Flailing and failing: treading water in the waiting line…”O”

Seafood Yum Cha in Pyrmont Fish Markets

O is for Oceanic

Fisherman’s Wharf Seafood Restaurant, Level 1, 1 Bank Street, Pyrmont

Organised by ALANNA on Sunday, May 2010

Okay, okay, we know this instalment of the Alpha meals is quite subversive to the “Rules”. We could have chosen Oceania and tried some Modern Pacific fare, but the lure of seafood yum cha was too much! Anyway, Oceania is not a country so if you are going to break rules, you may as well break them good! Fail #1 for the Alpha Group.

8 Oglers

The Originals [minus Dave and Adrian but now includes Sez and Ari], Ali, and new recruits, Lori, Alanna’s friend, Lee and Jess, my two work friends.

Group O (L-R: K, half of Jess, Dr Lee, Lanz, Lori, Sez, Ari, Ali)

The (dis)Order

Typically, we were all late. Alanna made the booking for 12 pm, but we giggled and tripped our way to the Fish Markets to arrive at 12.30 pm. The entire level was packed – every table was squashed in, reflecting their crustacean cousins sitting sardine-snug in the tanks adorning the floor. The line snaked its way down two flights of stairs. Luckily, new recruit, Jess, was on time to grab a ticket for a table in true yum-cha style. She definitely made a good impression on us, I don’t think us stragglers could say the same thing.

Alanna hovered over the host despite being told, “you next table”. [Though to be fair, Alanna was told this eight times, after each time the host sat a table.] The group didn’t seem to mind, as Ali, Lori and Jess hit it off, Ari and I talked about drumming, Lee was lost in the crowd on the stairs, and Sez panicked at the sight of fish. [Oops, that's right. Sez has a hyperventilating phobia of coral and live fish. Walking through the fish markets wasn't exactly therapeutic for her. Fail #2 for the Alpha Group!]

Meat, seafood, meat. Whoops.

The mother hen hovers

Check out Sez's facials!

Finally seated at 1 pm, the Alphabetians mass ordered every dish that came on anything that resembled a trolley. Looking at the table, our meat to seafood ratio was about 8:2. [Blame Ari's four plates of duck!] Fail #3 for the Alpha Group.

Standout dishes included: salt and pepper calamari (√), Peking duck pancakes (x), pork siu mai (x), honey prawns (√), and mango pancakes (neutral – neither seafood win or meat fail).

We had a great, attentive waiter who made up for the typical yum cha beside manner. Unfortunately, being told it was BYO does not mean being told it is $6 corkage per person. Fail for the restaurant for such ludicrous BYO prices, but it really meant Fail #4 for the Alphabetians as we were extremely sober.

NOTE: waiting since 12 pm, sat down at 1 pm, finished eating by 2 pm. WIN!

OMG I’ve run out of cheesy words that start with “O”

7.5/10

The wait, the manic atmosphere, the BYO corkage all contributed to the low score. Our group dynamic was good, especially with new recruits in our midst. Yum cha is never relaxing, so one of quickest Alpha meals ever. The food was really great but since we didn’t solely eat Oceanic fare, and maybe it’s because I had yum cha the day before and dumplings a few days before, yum cha just didn’t seem as exciting as African, Nepalese or Egyptian.

And because I blocked out Jess’ face with my big head [I also had a big belly] in the main picture of Group O, take a closer look at our most recent Alpha recruits: Jess and Lee.

K, Jess and Dr Lee: The Oldie with the Newbies.

After-party antics

“Eat and get out” was the day’s motto! Everyone split to go their separate ways at approx 2.13 pm. Lee and I visited Billy Hyde’s Drumcraft where I decided to buy my first ever drum kit!!! Then I went to see Agora at the closing night of the Spanish Film Festival.

Postscript

After being blasted by Adz from London via Skype that “we were doing it wrong!!!” and “I will set it right!” and “I’m surprised you are still doing the alpha dinners after the founding member has left, that’s me by the way”, it was almost comforting to hear Dave’s encouragement: “Oh, you mean the BETA group now two Originals have left”. I am thinking of a name change to “Alpha ++ Group” for the next post.