A dumpling fix

It wasn't without debate today whether to venture into a suggested dumpling restaurant in Glenhuntly when all the city dumpling places were booked out or didn't feel like eating at 10pm, but it proved to be better than we anticipated.

It has been a long time since we had ventured into such a low budget interiored Chinese restaurant and did seem a little out of place, but the menu spoke dumplings and that's what I wanted.

Hand painted walls bought some atmosphere but unfortunately not much more, with no music and a madiocre service made us left with not to much else to embrace with the scene of which we were taking in.

An extensive menu allows you to select from dumplings, yum cha, large meals or noodles and vegetables so choices are not limited, but as you already know I was after dumplings.

The first that caught my eye were the chilli oil dumplings, these heat smacking dumplings were cooked delicately and soaked up beautiful chilli heat from the oil. Defiantly one to clear any sinus problems that you might have. A serving of 15 was a great size to share, as I don't think I could have taken the entire heat of the 15. The longer they sit in the oil though be careful as they do become fragile and make sure if you've touched the oil don't go rubbing your eye, cause you'll know all about it quick enough (I know).

To follow we went for the mushroom dumplings that were pan fried and succulent. They weren't over powering with mushroom and were combined with a mix of vegetables, they were enjoyable with a touch of soy vinegar or sweet and sour dipping sauce you can grab at the communal sauce bar.

Some Peking duck pastries as they call them, but pretty much pancakes were jam packed with sticky Peking BBQ sauce and such with hints of chives. The pancakes were light and delicious. We were surprised at the amount of duck that was in there for the price that we paid and we were truly happy with these and highly advisable.

Some pumpkin fritters and prawn crab spring rolls were both as unusual as each other. The fritters were almost dessert like with such sweetness. Similar to a pumpkin pie these bite sized fritters were somewhat chewy but flavoursome. The spring rolls were nice but missed a little bit of umph in flavour. I was expecting to get a higher bang of crab and prawn flavour, it unfortunately just fell under par. However the light pastry surrounding it was far from the usual pastry found around spring rolls so it was different to try.

The one questionable dish out of all of them were the lamb kidneys. The menu said lamb kidneys and I ordered lamb kidneys, but these were not lamb kidneys......they were chicken. Now I know most things are said to taste just like chicken, but this time it was. Although tasty chicken pieces skewered and on the bone, coated in Sichuan and other spices I am still confused as how they were lambs kidneys and comparing them to the picture in the menu provided the dish matched to it, so this was the evening puzzler.

Finishing our night with perfect BBQ pork and egg custard buns was the great ender. Almost pillow like, these steaming hot treats made it a complete evening.

With distant service from what started as table service but leading to having to order at the counter, it is not somewhere you go if you are trying to impress or take a first date. But if you are looking for a very casual quick meal with dishes not exceeding over $10.00 then yeah go for it. The food is tasty, just lacks a litte ambiance and if you had dumpling cravings like I did, then it will fix you up pretty good.

Chinatown Dumpling

1146 Glenhuntly rd,

Glenhuntly, VIC

9572-4953