of Macquarie centre (only street or carpark entrance). Service was okay, had to ask for tea three times and sauce twice as they kept forgetting.

It was hard to find. We needed to walk about 150m through the car park to find the entrance. Took us a while to find the place. Signage is poor. Food was nice service was slow. Recommend it if you can find it 😃

Unfortunately we were very disappointed with the Yum Cha options, quality of food and the standards. We got super sick, like one of the worst food poisoning we ever had. It was absolutely disgusting and disappointing for a place in that large scale and a beautiful and marvellous fit out to be serving food that horrible taste, quality and make people sick. I will never ever be back.

Non existent service. Got greeted by four individuals but still didn’t get an actual table. Waited over an hour for dishes and staff were not helpful and disinterested.

The atmosphere is nice, modern and spacious. But the service is very upfront and there is a older man who looks unhappy to be there and stands around and watches. Food is a westernised yum cha but the traditional dishes are good. I would avoid the fried dishes as it’s soaked in oil and heavy. It is pricey and a dish main cost over around $10. Overall, it is good to go maybe once in awhile but won’t be going often. Not worth the price

A hidden gem outside of MQ centre is this YumCha styled restaurant which has beautiful decor and not very busy for a lunch date. I really enjoyed the dumplings from the dim sim selection as they were beautifully crafted and made to order.<br/>I particularly liked the lucky bag dumplings (x4 for $12.80) though on a pricer side of Yum Cha restaurants it was totally worth it! <br/>Overall i would give:<br/>atmosphere 5/5<br/>Food 5/5<br/>Price 3/5<br/>

This place is not very good. The food is ok (yum cha), but it is quite expensive, and the service is not great. Slow to respond, it is just faster to grab things yourself. Also the entrance is very weirdly located, it is not actually part of Macquarie Centre (despite looking very much like it on the map) and there is a long convoluted walk to get to the entrance of the restaurant.

Probably one of the worst yumcha I've experienced. Slow service, food is mediocre, and expensive. They even charge for soysauce. Stay away. Better to just eat at the Foodcourt.

Food is okay, but super slow service. We have been here for nearly an hour and only got 4 dishes (out of 11). They explained there is something wrong in the kitchen but still unexceptable. Probably wouldn’t come back again unless I see more positive reviews in the next few months.

I think they are very under-resourced. Waited 40 minutes and eventually turned out all the food was not ordered in the system. Not a very good experience.

Haven’t been He Tai until late last year. The food quality surprises us.<br/><br/>In short, they got one of the best dim sums in Sydney. Steam Prawn dumping steals the light! <br/>Turnip cake is probably the best in town ( comparable to Tim Ho Wan) . <br/><br/>Their customer service however is terrible. Staff are untrained and not sure what to do.

Good quality food with nice taste. <br/>Service need to be improved.<br/>Location’s obviously to see from the road, but hard to walk in from the Macquarie shopping center.<br/>Btw it has its own car park space.

Initial service was a little slow with the wait staff not exactly sure who was suppose to attend to our table but the place is certainly spacious compared to some other Dim Sum joints. Prices are equivalent to comparable restaurants but the food is surprisingly delicious. I particularly liked the 'snow skin' buns and the custard was soft, gooey and flowing out. You can really state the pieces of pork in the Siu Mai as well.

Been here a couple of times for yum cha. Really nicely decorated - the modern twist to Chinese restaurants is refreshing. The yum cha items have some unique twist to it as well like jade green prawn dumplings, fried milk and snow pork bun.<br/>Really enjoyed the food, service could have been more attentive but overall a pleasant experience. Would definitely come back.

Why the low rating??? The food is of high quality, i enjoy it everytime I went. But I've only been there for lunch, so i am not sure about dinner quality.

Foods are delicious and yummy. The ideas of the foods are also creative! I would recommend this restaurant and I will definitely go there again.

