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Melbourne’s Chinatown is home to one of the longest, continuous Chinese settlements in the Western world, which explains our longstanding love for the cuisine. From yum cha to hand-pulled noodles, dumpling restaurants to duck specialists, the variety of Chinese food in Melbourne leaves us spoilt for choice. Chinese restaurants have also developed innovative ways of delivering their food — separating noodles from broth to prevent overcooking or foil-sealing hot pot to retain the heat — which makes it ideal to transport from kitchen to couch. Here are the top Chinese restaurants across Melbourne, with my recommendations for the perfect order and ideal add-ons to turn a lazy night at home into a luxe dining experience.
Tina’s Noodle Kitchen
Tina’s is part of the Dainty Sichuan Group, named after the owner, Tina Li. There are four branches of Tina’s across Melbourne, in the CBD, Preston, Box Hill, and Glen Waverley. The springy rice noodles are from Chongqing, a region neighbouring the Sichuan province, with many dishes also electrified by the iconic spice. Tangles of noodles are cooked in cauldrons of creamy pork and chicken broth, which come topped with your choice of pickled chillies, tomatoes, or pickled mustard greens. Proteins include sliced beef, pork trotter, and braised duck, but my pick is always the fish slices and pickled mustard greens with a fried egg.
Biang Biang Noodle
Biang Biang’s hand-pulled noodles hail from the ancient capital of Xi’an in China. Named after the onomatopoeic stretching and slapping action required to produce the thick, long, and perfectly chewy noodles, you’ll want to enjoy them in soup with tender, stewed beef, or dressed in spicy, braised chicken. Don’t sleep on the slippery cold noodles in sesame sauce or the flakiest rou jia mo (Chinese hamburger) in Melbourne, stuffed with pork or cumin beef.
Chopstick Delight
If you’re lucky enough to live within the delivery zone of Chopstick Delight in Mulgrave, I envy you. They are the perfect example of an amazing, suburban Chinese restaurant worth travelling to — or patiently waiting for on your couch. The classics are all represented here; fried rice, sweet and sour pork, beef and black bean sauce, Singapore noodles, and even homemade dim sims. But, if you’re not picking up a serve of their roast duck with impossibly crisp skin, perfectly rendered fat that’s kissed with star anise, five spice, and ginger, you’re doing it wrong.
Cindy’s Kitchen
Cindy’s is a local hero. It’s a restaurant loved by everyone in North Melbourne, including all the neighbouring restaurants that pick up orders of the pan-fried house-made dumplings, potstickers, and stir-fried noodles as staff meals before service. The appeal of Cindy’s is the homeliness of the dishes, like Won Ton Noodle Soup and the Beef Brisket Noodle Soup. It’s like being served Chinese food by someone’s mum, which for me, is always more comforting and enjoyable than a fine dining experience.
Colourful Yunnan
I am a sucker for the complex spicy, sour, and deep flavours of Yunnanese food. Yunnan is home to 51 of the 55 ethnic minorities in China; the cuisine is hard to define, while being unmistakably distinctive. You can experience this from Colourful Yunnan in the CBD, via dishes like the Yunnan Crossing the Bridge Noodle Soup, which features salted mustard, quail eggs, black fungus, and bamboo shoots in a rich broth. Paired with cold dishes like the soy milk film with chilli sauce, braised pork ear, or shredded chicken salad, you’ll be rewarded with the ultimate textural delight.
Crazy Wing
Barbecue isn’t usually what people think about when they think about Chinese food, but Crazy Wing is exactly that. It’s casual, loud, bold, and fun at the city and Glen Waverley branches. The name gives it away; wings are the highlight here with flavours ranging from curry to garlic and “spicy hot.” Turn a few wings into a meal by adding some barbecued enoki mushrooms, grilled mantou, and lamb skewers. Don’t forget to crack a few beers when your food arrives; this grub is designed for drinking.
Dao Noodle
Knife-cut noodles are a rarity in Melbourne, and thankfully, Dao Noodle makes an excellent version in the CBD. Long strands, which are both soft and chewy, are shaved from a large dough block directly into a rolling pot of water. Bowls like the Hand Sliced Noodle can be topped with pork mince, stewed tomato, and egg, or mushroom gravy. I love adding a side of the sweet, pickled radish for a bright contrast to the deep, savoury noodles. Dumplings here also come with a crispy skirt and are a must-order.
