HuTong Dumpling Bar

Beautiful dumplings at decent prices. Shame about the service …

8.5/10

14-16 Market Ln
Melbourne

http://hutong.com.au/

I have now tried both HuTong restaurants (Prahran and the city) and the hands down winner for value and food is the city restaurant. But hands down for service goes to Prahran. I think it has something to do with the whole attitude that sometimes develops in china town restaurants in Melbourne, where no matter the level of rudeness and disdain that is handed out to customers, people will return. Which they (and I) invariably do. Case in point – I have been to HuTong twice in the city despite receiving pretty darn rude service. And I plan to go back. Because unfortunately, with food that good and fast, and prices that low, and BYO to top it all off, it simply cannot be beaten in Melbourne. The Prahran branch has to compete a little more with the surrounding restaurants, so probably can’t afford to adopt it siblings attitude to customers.

Although, as a side note, the original HuTong restaurant in the city win the rudest staff in China Town award. No, that coveted prize goes to Shark Finn Inn, where I was once told that I could not have a glass of water “because there was a drought”. Seriously, I am not lying.

Moving back on track, so why HuTong pulls in the crowds and attract endless blog posts? First, the décor is modern and a step up from its neighbouring restaurants. The tables are nicely spaced, the lighting dim and it isn’t too noisy. Second, the food is fast, fresh and seriously good. Their famous Xioa long bao (delicate dumplings filled with a soup) live up to their reputation, but I thought that their steamed scallop dumplings were the stand outs for the night with their delicate encasing and sweet scallop centre.

The "famous" xioa long bao

The chilli wontons were also delicious, but the let downs were the spinach dumplings due to a slightly stodgy dough. All plates of dumplings hover around the $9-$10 mark, and to feed four people you shouldn’t need to spend more than $25 a head. If you have bought along a few bottles of wine, this makes for a merry and reasonable Friday night dinner. I haven’t yet delved into the other menu options at HuTong, as I am still mildly obsessed with the dumplings, but I hear the claypots are worth the journey. In terms of desserts, I went for the childhood favourite of banana fritter, which was delicious but disturbingly phallic due to the unfortunate placing of two balls of ice-cream.

To finish, I want to make clear that the problem with the service at HuTong does not lie with the younger staff, who are all courteous and efficient. Rather, it is the management who scowl at customers and talk down to those who dare ask questions, that need to be reminded of a few simple customer service principles. If this improved, HuTong would be a real winner in the Melbourne dining scene. This said, considering that it take two weeks to get a weekend booking there, I don’t think they are too worried.