Food:<br/>Taste wise, it could have been better - It was quite bland for my tastes. Texture wise, really interesting and well done.<br/><br/>Ambience:<br/>Clean feel. Modern/contemporary styled interior.<br/><br/>Service:<br/>On Sunday, there was quite a long wait for lunch. I feel as though they might have been understaffed as the process of clearing up tables and seating people was slow. While the servers were polite, they were too busy to be attentive to each and every table, thus you need to call out or wave them down to them to grab their attention.

Very bad service. The manager force his staff not to speak Chinese to their customers which is very ridiculous, especially when both the waiter or waitress and customer can speak Chinese. Food is just so so but expensive.<br/>Some food is smelly.

Go here quite regularly with colleagues, mainly because wait time is usually quite short. Pretty good spot to satisfy your Yum Chai cravings! Food is good, especially their steamed dumplings selection... however service could definitely improve.

Great food!!!! Not your average yum cha. The service is willing but inexperienced but the food makes up for it. Be patient and allow yourself to enjoy the food. You will taste something you'll come back for.

Really cool restaurant in the Macquarie shopping centre. Their dumplings are very yummy, especially the jade prawn and crab meat dumplings. Their mains are good too, the signature iced sweet and sour pork with lychee are amazing. Staff are friendly as well. I will definitely come back!

find a good restaurant here! location is not optimal, no easy internal access from shopping center, but it worth to find! Great decor, delicious food, cooked and served direct from the open kitchen , just like the name. good menu and a nice atmosphere,would definitely return.

Worst service ever. Very inexperienced team. We walked out after waiting 45 minutes. No one bothered to check up on our order and it wasn't even busy.

Decent food, horrible service. <br/><br/>Asked 3 times for tea and was able to get it when I asked them 4 times. Waiters/waitress only look at the tables and floors and constantly ignore you. Pretty frustrating.

Food was decent but the service was terrible - our waiter told us we had to be out by a certain time as there were bookings but the food took extremely long and there were empty tables everywhere and our waitress didn't even acknowledge our order and walked away. We asked for dessert a few times and when it was time to pay we had to wait 10 mins for the bill.

Before i start, i would like to say the food is still great. I visited Open Kitchen when it first opened, the food and services were great. I visited again today and was hugely disappointed. When we arrived, there are 6-8 empty tables, staff gave us a ticket, but we still had to wait 20 minutes to get a seat. After we ordered, we waited 45 minutes to get the dim sims we ordered. We ordered one bowl of rice, it took them 35 minutes to bring it to our table. We select fried noodle but later we found it is not even on the order list. The restaurant is really under staffed. I hope the restaurant management can hire more waitress and kitchen staffs. I am sorry i have to put a low rating. It is for the service. Food is still great.

Very good restaurant, food is nice, service is good. I really enjoyed the atmosphere as well. We went back many times now. <br/><br/>We tried yum cha in the morning as lunch and also dinner. Love it.

I love yum cha, but I hate that it's not an all day thing. Well it is here! They don't have the usual ladies with the trolleys, instead, you order from the menu and they have all your yum cha faves.

Foods are above average in this area. However it is heavily let down by the level of service. Whether busy or not busy, it took them forever to give u the menu and drinks unless u signalled them "aggresively". I tbh couldnt comprehend how the owner tolerate this given the investment into such fancy environment. I would come back again until one day i lost my patience

Great place to have a family dinner,<br/>They serve Chinese food, mostly dim sum. Now night time yum cha is available <br/>The xiao long bao and snow mountain BBQ pork bun were nice ! Cocktails is a plus.<br/>The service is great and the people are really friendly. Thank you! I will come back!

Great view of the open kitchen. Once food ordered, arrived quickly. It's a bit hard to find if you don't know the areaYou have to go out of the shopping centre, through the car park and enter via Talavera Rd. Loved the food!  Been here a few times both lunch and dinner. Food is good, fresh and well cooked and well presented．

Hidden gem in Macquarie shopping centre. I'v been seeing the picture of cute "Crab Meat" dumplings that I really wanted so went to find this place. My favourite was the "Crab Meat" dumplings, and also the Jade Prawn dumplings, its the best one l've had. Good service even they are busy with large groups. The food was amazing, its worth it. Will be back!!!

