- Location - 269 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000
- Cuisine - Asian
- Style - Casual Dining
- Price Band - Low
Located in the heart of Melbourne's CBD is a relatively new establishment called Dumplings Plus. Unsurprisingly given the name it specialises in dumplings as well as many other dishes separated roughly into 'hand made noodles', 'rice' and 'aroma dishes'.
The interior is very charming - it's laid out to look very traditionally Chinese with a strong wood panelled theme. The chairs look impressive and luxurious and a row of brightly lit red lanterns lines the kitchen which is visible from the dining area. But let's get to the food!My partner-in-eating and I decided to test the flagship dumpling dishes that the restaurant name boasts. We started off with the pan-fried Shanghai pork bun:
They looked great and presented somewhat stylistically. They tasted great too - the dumpling skins had a delicious thick doughy feel to them and the pork meat was hot and flavoursome while also staying tender and juicy.Next up we tried the Shanghai mini pork buns:
A tremendously difficult dish to get right, the Shanghai mini pork buns are meant to contain a good spoonful of broth sealed tightly inside each dumpling, and then steamed to perfection. The mini pork buns arrived in their bamboo steamer, but slick enough they could be removed from the thin layer of baking paper without puncturing the delicate skin and spilling the juices. One bite revealed that indeed a good amount of broth was to be found in each dumpling, however the pork centre was a let down. The filling felt somewhat muted/lacking in flavour - all that I was left with was an overpowering ginger taste which masked the pork flavour I was so looking forward to.Lastly we had the Pan-fried pork dumplings:
I was less than impressed with the presentation of this lot - while fried to a lovely golden-brown, the dumplings were unattractively fused together into the one ugly super dumpling rendering its appearance more like a disgusting genetic aberration than an appetising dumpling dish. In short, it looked absolutely nothing like the neat and classy presentation the menu's library of pictures had suggested. The taste was decent but nothing to brag about. I did note that the dumplings had a lot more spring onion than one would expect though.Accompanying our dinner we also had a tall glass of iced milk tea - a little too bitter for my taste, but somewhat the standard for milk tea I believe.
Overall it's a great place to eat - it's located conveniently on Swanston street of the city, the prices are cheap and the food is decent. Definitely worth a visit if you have a penchant for dumplings.