If you’re currently in Melbourne 
You may know that the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) is on and running from the 1st to the 17th of March ~ Even though I love eating out and experiencing the Melbourne food scene, I’ve never really gone to any events and with Mr Bao working so much lately, I didn’t want to book into any events and have to drag him there ~ But I was very lucky and Libby (The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar) invited me to be her guest at the World’s Largest Outdoor Yum Cha event held by Chan’s Yum Cha at the Treasury Gardens last Saturday (2nd March).
Chan’s Yum Cha at Treasury Garden
It was the perfect day to hold this event at the Treasury Gardens wasn’t too hot but around the mid to high 20 degree and with lots of trees around to provide shade.
Apart from the rows of tables for patrons participating in the World’s Largest Outdoor Yum Cha, there were also marquees outside providing face painting for the kids, a photobooth and the The Teo Chew Association was also there to play songs using traditional Chinese instruments throughout the event. It reminded me of Chinese New Year festivals we had a couple of weeks ago in the City ~
Lion Dancing
They even organised Lion Dances to be performed throughout the yum cha ~ But to be completely honest with you…I am terrified of lion dances lol I’ve never liked them growing up as a child and use to hide behind my parents 
Now that I’m an adult…they are tolerable but I still DISLIKE them and prefer if they didn’t come near me hahaha
Attempting to beat the Guinness World Record
As the name of this event suggests, it was an attempt to break the Guinness World Record of the largest outdoor yum cha The record before was 500 people, this time there were 800 tickets sold so as long as we had more than 500 people seated and eating at least 2 dim sums, we’ll beat the record! Doesn’t sound too hard
All I could see were rows and rows of tables and so many people seated at the tables! There was definitely more than 500 of us!
Doing it right
Even though this was an outdoor event with so many people, Chan’s Yum Cha was trying to do it right, with chopsticks and a tea cup for tea There were no forks, spoons or knives in sight, so for those who weren’t good with chopsticks they’d have to practice ~ Thank gosh they have the instructions in front of us hehe
5 Course Yum Cha
It was going to be a 5 course yum cha with a variety of dim sims, dumplings, buns and dessert Tickets to this event was $20 per person, which I thought was definitely good value considering the amount of food we were getting ~
Prawn Hargow
First course was the most traditional and popular prawn hargow ~ which I’m sure most of you would have heard of and tried. I was quite impressed with the flavour of the filling and the crunchiness from the shredded bamboo inside, however, I would’ve liked it more if the dumpling skin wasn’t as dry and sticky. But I guess this can’t be helped as the kitchen was trying to pump out dumpling for 800 people!
Sesame Prawn Toast
I haven’t had Sesame Prawn Toast for the longest time! My parents never liked it and said we should avoid ordering too much fried food when going to yum cha. But I remember we would order it for my Caucasian friends when we went to yum cha together ~ I was quite impressed with these as it was freshly fried and had a good amount of prawn paste spread over the toast, I also liked the toasted sesame flavour!
Ginger Prawn and Shiitake Dumpling
Third course was the Ginger Prawn dumpling which had a yellow wrapper, it reminded me more of a HK style wonton and even though I liked the flavours, I found them quite similar to the prawn hargow and my throat was slightly ticklish after eating it. So I suggest that there was some MSG in it 
I quite liked the Shiitake Dumplings though, the filling the Shiitake mushrooms and also bamboo shoots and carrots, I’m pretty sure this was the only vegetarian dumpling too 
BBQ Pork Bun
I’m a fan of buns Love their steamed fluffy texture ~ These BBQ Pork Buns had a good sweet Charsiu (BBQ Pork) filling, however, Libby found it a little too sweet not me But we didn’t really like the buns itself, it had a very doughy and dense texture and kind of stuck to our teeth >_< Once again I’m not sure if it’s because of the lack of time the kitchen had to prepare these, I think they would have tasted better if they were steamed for a couple of minutes longer.