Worst service I have ever experienced tonight. I've been here a few times and had slow service but this time it just tops it! The waitress couldn't explain the difference between two types of fried rice and then decided to walk away half way through taking our order to take the order from another table. With that being said,the food is nice.

Worst ever service and attitude from the staffs. The staff not even smile, avoid eye contact all the time and I have to raise my hand for long time until someone come to me. The restaurant is not even full with plenty of table but the waiting time for food to come out is so long around half n hour. <br/>The chinese guy looks like in charge wearing black cloth and glasses just standing in the counter all the time and not even bother at all. I complained to him before leaving but his attitude is even worse not happy at all and he is smelled of cigarette.<br/>Food is bland, very oily and overprice which make overall experience worst.<br/>Never come back anymore even their food is free and I don't think this restaurant is hygiene.

The rating is purely based on the service and also the fact that my friend and I had a serious bout of food poisoning from here. I enjoyed the food which was slightly overpriced, but with the fit out that was what I expected. <br/>But I really have to make a comment on service. This was the most poorly organised chinese restaurant I have ever been to. Chinese restaurants may not always been known for being warm and friendly but they are efficient and service is fast....Open Kitchen Hetai was definitely NONE of these. The guy at the front obviously did not want to be there and people were piling up everywhere with ppl paying and waiting for tables. Noone knew what was going on. The service people could not understand english and therefore asking for simple things like soysauce required 2 people trying to decipher the request. Based on the service and food poisoning I would never go again.

Greeted by a girl seems had a bad day and bad mood. Arranged to a table straight facing the door, asked if can be moved to the other one next to window. Told the other table was reserved, WTH, it's the same size table and we had make a reservation as well rather than walk in, Nevermind, life has to go on. Most dumplings had been crossed out from the menu regardless we come at 6pm rather than 8pm. Maybe they dont want to serve their quality dumpling to cheap scoopon customer... ordered traditional clay pot soup and was the 2nd biggest disappointment for the night, nowhere near it should be at all, they should either do a proper one or remove from the menu imo. Xiaolong bao and fried rice was nice to be fair(that's why they got a 2 instead of 1). The tofu, SP seafood platter and pork hock was soso. Mango pomelo sago is only half of the usual size i suppose because scooponer only pay half of the price. The biggest disappointment is the service, when a waitress served a dish and try to move other dish to make the space, the tea cup had fallen and tea was all over my father's cloth, the waitress straightly turn away without apologise and even does not bother to bring more tissue.... I know open kitchen try to be another Mr Wong in the area, but with those kind of food quality and especially the service, you will never be.<br/><br/>PS, the table we requested near the window is still empty all the way until we walked out. <br/>

Had a great Yum Char there on Sunday. Food was delicious (you must order the pork buns) and staff were lovely. Very reasonably priced too. A little confusing to find the entrance but worth the search. I suspect this will become one of my locals it was so good!

One of the few yumcha restaurants that I think has great food in sydney. Hetai is like a chinese fusion restaurant, without always following the traditions which is good. I like the dumpings, the vermicelli rolls was good too, especially the soy sauce😂A good soy sauce is really important!!! But the beef stripe is too hard (chewy) to eat, and I dont get the mango coconut milk & sago soup, it's so dofferent to the ones I had in hongkong, which was a bit disappointed. I wish there are more mangoes in there, and it's like the traditional ones I had in Hongkong. Overall, it was a good experience, just hope that it also opens in city so it'll be nearer for us to travel there.😎

Great modern decor and the service was quick and polite, which you generally don't get at other yum cha restaurants. My favourite was the sui mai dumplings, it's probably the best one i've had. A big plus for me was that i didn't get a headache/become super thirsty after eating here which is generally what i get when i eat at other yum cha places as they use too much MSG. Overall, really enjoyed this place and will be back!

