Review: Melbourne Dumpling Tour
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In a city renowned for its impeccable culinary credentials, it seems counterintuitive that the humble dumpling should be one of Melbourne’s hottest trends.
However, it’s true. Whether steamed, boiled or pan-fried, Melbourne has become infatuated with these little dough balls filled with vegetables and meat. Dumpling houses have sprung up all over town, but knowing where to get the best dumplings takes expert knowledge — which you’ll certainly benefit from on the Melbourne Dumpling Tour led by local foodie Monique Bayer at Walk Melbourne.
Monique shares the love between several carefully selected dumpling houses on her tours. Each tour visits four venues, and this evening Monique promises us her ‘Chinese All Stars’ — four top dumpling houses that each deliver authentic flavours from a different region of China.
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Our first stop is North East China Family on Flinders Lane. Before we get stuck into our inaugural dumpling, Monique gives us some tips on how to mix a dipping sauce from chilli oil, soy sauce and vinegar produced from fermented rice. The chilli oil here is billed as the hottest in Melbourne, and Monique suggests that a single drop is sufficient.
Everyone gets to work mixing sauces in their little white bowls. A plate of jiaozi arrives, which we proceed to devour. This simple vegetarian dumpling originated in China’s mountainous north-east. The filling of carrot, cabbage, tofu and sesame oil is delicious, and Monique isn’t wrong about that chilli!
From there, we mosey over to Shandong Mama Mini — a tiny dumpling bar in buzzing Centre Place. This venue is an outpost of the larger Shandong Mama in Bourke Street, and it keeps good company. Centre Place is arguably Melbourne’s most popular laneway, and is lined with cool hole-in-the-wall eateries.
We’re treated to Shandong Mama’s famous mackerel dumpling. It comes with a big reputation; back in 2016, Gourmet Traveller magazine described this dumpling as one of the fifty defining dishes in Australia. The dumpling is filled with fluffy mackerel mousse, and it’s super yummy.
A short walk into the heart of Chinatown brings us to our third stop. Hidden away in a small arcade, China Red offers diners the traditionally spicy flavours of Szechuan. The pork dumplings in a spicy sauce are sensational.
After the three servings of dumplings so far, the walk to the final stop on this Melbourne dumpling tour becomes more of a waddle. As we takes our seats at Shanghai Street, Monique tells us it’s time to attain the advanced diploma of dumpling eating by taking on the soup-filled xiao long bao — a Shanghai specialty. The trick, we’re told, is to get the soup out of the dumpling and into your mouth without wearing it. Monique suggests biting a hole in the top of the dumpling to allow the steam to escape and the filling to cool. Once the temperature is right, you can slurp the soup up through the hole and then eat the rest of the dumpling.
It sounds good in theory. Somehow I manage to coax a delicate dumpling onto my spoon without breaking it. I successfully bite a hole in the top and wait for it to cool. I fail dismally at the slurping, but at least I haven’t disgraced myself completely. I’m also very full, so it’s just as well that the tour wraps up here. Everyone leaves satiated and surprisingly clean after three hours of chopsticks, sauces, and soup.
Monique’s well-researched information and anecdotes about Melbourne, its Asian community, and the eateries we’ve visited add a dimension to this tour that you wouldn’t get if you were out exploring on your own. You get a generous meal along the way, which makes the tour good value for money too.
The writer travelled as a guest of Walk Melbourne. You can book this tour here.
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Cover image: Visit Victoria. Additional images: Bigstock
About the writer
Louise Reynolds made up her mind at the age of about four that she would one day travel the world — and has so far visited around 30 countries across five continents and the Pacific. A hopeless Francophile, she has a particular love for France, its language, and pretty much all things French. Louise’s favourite way to see the world is on foot and her boots have taken her walking on famous trails in Europe, South America, and New Zealand. She also has a passion for her home state of Victoria and loves exploring its diverse regions.
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