Pearl Garden

nz herald had this listed in it’s top 5 Yum cha… I’m not sure it should of made the list? but I’m willing to try the other four to check this out properly! thought the service was good and happy staff. but have had better yum cha.

Very good yum cha at this central New Market location. Restaurant is quite small and popular so I would recommend that you book. Good selection of food if you arrive early (say around 11am). The dumplings here are really good.
Pearl Garden is a good restaurant for both small tables and small groups. The only drawbacks I can think of is sometimes you can feel rushed through and parking in New Market can be a hassle.

First off — I am a big fan of Yum Cha, but have only gone with the company of my asian friends who do all the collection of food, without knowing what has been said or ordered, which results in me usually just going along with the flow and eat anything & everything that comes across. The weirdest thing to try is Chicken Feet. which are great — don’t let the name put you off!
What is Yum Cha you might ask? Yum Cha simply stands for Morning Tea in Chinese culture or translated in Drink Tea. There are some rules & etiquette which should be observed but not essential.
It is customary to pour tea for others before filling one’s own tea-​cup. It is most gracious to be the first to pour tea.
When tea drinkers tap the table with two (occasionally one) fingers of the same hand, an action known as ‘finger kowtow’, it is an expression of gratitude to the member of the party who filled their cups. According to a just-​so story, this gesture recreates a tale of Imperial obeisance and can be traced to Emperor Qianlong, a Qing Chinese emperor, who used to travel incognito. While visiting South China, he once went into a teahouse with his companions. In order to maintain his anonymity, he took his turn at pouring tea. His stunned companions wanted to kowtow for the great honour but to do so would have revealed the identity of the emperor. Finally, one of them tapped three fingers on the table (one finger representing their bowed head and the other two representing their prostrate arms) and the clever emperor understood what he meant. From then on, this has been the practice.
This time however, I ventured without the support & guidance of my asian friends. I was initially scared and worried I would order the wrong thing or miss out on something resulting in the whole thing being a shambles.
I was proven wrong on both accounts, the only slight hick-​up being I forgot to make a booking which is a must do for this restaurant. I managed to squeeze in a table for a small party.
Food ordering was very easy the staff were friendly and explained all the food that came across. There are dumplings galore here & they were delicious! Also good was the fried squid, beef balls & pork balls. Served nicely with a cup of refreshing chinese tea.
We went at 1pm and there were ques out the door & this kept up till after we left at 2pm. A good indication that this place serves good food & people know what to expect.
You will have to excuse the lack of photo’s the photo was quickly eaten before even had a chance to take a photo. Another good sign it tasted as good as it looked.
Cost per person averaged out to be $ 25 which for me is very good value! Our table were left feeling rather full at the end of it.
Would happily recommend this place to anyone who is wanting to try Yum Cha but does not know where to start or what to order. The staff here are friendly and happy to explain what they have for you.
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Nice place to go. It’s pretty busy around lunch time. The food is traditional and more modern, which was interesting. But don’t think I’ll be going back for a while.

We visited this place with a group of friends including some young children. We ordered a set dinner banquet and extra dishes and desserts for the group.
The dishes were small for what you usually get from chinese restaurant. The set menu did not delivered given we were expecting some authentic asian sweet dessert soup (as written on the menu) for our dessert. Instead of delivering authentic homemade black sesame sweet soup (I know it sounded WEIRD but if you are Asian you will know what I mean and they are to die for if they are genuinely HomeMade!), we were given packaged black sesame sweet soup. Disappointment!
The cost of the dinner was reasonable but none of us were full (to say the least). We left the restaurant and a few of us headed elsewhere for some yummy dessert goodness.
the environment of the restaurant is okay and the ladies at the counter were not bad either.

Hidden above the shops of Teed St, lies this yum cha paradise. I had not been in over a year and the friendly greeting on arrival quickly reminded me of the high standard that I remembered so well.
Once the bottomless green tea arrived it was only a matter of time before the flow of dumplings, pork buns and other delicious offerings began.
Being in a large group situation it was ideal, and all appetites were well satisfied. Didn’t even break the bank either.
The spinach dumplings and the prawn filled egg plant were my faves and definitely recommend this place for any birthday dinner or weekend lunch on a budget.

They don’t even deserve this star.
My husband and I went this place for yum cha on Sunday, as soon as we walked in we noticed the place was overwhelming hot. Their fans were on but seemed to give little effect on cooling the place down. Maybe the heat got to the staff as their service was slow and lifeless, leaving us to ask for menu and drink.
We ordered a few dumplings and to my horror the first one I bit into had raw chicken in it. We decided not to risk the others and called their staff to inspect. The owner came over, apologized and took our dishes away. She didn’t come back to our table to offer anything to compensate, she instead hid behind the counter waiting for us to pay. At this point, to my disbelief she argued it was meant to be like that!
We left with a foul taste in our mouth and hoped that would be the last time we tasted it.
It will certainly be the last time we go there.

Never was a huge yum cha person but some friends wanted to meet here for lunch. and I feel like I finally ‘get’ yum cha now! Yisssss. There was a large group of us so we ordered a million different things but my favorites were the sticky rice, pork and prawn siu mai, some seaweed dish, the prawn dumplings and the spinach dumplings. We also ordered a jug of the juice of the day which was watermelon. sooo nice. It was definitely a wise choice to reserve a table because there was literally a crowd of like thirty people waiting by the time we got up to pay.
A lot of the wait staff were teenagers who seemed quite shy and embarrassed to keep interrupting our conversations but they were very nice. at some other yum cha restaurants in Auckland I’ve felt pressured to take stuff I didn’t really want as well as feeling like they push you out once they think you’re done but we were able to take our time and rest for a bit after we’d finished eating. Also the old man behind the drinks counter is a d o r a b l e. The décor of the place is interesting. think mock-​Imperial Chinese with plastic chandeliers and a vaguely tiki hut-​looking drinks bar. I’d recommend Pearl Garden especially for yum cha newcomers because yum cha first impressions are everything.

Pearl Garden is one of my top three Chinese restaurants in Auckland. In terms of Chinese restaurants, it sits in the ‘nice’ category — it’s very clean, upmarket and there are no ducks hanging in the window. In saying that, the place is still very authentic. The dishes are traditional and the presentation is very good.
Menu highlights: The Peking Duck (by order only, but you can get a few pancakes already wrapped up for you on the ‘tapas’ menu at any time), the Prawn Balls (which you can get in an entrée size on their ‘tapas’ menu), the Chun Chiew Chicken (crispy fried chicken with some delicious seasoning that has I don’t know what exactly in it, but tonnes of pepper), the steamed Stuffed Tofu with Prawn Mince and the Spicy Fried Green Beans.
The place isn’t loud and crazy like a lot of Chinese restaurants. Like I said before — it’s nice. You could bring your snobby mother in law here and feel good about it. Prices reflect that. It’s not super expensive but this ain’t no Chinese takeout joint.
Service is fantastic. It’s family owned and operated.