Sea Treasure

In Sydney, the hallmark way to while away the midday hours on a Sunday is yum cha. Sure, the artery-clogging feeding frenzies in Haymarket are good fun when book-ended by a trawl through Paddy’s Markets and butchershops. But across the bridge exists proof positive that yum cha can be so much more than a cheapskate shortcut to self-induced food coma. At Crows Nest’s polished Sea Treasure, the produce is a notch above – even the schools of fish staring out from the tanks at the restaurant’s entrance seem smilier. Watching the floor show – waiters netting and transporting huge bags of wriggling fish to the kitchens, trolley dollies ricocheting between tables wielding wicker steamers full of dumplings, and maitre d’s radioing orders and bookings ahead like generals in a warzone – is better than watching an entire festival of Cantonese kung-fu films. Their salt and pepper mud crab is as good as it gets.