This restaurant seems to be trying to deliver a more modern take on the Yum Cha experience....and although the food itself was ok, the altogether experience was quite bad.<br/>There are no Yum Cha trolleys, so you have to order off a chinese menu. Good luck if you are not fluent in Mandarin. The staff are unattentive and completely disinterested. They were visibly eating in the kitchen, chewing gum and just generally loitering and indifferent.<br/>After 40 minutes of waiting we were served our dessert first. When we asked why, we were told "because this is a premade item". We had a pot of tea served with no cups. Chopsticks and napkins were missing from some seats at our table and houskeeping was very sloppy. Lastly the bathroom was dilapidated and all doors were broken (or it was raided by an out of control starving customer looking for service no doubt...). Enjoy the Open Kitchen Yum Cha experience - I didn't.

Even though Open Kitchen is described in it's name as a yum cha restaurant, they have a far more expansive menu. They do of course offer yum cha during the day and are at their busiest on weekends where there is often a queue at peak times.It's a little hard to find because it's listed as being on level 3 of Macquarie Centre but it's actually part of but outside the centre. Ask if you're not sure because it's worth finding. We started with some green tea while we looked at the menu.

Despite the messy service and the not-so-friendly attitude from the staffs, I think it can be a good yumcha spot. Overall the quality of the dishes should be above average in the yumcha world, I guess, at least it tasted like so on our visit last Sunday. Hope they can keep that up and improve the service, also would be great if there is EGG TART on the menu.

Nicely appointed place with decent atmosphere and ok good. Went for lunch and admittedly arrived a little late (about 2pm) but they were already out of 2 out of the 8 dishes we ordered. Prices are very high and you'd expect more for the money. Even at 2pm the wait was quite long to be seated and none of the wait staff seemed particularly interested in customers. Everyone looked a bit sad. Overall it was a lackluster experience. Maybe it will be better when they bed their processes down and staff get an attitude adjustment.

The Yum Cha dishes are are simply spot on! I have been to Hong Kong many times and coming back to Sydney, Yum Cha is hit and miss. He Tai would have to be the most accurate interpretation of dim sum and desserts found in good Yum Cha institutions in Hong Kong.<br/><br/>The Har Gau is the benchmark where all dishes are measured when it comes to YC but with fresh rough chopped prawns and translucent pastry, it is the closest thing you will find to the real thing.<br/><br/>The Wok tossed beef with Hor Fun (flat rice noodles) is another Hong Kong classic and here represented nicely being dry tossed where the bean sprouts retain their texture and the noodles cooked slightly charred with a 'wok flavour' thats very important to the dish. A measure of a good Beef Hor Fun is how all elements are combined and here, the noodles, beef and sprouts all marry together perfectly and cooked with less oil than most places.<br/><br/>For anyone who wants a genuine Yum Cha experience, this is definitely the place to visit. The service may be a little lacklustre but the food is excellent!

Craving for dumplings and decided to try this place. I found it quite difficult to find this place as I had to walk accross the car park and somehow it didn't look like there'd be a restaurant there. The place is nicely decorated and spacious. They still have couple dumplings selection at night and we decided to try their combination roast meat on their special menu and their special dumpling combination. We found the roast meat was too salty and the dumpling skin was too thick and doughy. Asked for chinese tea and we're given only a pot of hot water. Talking about experience and what we ate, I still think this place is quite overpriced

The decor is beautiful and service was okay but the food was poor and super overpriced. We had the dim sum platter (8 pieces, which were all prawn except for two vegetarian pieces) and the drunken chicken entree and our bill came to about $40.

Have been twice for dinner. The dishes are more expensive than your run of the mill chinese restaurants but they are flavoursome and well-executed. Vegetable dishes start from $15 and seafood dishes (excluding live seafood) can go up to $36, but there are plenty of options in the twenties. Value is a subjective thing, but personally I find the more refined quality of food and better ambience is worth the extra cost.