Banana Fritter with Vanilla Ice-cream
Last course and of course most important was dessert, which was Lady finger banana fritters with vanilla ice-cream. I was worried that the kitchen wouldn’t be able to fry these fritters in time and when it reached our table it would be soggy, but it was actually still quite fresh and hot when the waiter placed it on our table It really brought back childhood memories eating this dessert, as my parents would order it for me whenever we went out for dinner ~
Overall, I thought this was a great event and WE BROKE THE RECORD Out of the 800 tickets sold there were 726 or so people seated and had yum cha in the outdoor! WOO HOO! I’ve never helped break a guinness world record before hehe YAY! Also if you’re interested in trying you can buy Chan’s Yum Cha dumplings at large supermarkets and Costco in Melbourne ~ This isn’t the first time I’ve had Chan’s Yum Cha hehe because Mr Bao and I usually stock up on a few yum cha items and leave them in our freezer because they’re so convenient when we’re too lazy to cook dinner or go out
Once again would like to thank Libby for inviting me to such a fun event ~ and hopefully one day I’ll even break or create my own Guinness World Record
Daisy@Nevertoosweet attended this event as a guest of Libby (The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Oh how fun was this event! Congrats on helping breaking the record! I saw the prawn toast and my mouth started to water!
Thanks Jeno
it was definitely fun! Glad to be part of it! 
I was quite impressed with the sesame prawn toast too hehe it’s a very ‘Gwai Lo’ dish to order but still nice once in a while!
Haha that is fantastic my friend well done
And all the food in this event is absolutely WOW!
Cheers
CCU
Thanks dear
good to be part of this event 
Wow, what a huge turnout! I love mfwf! Which other events will u be attending?
Wow! what a crowd, and congrats to being a part of it! I must say, I don’t think banana fritters is a yumcha dish?
thanks for dropping by my blog
I’m sure not if i’m going to any more specific MFWF events but I am gonna try and do some express lunches hehe what about yourself?
Congratulations on breaking the Guinness World Record glad you participated, what fun. I too participated in a Guinness World Record last year and we did break the record. Here is the link: http://gardentowok.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/guinness-world-record-walkway-over-the-hudson-is-in/
WOO HOO
it’s great to be part of something like this ~ so much fun and hehe i can tell people i helped! Well done to you too Norma!
What a fun event to be a part of
. I had good intentions this year as far as the FWF goes … forgetting that my folks would be down last weekend and we’re going away this weekend! I’m still hoping to get to something but suddenly my options are much more limited.
Oh damn! doesn’t matter I guess it’s more important to spend time with family and I thought I’d have a lot more time to spend and be able to go to more events but turns out it’s quite hard and you’ve gotta book in more events months in advance
Maybe next year hehe
What a super fun event! And I love Chan’s dumplings and it’s so good that you can get them easily!
It was heaps of fun Lorraine
I agree that they’re good especially for premade dumplings you can just microwave hehe ~
awww such a fun event and you help break a guinness book for record! That’s so exciting! hehe Was a beautiful day to be out at Treasury Gardens! hehe Yumcha is one of my fav type of meals! hehe Think I need to go for one soon! hehe x
I think I want to go again too
I love yum cha heaps too ~ just all the variety of food we can have hehe my parents are coming back soon so definitely going to be yum-chaing a LOT hahaha WOO HOO!
haha that’s awesomeeeee! (: hehe Super love yumcha but it’s quite pricey here as compared to Singapore or HK! haha but still have to have it when I’m super craving it! hehe xx
Wait, didn’t we go on the 3rd?!
Great write-up, Daisy and beautiful photos (kinda spewing I didn’t take many non-food pics haha. The food wasn’t mind-blowing but you’re right, given the circumstances and given that they ARE supermarket dumplings, they did a good job. What a lovely afternoon and thank YOU, Daisy, for accompanying me!
HAHHAHA yup i got the date wrong OOPS let me change that now! That’s for telling me lol I’m hopeless with dates
Ricky actually took those non-food pics and he did a great job! It took a long time to edit the photos to get rid of the blue tinge hehe agreed even though food wasn’t the best, it was acceptable and I still had heaps of fun
Wow MFWF is here again! Been so busy lately and haven’t been keeping up! You’re right, for “supermarket” dims sums, these look pretty darn good!