Dessert Story
Red bean, taro balls, fig jelly, tapioca. For those who are as addicted to Chinese desserts as I am, Chinatown’s Dessert Story is there to scratch the itch. Order traditional Hong Kong desserts that are starchy, herbal, slippery, chewy, and “not too sweet” (the highest compliment a Chinese person can give to a dessert) to round off any meal. The best part is that Dessert Story is open late, so if you want your midnight bowl of Tofu Pudding, it’s yours.
Din Tai Fung
Consistency is underrated, and Din Tai Fung is a masterclass on it. Sure, they’re a franchise with outposts all over the world, but you are guaranteed that at every single branch including ours in Emporium, every Xiao Long Bao weighs 21 grams and has 18 pleats. For a perfect bite, eat your soup dumplings with threads of fresh ginger and a slurp of vinegar. Aside from that, the entire menu is faultless; from the signature dumplings to the Spicy Shrimp and Pork Wontons, pork chops, and Dry Noodles with Special Shallot Sauce. Order in abundance and with abandon.
Dragon Hot Pot
You know how they say you can have too much of a good thing? This is not true of Dragon Hot Pot, which has outposts spanning from Box Hill to Caulfield East, where you choose your hot pot base (malatang, hot and sour, collagen), pick your ingredients, and wait for your gigantic bowl to be delivered to you. You can choose one of their pre-made selections (seafood, meat, or beef) if you want a 500g portion, but where is the fun in that? There are over 100 ingredients to choose from (fish paste-stuffed beancurd, lotus root, konjac noodles), so the possibilities are endless. Tack on a bowl of fluffy rice to turn your hot and numbing concoction into a well-balanced meal.
Kitchen Republik
Whenever I’m in Box Hill, I make sure to stop by Kitchen Republik for a quick, Taiwanese food fix. This no-frills restaurant serves all the greatest hits: super crisp and juicy fried chicken, oyster mee sua (wheat vermicelli noodle), lu rou fan (stewed pork rice), pork belly filled gua bao, beef noodle soup, and so much more. Looking through the menu is just like wandering a Taiwanese night market and asking yourself how much food is too much food. (The limit does not exist.) When in doubt, I always order Taiwanese Beef Brisket Noodle Soup.
Master Lanzhou Noodle
There are 12 Master Lanzhou Noodle shops across Melbourne, but prior to them coming onto the scene, it was incredibly difficult to find a quality bowl of hand-pulled Lanzhou beef noodles. With locations stretching from Maribyrnong to South Yarra, you can order a bowl with your choice of noodle width (2mm to 2.5cm) in a clear, beef broth with meat slices, radish, and house-made chilli oil from almost any home across the inner city. Shredded potatoes and smacked cucumber make a great counterpoint to the deceptively flavoursome bowl. If soup is not your thing, the dry hand-pulled noodles are also winners.
Master Ma Kitchen
If you’re looking for a great example of Xinjiang cuisine, Master Ma in South Yarra may surprise you. Lamb is a highlight. It comes grilled on skewers, doused liberally in cumin and chilli; stir-fried over hand-pulled noodles with wood ear mushrooms; and stewed with potatoes and carrots to be sopped up with flatbread. The Big Plate Chicken is also a crowd-favourite where braised, bone-in chicken is cooked with potatoes, peppers, hot and sweet spices, and served over noodles. Servings feed anywhere between one and six people, so order in a large group for a taste of everything, or plan for ample leftovers.
New Shanghai
I know New Shanghai has really good Chinese food despite being located inside a CBD train station because I bravely went with some Shanghainese friends who enthusiastically approved of the meal. The Xiao Long Bao is a must-order (and travels way better than I thought it would), as are the marinated pork ribs in sweetened black vinegar. The signature contrasting flavours of Shanghainese food are also exemplified in the Sweet and Sour Crispy Rainbow Reef and Pork Belly Braised in Sweetened Soy. A serving of rice is not optional if you know what is good for you.
