Sea Bay

3.4 - I used to come here throughout Uni but have been away. I tried it again today after many many years. The quality is still good (although the Chicken soup tasted peppery as opposed to soothing, and the Beef soup noodle is not as nourishing as I remember it tasted). but the dumplings were still amazing! They have renovated the restaurant and the lovely old humble smiley man is no longer around. It's not as cheap as it used to be - the soup noodles are about $14.90 and the dumplings, the same. But you can get half serves, which is great. However, a 2% surcharge on any cards used (including EFTPOS). I probably won't be coming back much longer - there is so much other food to try and most of my sentiment for it lost.

Sea Bay has become a Sydney institution for quality hand made noodles, noodle soups and northern Chinese style dumplings and buns. From its humble beginnings in Ashfield, Sea Bay has since carved out a name for itself in the Sydney Central business district as the go to venue for dumplings and buns. The venue is also BYO which is geared for you to have a good time. If you are in large groups it is essential to make a booking as there are often lines out the door with long wait times. Recommended dishes include pork pan fried or boiled dumplings, fried lamb pancakes and cumin lamb hand made noodles.

Extremely crowded! That in and of itself wouldn't be a problem but the tables were so close together that you could (and someone actually did) reach condiments off of the neighboring table. There was actually a 10 cm space between the tables (I measured). We could hear the conversations of everyone around us. The food was just ok. However, it was inexpensive and the portions were big. So it was ok. The whole experience fell a bit short of complete satisfaction.