Food was lovely, made to order- was flavoursome, fresh and piping hot unlike other Yum Cha places. Decor is nice but the floor was filthy. Had not been mopped in days as you could see old dried sauce stains and black filth all over the tiles. We went on a public holiday and as expected it was very busy however staff did not put through orders properly, waited 20 minutes for a sparkling water only to find out it wasn't processed when we chased it up. Were not offered tea or even a drinks menu, had to ask for sauce and a few dishes that did not come. Every question we asked was followed up quickly however good service shouldn't require you to have to ask for such basic requests. Toilet door was broken and flung open whilst occupied, had to go to another cubicle as there was no soap. This would be an outstanding establishment if the service and cleanliness was enhanced.

This is where Yum Cha goes to die.<br/><br/>Every restaurant has its off days. Anyone can find a hair in their soup or something similar. It happens. But this isn't about that. This is about a place that is consistently, intentionally, cost-cuttingly bad.<br/><br/>Think about prawn rice noodles. Let's start by skipping the king prawns. Just cheap little B-grade ones are fine. Let's not bother to de-vein them. And let's serve them half-cooked. Got the picture?<br/><br/>Great. But imagine you also order prawn har gow and also prawns with spinach and ... they're all cooked the same way ...<br/><br/>Forget the prawns. Let's try some BBQ pork dumplings. You think the pork should be slow cooked and sweet? That takes hours. Let's make it quick and gristly and hard and bland as mutton.<br/><br/>Steamed bean curd skin rolls? Quickest way is to just take the fried ones and steam them for a few minutes, never mind putting any chicken inside, and serve them in a half- congealed ketone mucus with an aftertaste so bad that ... well, we stopped at a petrol station to buy ice cream to try to cut away the aftertaste ...<br/><br/>Fried sesame balls. Serve them directly from the fryer so that the contents are hot as the surface of the sun. Siu Mai ... forget mincing the contents - let's have big gristly gobs of meat - that's much quicker.<br/><br/>Train your teenage wait-staff to follow a script: "Your order is now complete. Enjoy your meal." And no table-cloths, food rings on the formica tables, teapots that dribble on the tabletop and spare chairs stacked at the entrance and ...<br/><br/>Look, I'm not going to go on. I'm trying to forget. This yum cha is like the Star Wars prequels. It makes all other yum cha worse by association. It's an experience created by someone with a fundamental disrespect for the customers. Seriously, I can't save my palate, but I can save yours.  Even if you like the Phantom Menace, you won't like this. Avoid!

Great decor. Service was...ok? bit weird. 4 different waitresses come to our table within a few minutes of sitting down and kept hovering around chatting with each other. Ok, so about the food. Kimchi dumplings were good but have had better in Eastwood. Siumai was good, something different with the addition of mushrooms. Sesame prawn roll was average. The calamari was really good! And mango pancake lacked mango..I think there was 1 - 2 pieces of mango in each. Overall it cost 2 of us $63, bit on the higher side

this restaurant is located outside the shopping mall near the orange car park at level 3.<br/><br/>Good thing about this place is the service. Very professional unlike ordinary yum cha place. The staff is polite. The ambience is high end traditional Chinese restaurant. Food is nice and the winner is Jade dumplings. The dumpling skin is very thin, prawn is juicy and tasty. The sticky rice in the lotus leaf comes in complete package - salty egg yolk, chicken, pork, mushrooms, chestnut and Chinese sausage. Xiao long bao (soup dumpling) skin is very thin and juicy (almost like Din tai fung). Vermicelli roll is also delicious but lack of sauce and the portion is smaller than expected. For desserts we tried the Goji Osmanthus cake (jelly) and Mango pomelo sago. It's unique. <br/><br/>Bottom line: Great food. Great service. A bit pricey for the quantity and the quality.