North East China Family
This restaurant is an institution on Flinders Lane in the city, and navigating the menu can be confusing. There are dishes from all over China and even some Aussie-Chinese classics, despite being called North East China Family. But the food that really hits are dishes from the owners’ hometown of Dongbei. All dumplings are handmade and filled with ingredients like leeks, shrimp, pickled cabbage, and beef. The sweet and sour pork is done in the Dongbei style, where cutlets are fried in a potato starch batter and coated in a lighter-than-expected, slightly sweet, vinegar-forward sauce — an absolute rice killer.
Old Kingdom Peking Duck
If you’re ordering takeaway from Richmond’s Old Kingdom, you must order the namesake Peking duck. Luckily, the online ordering is the same format as the restaurants; you receive your Peking duck with 15 pancakes and accoutrements, and the remaining meat from the whole bird stir-fried with soft, wheat noodles, crispy egg noodles, or as fried rice. Add on items like belachan water spinach to turn it into a full meal. For those of you who are out of the delivery zone, check Simon’s Peiking Duck in Box Hill to see if you’re in theirs, as the original owners opened Simon’s after leaving Old Kingdom and serve the same menu.
Shandong Mama
When Shandong Mama opened in a little arcade in Chinatown in 2011, their boiled mackerel dumplings had Melbourne in a chokehold. The oversized plump pillows are filled with a mousse-like filling of mackerel, ginger, coriander, chives, and spring onion; best eaten with a dab of vinegar. Fried versions are rolled into open-ended cigar shapes, rather than folded, increasing the surface area for ultimate crunch. The Crispy Egg and Garlic Chive Pockets are another must-order, along with the Sweet and Sour Chinese Cabbage for a fresh bite.
Shanghai St Dumpling and Mini Juicy Bun
It couldn’t be easier at this Chinatown staple: the restaurant name is telling you exactly what you should order, which are the dumplings and mini juicy buns. But what are mini juicy buns, exactly? Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) made from a thin, wheat dough that encases various fillings: pork, chicken and prawn, crab, or vegetables. The Sheng Jian Bao, mini juicy buns made with leavened dough, pan-fried, and pork-filled, are not to be missed. Beware the juicy interior; no one has time for a burnt tongue when there’s this much good food to eat.
The Old Raffles Place
This little Singaporean restaurant in Collingwood was meant to be Alan and Carol Han’s retirement project back in 2000, but they’re still running it after all this time because the Chye Tow Kueh is just so damn good. It’s also known as carrot cake, only, there are no carrots in it. A savoury cake is made from radish and rice flour, steamed, cooled, cut, and stir-fried with eggs, preserved turnip, bean sprouts, and kecap manis. If you like it spicy, ask for it to be made with chilli in your order notes. Another bonus is that this dish travels stunningly.
Crystal Jade
Sometimes, you just want to have a feast of yum cha classics in the privacy of your own home, and Crystal Jade makes some of the best dim sum in the CBD. The Steamed Prawn Dumplings are solid, the rice noodle rolls are fantastic, and the congee is some of the silkiest you can get. For something more substantial, you can order roast duck by the quarter, or treat yourself to some king prawns stir-fried in a salted egg yolk sauce. It’s truly great Cantonese cooking.
Gong Cha
There’s boba tea and then there’s Gong Cha, the boba tea franchise with outposts from Parkville to Preston with so many varieties of tea and toppings that if you ordered a different tea every day of the week, you still haven’t scratched the surface of what’s on offer. You can get milk tea, unadulterated brewed tea, fruit mixes, foams, smoothies, and yoghurts combined with pearls, jellies, puddings, and more. Choose your sugar level and amount of ice, and you’re good to go. The hardest part is deciding what to order. Let me help: Wintermelon Tea with Aiyu Jelly.
Gai Wong
Directly translated, ‘gai wong’ means chicken king and it’s true that the Hainanese Chicken Rice at this North Melbourne restaurant means business. Owner ‘Uncle Lip’ cites the dish as his personal favourite; he can eat it every day of the week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He goes to the trouble of sourcing local, free-range chicken, which he meticulously cooks so the entire bird is tender and silky. The dish is purposely served chilled to accentuate the hard-earned layer of jelly beneath the skin, which makes it perfect for takeaway. Order it on its own or in a meal set with fragrant rice, marinated cucumbers, chilli sauce, and a spring onion and ginger oil — Malaysian-Chinese comfort food at its finest.