Aww hope you’re not working so much now and slowing down! You always work too hard ~ give these a go when you don’t have time to go have yum cha hehe
You guys certainly looked like you were dumplinged out!
Definitely didn’t expect so many thought we were going to get one har gow each LOL
Congrats on your efforts to assist with creating a new world record! I’m super-impressed that anyone could cook for this many people. And the food looks good too. I’ve heard so much about the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival – I would love to attend! xx
I’m quite impressed too
I’m so excited that I got to participate in this event ~ Hopefully I’ll get to do it again next year and break another record xox
Oh my!! That sounds like so much fun!
And sesame prawn toast! HAhah I try to avoid fried foods too but I have a weakness for this.
Hahhaa i know same here
I try so hard to avoid it but simply too hard hehe ~
i can foresee that ur world record attempt has something to do with desserts already! this yum cha looks amazing! and my parents never allowed us to order fried stuff at yum cha either!
Hahhaha i think if I was able to break a dessert record it’ll be great
I don’t know why Asian parents don’t like fried food hehe
It’s always lovely to read about any events that you’ve been to, but this one somehow sounds even more amazing!! I would love to have been there!! I love any outdoor food and drink festival and this one looks so much fun! And how exciting it was that you helped to create a new Guinness world record!! Well done!!
Thank you Jane
It was amazing to be part of this event ~ I really hope I get to break another record next year hehe 
Outdoor events are always relaxing and fun as long as the weather permits it!
What a fun event to attend. Wow, you’re great in detecting the MSG, I usually won’t know until after eating the food for a while. When I started to get really thirsty, then I’m sure there’s MSG.
$20 for all those food and dragon dance? It’s pretty good deal, I say.
Thank you for leaving a comment
It was a wonderful event ~ i’m not allergic to MSG or anything hehe it’s just my throat gets really ticklish but considering the fact that it’s only $20 it’s not bad value 
That’s so cool being able to help break a world record!! And I love Chan’s hargow as well, go to Costco all the time to stock up on those.
Thanks dear
hahaha I get the yum cha packs too when I go to Costco sooooo cheap hahhaa
Wow! That’s a huge crowd, but looks like it was a fun day for yum cha. I wonder how long it took them to prep everything.
Definitely a great way to spend the afternoon hehe ~ it probably didn’t take that long since everything was steamed or microwaved hahaha
It was such a fun event, and those lion dancers were so cheeky!!
LOL I didn’t like them
TOTALLY TERRIFIED ahhaha
Amazing 800! Given the amount of people it’s fairly good they end up pumping all that food out.. wow.
haha i know right
I was impressed too but some tables had to wait for nearly an hour gosh!
Oh wow!! That’s fantastic! That would have been a fun event even without the added bonus of breaking the World record! Awesome!
Thank you Ali
it was definitely an amazing even to attend had so much fun and now I can claim I’m a Guiness WOrld Record braker hahaha
Wow 800 people! Congrats on breaking the record Daisy! That’s a lot of people to feed dim sum. How come I’ve never heard or seen Sesame Prawn Toast? I’m going to look for these next time I go to dim sum (like this Sunday haha).
Thank you Nami
I’m so thrilled to be part of this event, oh i’m surprised you haven’t heard of sesame prawn toast maybe it’s an Aussie thing? hehe hope you find it soon or maybe try making it yourself ~
Oh that looks like such a fun day! I love prawn toasts too, even though we never ordered them at yum cha growing up hehe.
LOL same
My parents wouldn’t allow it and it was kinda ‘Aussie yum cha’ food and we were supposed to have decent dumplings and dim sims hahaha
I was invited to this but couldn’t make it due to being in Sydney! Looks like it was heaps of fun though!
Oh damn what a shame that you couldnt’ come
Would’ve loved to see you there ~ doesn’t matter next time and at least you can still try the dim sims if you’re interested hehe
WOW this looks so incredibly fun and of course YUMMY! Dim sum is one of my favourite comfort food and I could have it anytime. Keep posting!
Definitely my favourite type of food too yum cha
A shame that it’s quite expensive here in Melbourne ~ Doesn’t matter save it for special occasions hehe and thank you for visiting my blog!