Newly open, and hard to find, Tucked away in a corner pass David Jones. Had a yum cha lunch which was Expensive for what you get. Four Scallop and spinach dumpling for $12.80 nice but definitely not worth that price. Dumplings are on the small size compared to other yum cha places. The stir fried noodle with beef $16.80, was a small portion and very oily. Then every foodies worst nightmare.. Found a black hair in my mango pancake whipped in amongst the cream!! Total eww.. They were fast to replace it but It was very off putting. Approx $85 for two of us.

fresh a la Carte yum Cha, best I had so far! especially the sweet black sesame balls, Sui mai and salty egg yolk bun, will visit again! I have to declare open kitchen yum cha as one of my favourite restaurant!

Outrageously expensive with not the quality you expect for the price you pay. Decor is nice, similar to Mr Wong. But that's about it. Went there a few weeks after its opening. Waitresses seemed very lost and confused. I asked for a spoon and waiter pointed to the dish rack. We sat down for more than 15 mins and still didn't get served our tea despite asking twice, even after our food came, the tea still hadn't arrived. They put down something that seemed like a kid's playdough work which we find out is the snow bbq pork bun. Really? And the rest of the food was just mediocre. So disappointed. And came to $100 for 3 people which is even more expensive than Tim Ho Wan. Never again.

Great food! I had a great time and enjoy every dish. Food was much nicer than I expected based on previous review. The atmosphere was lovely !

Update 19th September 2016<br/><br/>Came back on a generous Scoupon deal and the food on the most part was still good albeit a few less than average yum cha dishes on this occasion. However, the service was very poor. From the moment we stepped in till we left, we never felt welcomed and this was not due to the deal as I could see the nonchalent attitude displayed at other tables by all staff. Not one staff member smiled. Despite the fitout, ambience and food being really quite good, the service is simply non existent. The manageress did not even greet you upon arrival and acted as you were an inconvenience to her. Her attitude stunk! No matter what deal they offer, I can assure that they will not retain any regulars as customers are simply ignored. I did not even see the larger table recieve any form of hospitality.<br/><br/>I will not be returning as other restaurants deserve my money more. <br/><br/>---------------------------------------<br/> Simply dismiss everything you have read here if you want a review by chef who has 2 generations of Yum Cha Chef experience. Tim Ho Wan should step aside and the Michelin judges need to take a lesson on what real yum cha dishes should taste like.<br/><br/>Remove all your past experiences and expectations because if you want genuine Yum Cha, and I'm not talking about the Shanghai Dumpling plague hitting Sydney representing all dumplings, I am referring to proper Cantonese Dim Sum, then go to He Tai. <br/><br/>As mentioned, Yum Cha experience runs deep in my family and I know hows it's suppose to be done with my grandfather as a reputable chef in China and heading the Shangri-La in Singapore. I sampled 7 classic Yum Cha dishes and could not fault any of them. Each dish was authentic and contained all the intricate ingredients and balance of flavours expected of each. Part of the reason why the dim sum were good was because of the ordering system. Cooked to order anything is better than dumplings overheated in a trolley and this is usually practised by the finer Cantonese restaurants in Hong Kong.<br/><br/>I will not detail each dumpling as evident from seeing many posts at yum cha places, many do not know what they are talking about, least of all these supposed food critic/bloggers so there is no point educating them here.<br/><br/>The layout is modern and it is evident cost was not spared creating the open kitchen concept along with the traditional Chinese furnishings that is very impressive and exudes class. It is a shame therefore that the service was average and for a well staffed establishment. There was no leadership and although the manager greeted us warmly, he was never seen again till we paid. The waitresses were probably students who didn't smile and probably thought they could get away with providing 2 star service. They were just standing at the back chatting or wandering around occasionally looking out for empty plates. Several times, empty dishes were missed and tea was not refilled until you put your hand up to get their attention. It's a shame therefore, that so little attention is paid at hiring good staff who know hospitality or at least make an effort to train them to a basic level. In Australia, you cannot get away with crap service if you are charging higher than average prices.<br/><br/>The location of the restaurant itself is bizarre and the owners took a massive gamble to rent this space which is located outside the carpark of the Macquarie centre. For those making the trip, do not go to the food court and restaurant area. Go to level 3 where David Jones is and follow the signs. This would have to be one of the hardest places to find located in such a large shopping centre. <br/><br/>For management, I would recommend changing your name or at least on the computerized directory of the shopping centre as people would generally type 'He Tai Yum Cha' and NOT 'Open Kitchen He Tai Yum Cha'. Diners are hungry and want to find your restaurant to give you business, not go on a treasure hunt!

