Behind this door is delicious goodness

Everyone knows Sundays are for either eating a Roast dinner or heading out for Yum Cha. Well I didn't feel like cooking and a night out with the hubby and a good friend sounded far better, so Yum Cha it was.

Hidden off busy Chapel street Red door is like no other Yum Cha. Decked out in Asian Antiques where you find yourself dining amongst with cages and lanterns hanging above, and rich wood work surrounding you makes for a fascinating evening. You of course are able to purchase your table at the end of your night too if you wish, but lets see how you go with the Yum Cha first shall we?

Our evening starts with a pre dinner drink and catch up, of which I splurge and go for the Alcoholic tea pot "Apple pie". Cider, bourbon, star anise and cinnamon served in the china tea pot. Served on ice this was a delicate and refreshing pre dinner starter, it could be an option though too to offer it heated as the spices would be more present but nun the less, when it comes to cider you have won me over.

As there was 3 of us it made it for easy ordering with all their dumplings coming in serves of 3, so if your a couple you're either going to have to fight for that 3rd one or make sure you grab 2 serves for even eating.

Starting with Prawn and lobster dumplings, Chicken and peanut dumplings, Pork and prawn dumplings and BBQ pork buns. Our Sunday night was going to become a feast for men. The Prawn and Lobster dumplings were sweet and tasty, with the meat being substantial and not shredded down or made into a paste. This allowed for it's full flavours to be evident and enjoyable.

I am a lover of the Chicken and Peanut Dumplings. Chicken pieces combined with chunks of nut gave an amazing textual experience. I have never had dumplings with nuts actually inside them and I am glad that now I have. Succulent combination with a slight sauce made it even lovelier.

The pork and prawn was just as lovely and rich with the prawn additive to the delicate pork. All the dumplings were cooked to perfection, and came steaming hot, which made it even better to enjoy as sometimes they have cooled so quickly in the bamboo trays that you loose your appetite and don't enjoy  such amazing mouthful treats. With an add of the chilli and soy that is on your table, made in house and combined with nuts it's a great accompaniment to enhance the flavours in your dumplings.

Now the BBQ Pork Buns are superb. The bun filled with sweetens and pillow like in texture, they were the best I've ever had. The BBQ pork was booming with flavour and the meat so tender. Both the boys and myself were in heaven with these buns. And to just see the consistency of Red door we tried out their Curry Chicken Buns. Not as full flavoured in the mix, very soft curry flavours which lingered but nothing like the pork. Although the bun itself was perfect every time which is truly what makes the dish.

For something different we try out the Duck in bean curd and some Pork with a honey and star anise sauce. The Duck and bean curd wasn't a winner so much this evening, although lovely it was lacking in something. The bean curd wrap was beautiful, but the mix of duck and vegetables just didn't give you that wow factor that I expected. I was expecting a lot more powerful flavours, unfortunately I couldn't taste the duck at all. But this didn't ruin my night, as it was nice but not amazing like the dumplings.

The Pork though was grand in flavours, an amazing combination of honey, star anise and soy surrounded the pork and just fell apart in your chop sticks. Served with rice it was a great main dish if you were wanting something more substantial than dumplings, or in our case a great share dish.

The Yum Cha main dishes continued and going back to the dumplings, grabbing the Pork and sweetcorn, Chicken and chive and the Special wontons. The Pork and sweetcorn would have to be up there with the chicken and peanut dumplings. Amazing is what you can call them. Sweet plump dumplings and slightly larger than the others they were damn tasty.

The chicken chive dumpling and wontons were pleasant and enjoyable, but like the duck and bean curd was not stand out rave about dishes. However who doesn't enjoy wontons and a mouth sized bite is a great option to go for if your looking for golden crisp delights.

Their is nothing better to end your evening with a good old Custard or red bean Bun. All of us headed for the custard of course and rightfully so with it's steaming fluffy bun filled with hot custard makes for a great end our feast for kings.

It's a great change to your regular Yum Cha places and although the acoustics of Red Door is quiet loud you end up ignoring that fact due to it's amazing food.

The old saying goes "With good food theirs always good company" and this proves to be true. I have a remarkable evening with the company I was with and we all enjoyed the feast. We possibly admit that we ate way too much, but it was totally worth every mouthful.

Red Door

1 Mcllwrick St

Windsor, Vic

9510 9658