Newsbreaking update! Eric Koh’s Work In Progress pop-up has been extended until December 23 – so you can power through the silly season on A-grade dumplings if you need to.

If you want proof of how strong Eric Koh’s dumpling game is, he’s currently at Work In Progress in the Sydney CBD, fully flexing his shumai and xia long bao skills. If you’ve been meaning to check out this WIP@erickoh pop-up, though, you’ve got until mid-October over two months before he’s off to join Patrick Friesen and Christopher Hogarth (aka the crack team behind Papi Chulo) at the Queen Victoria Hotel for Merivale’s Enmore Chinese opening next year.

The Work In Progress pop-up is like the pure concentrate version of what the dim sum chef was previously doing at Mr Wong. (Or as one friend says, this joint is like “Mr Wong without the queue”.) It’s a tight selection of items that mainly arrive as bamboo steamers that you happily stockpile on your table.

I’ve gone three times, with several people, and everyone seems to single out a different dish as their winning order: one friend name-checks the Pork and Prawn Shumai ($9.80 for four) as a standout, Will’s favourite is the Pan-fried Chicken and Chive Dumplings ($9.80 for four) and mine, by default, was always going to be the Seasonal Mushroom Dumplings ($9.80 for four) – but damn, they are really good.

Schedule as many visits as you can before WIP@erickoh ends – and enjoy the fact that this is a precursor to what will likely be an inspired and excellent take on Chinese food at Merivale’s soon-to-open Enmore project.

Work In Progress @erickoh, 50 King Street, Sydney NSW (02) 9240 3000, merivale.com.au/wipbar