This is a new third way in Chinese food.  It's a step above your usual Chinese dim sum place but not quite Mr Wong's.  The food is very good, especially the Shanghai soup dumplings, but probably not as much variety to make a true go to place. <br/><br/>If you want a nice relaxed yum cha in a convivial atmosphere then Open Kitchen is a place to put on the list.  Just a word of warning it can be a little difficult to find once you've parked the car.

He Tai Open Kitchen is another new generation yum cha restaurant and by that I mean it's got fancy schmanzy tables, chairs, wood-carved screen doors, teapots that don't work properly (because the spout sucks and drips tea all over the fancy wood table) and toilet doors that are a pain in the ass to shut because it's actually two doors and you have to fiddle and fiddle and fiddle before the little lock goes 'click.' Ah. Just in time before a bladder explosion. Stupid door.<br/><br/>That being said, the food's not bad at all. I enjoyed all of the dim sum we ordered (off a sheet with tick boxes). Siu mai (pork and prawn), har gau (prawn), mushroom and okra dim sum were all delivered piping hot. I was impressed with the deep fried items because they were fresh out of the frier. The garlic chicken was hot and crunchy and so was the dessert sesame ball (crunchy on the outside and oozing sweet smooth sesame sauce on the inside).<br/><br/>He Tai Open Kitchen is a new joint so there are still a few kinks for management to work out. <br/><br/>Firstly, stinginess. I thought the rice noodle wrapped crunchy roll was nice but there wasn't much on the plate...yum cha restaurants around Sydney usually load it on and I don't think Chinese people are fooled by the 'less is more' approach to yum cha food. Less is NOT more when it comes to this kind of food. MORE IS MORE. Ming bak mei? You understand? <br/><br/>Secondly, a limited menu. Savouries options are okay but only two dessert items? Who are you trying to fool? Where's the obligatory classic egg tarts? Lei yul mo gau chor ar? From one Chinese person to the next, you're going to lose business fast if you don't fix that one! Expand the menu ASAP. Fai sau fai geuk FAI FAI FAI NOW!!! Fai dee gau deem la!<br/><br/>Overall He Tai isn't bad except for the stinginess and the missing menu items. And the toilet doors that don't work. And the 'pissing' teapots. Service is...Chinese and meets no expectations because there are none. Dim sum good.

I find that you're more than likely to get a shitty experience at most Yum Cha places and this one didn't completely disappoint. Although it was a lovely modern setting and the open kitchen was a fun novel aspect, there was an incredibly long wait time on waving down the waiters and food arrival when it was just at half capacity. <br/><br/>Dim sum dishes were hit and misses:<br/>Minced pork & thousand year egg Congee - very dense and thick but a little bland and could have had more pork.<br/>Xiao long bao - the best dish we had, very delicate thin skin and delicious broth inside!<br/><br/>The steamed chicken feet and beef tripe definitely had more of a spicy kick than most other places, wasn't bad but just a surprise. The other dishes were decent nothing noteworthy but no major complaints too.

Newly open Yum Cha join @ Macq. Overall dishes was quite ordinary. Chicken foot was to salty and under cooked ( steamed prep made). Steam buns was a hit and miss. Some fine tuning needed ... Flavours just not there overall.

Chinese restaurants seem to be getting fancier these days, with the likes of Mr Wong and China Lane setting a new standard. Following the same path is He Tai Open Kitchen in Macquarie Park. The setting is elegant and spacious, with wooden carved screens and decorative tiles adorning the restaurant. It definitely lived up to its name, with the dumpling masters and chefs plying their trade in full view.

I have visited for both yum cha and dinner service and its very pleasant. The decor is very modern and very relaxing. I like how you can see the chefs cooking as per the name of the restaurant. They also have some nice private rooms which are good for large groups and families. Its fine dining chinese so dont come here if hoping for a cheap meal. The customer service is a little inexperienced but hopefully will improve as time goes by. The food is great so order anything and you will be satisfied.

Came here for Yum Cha and dinner and my it is underwhelming. Very very expensive for their food. If it was a big portion then I wouldn't mind but it's small. Don't even pay this much at fine dining restaurant. Owners need to train their wait staff better because they look lost half the time but they were nice enough I guess. Location wise, not that great. New comers, might want to plan where you're going to park.

I've been to Open Kitchen 3 times and I was pretty underwhelmed by its offering. It's disappointing because the whole set-up is stunning, while the food quality and services were all off. Their floor staffs were inexperienced. During busy hours, they couldn't even organise the table at the earliest even the whole mess left by last group had been left on the table for a long while. And the food, I can't deny there are a few high lights, like the Chilled Mango Sago Cream with Pomelo was spot-on. However, there were some problems in most of their dishes more or less. There were lumps in the congee, and the steamed pork ribs were not marinated enough. Steamed chicken with chilli sauce tasted like steamed chicken with Lan Ganma. And the pork hock, the menu said master-stocked then deep fried, while it was bland, and the 3 sauces it served with were nothing right.

Open Kitchen offered a different yum cha experience. The interior decor was refreshing, and ordering was done through the ticking of boxes on a paper menu, as opposed to physically selecting dishes from a cart. This ensured all dishes were freshly prepared, and the food came out quickly too, which was great. The dumpling menu was quite limited compared to other restaurants, but the ones we did order were good. The har gow and siu mai were delicious, and the prawn rice noodle rolls were very soft but held together. All in all it was a good dining experience, and I recommend it if you are looking for good Chinese food in the area.

Even though Open Kitchen is described in it's name as a yum cha restaurant, they have a far more expansive menu. They do of course offer yum cha during the day and are at their busiest on weekends where there is often a queue at peak times.It's a little hard to find because it's listed as being on level 3 of Macquarie Centre but it's actually part of but outside the centre. Ask if you're not sure because it's worth finding. We started with some green tea while we looked at the menu.

Nice yum cha here even though a little bit more limited in range compared to many places. They don't use trolleys either - you order on a card and the food arrives at the table - pretty quickly too. The food was good - looked good and had nice flavours. It's hard to find this place but worth looking and it adds extra eating options to Macquarie - especially the yum cha options!

Impressed with the xiao long bao (pork dumplings) and the har gao (prawn dumplings) - the skin is super thin and not gluggy, and the salted egg custard buns were good. The siew mai was not very good as it was very dense and floury. The service is good however the menu is limited for yum cha - you select it from a menu and, and it's very pricey. Though the up side is that it's freshly made and piping hot when it's served.

Beautiful wok technique and homemade XO sauce give due justice to these king prawns.The bonus is tangy finger lime popping in my mouth. ~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~. Sydney’s dining scene has never been so vibrant and competitive in recent years. Each week, new restaurants, cafes and bars are sprouting all over the city like wild mushrooms. Boisterous fanfare and promo by a well-oiled PR machinery is the preferred mode of entry for many restarants, let alone the legion of food lovers spreading the gossip via social media.

I went there today and what a disappointment. It was quite pricey and dishes didn't have much flavour. Also, considering it is a yum cha restaurant I was expecting lots of varieties in regards to dumpling and other dishes but it was not the case. Hope it will get better.