14-16 Market Lane, Melbourne
Phone 03 9650 8128
“Bygones have already gone and age has left its traces. HuTong witnesses the historical evolution of China from the ancient time till today. In addition, the dishes for ordinary people occured in HuTong, have become the delicious foods which the contemporary people are desperate for. You don’t need to go overseas. In our building, you can try these orthodox home-style dishes which enjoy great popularity, and you can also experience the change of HuTong, this carrier of China’s traditional flavour. With a cup of tea, a few dishes and some friends, let us start the trip of cate and culture.” – HuTong Menu (Introduction)
I spotted HuTong from the corner of my eye as I wandered down Bourke Street a week or so ago. It lives in the lane that is also home to Flowerdrum (in fact, it’s just opposite), Shoya and Hofbrauhaus, and has only been open a few short weeks.
The fit-out is quite contemporary, though it still pays homage to tradition. Downstairs offers a more casual dining option, which gives a great view of the kitchen, and all the Chef’s busy at work. Upstairs is a larger dining area with booths and tables suitable for bigger family gatherings.
From the downstairs dining area you can catch a glimpse of this Dumpling Chef hard at work, making the most perfectly formed Shao-long bao with deft movements and great intent. As you can see in the next picture, the tops are gathered into the finest of folds. I counted at least 18 folds on some of them!
This is a close-up of what he was making – Shao-long bao (8 pieces, $8.50). Ooooooooh…all I can say is these are some of THE tastiest dumplings in town!
This style of dumpling is traditionally filled with meat and soup (hence their saggy bottoms). The soup inside is created by wrapping solid meat gelatin (that is, from creating a rich stock) inside the dumpling skin with the meat filling. When they go into the basket for a steam, the heat melts the gelatin and creates the soup. Genius.
One does have to be rather gentle in picking them up, and one needs to go in lightly with chopsticks and spoon. Delicately peel the dumpling away from the paper by tilting it to the side, and pop it onto the spoon. Make sure you have some of the saggy bottom just hanging over the lip of the spoon so you can gently nibble a small hole. Then it’s a matter of putting your lips to the hole and sipping on all the delicious meaty juices. I find it tastes better if you make a slurping sound too 
Once you have sucked it dry, it is time for a dunk in some black vinegar. Then pop the whole lot into your mouth and bite down on the light, juicy, meaty, orthodox flavours *ahem*. Small slivers of ginger are served in a bowl to the side, cleansing the palate and helping to cut through the richness between each sip/slurp/chomp.
We also tried their pan fried dumplings (6 pieces, $4.50), which were also a winner. I was well impressed with their plating technique, and I tried to ask the waitress how this very thin pancakey halo was made (it tasted a little sweet). Unfortunatey her English wasn’t so great, so I remain none the wiser. Oooh…looking at these photo’s now, I just want them all over again!
Dan also tried some Spicy Beef Noodles in Broth (Sichuan style), which I figure are what are commonly known as Dan Dan Noodles. The noodles were thinner than the ones usually served up in this town, but were firm and perfectly cooked to the tooth. The soup too was very flavoursome with a good balance of heat, despite the anaesthetising effect of the sichuan peppercorns in the firey topping.
I chose the gentler rice with mixed sauteed vegetables and beancurd. I was impressed with the light, flavoursome sauce – perhaps just a thickened chicken stock?
I’m mixing the dishes all around here (note these were eaten over two visits), but we also ordered the sauted fresh soy beans with bean curd leaves and Shanghai pickles ($13.80). It sounded unique when we read it on the menu, and we were surprised by what turned up. Basically the bean curd leaves are like noodles, but made out of yuba (bean curd skin). I’ve not come across it before, and was delighted with how weird they felt in the mouth; not at all chewy or soft, rather like eating paper. They were mixed with plump green soy beans and a generous mixture of preserved veg, all in a superior light chicken stock.
All in all, I’m loving HuTong for it’s quick, cheap and excellent fare.
I have been to Hu-Tong twice now, and today the service was great. The food was served super quick and was delicious. Maybe they are sorting out the service problems?
I had my farewell lunch here today. Great service everything was served up quickly and the food was delicious. Most of our party had never eaten there previously, but all said they’d return.
Bonus: ate plenty, felt full but there was none of that awful bloated feeling that makes you feel ill for the next few hours.
Hu Tong Melbourne = greatest dumplings I’ve ever eaten. The XBL review here is spot on: http://bit.ly/wkvwx (thanks to @nedwin).
[...] HuTong Dumpling Bar | tummyrumbles.com tummyrumbles.com/2009/01/hu-tong-dumpling-bar.html – view page – cached 14-16 Market Lane, Melbourne Phone 03 9650 8128 Bygones have already gone and age has left its traces. HuTong witnesses the historical evolution of — From the page [...]
The best Shao-long bao I have had are from “Little House” in ….Bundoora! Nothing special about this place, just a shop front eatery. Ex Shanghai chef offering cheap, simple home style dishes. The Shao-long bao are so much better than the Hutong offerings, even better than the ones I had from the famed Din Tai Fung in Shanghai.
Little house – Dennison Mall Bundoora.
[...] often result in the soup squirting across the table! mellie from tummyrumbles provides pretty good step-by-step instructions, i personally dot the top of the dumpling with vinegar, chomp that off and get the soup out before [...]
Thanks for the tip Peter! I’ll have to check this place out!
This place lies about there reservations. You can never get a table at prime eating time. They try to get you to book for like 8-9pm and say they are full. The food is good however. But i think they are playing a bit dirty with there customers.
@karalee_ Hu Tong Dumplings – and you can watch the chef make the dumplings. http://bit.ly/9oL5b
@katekendall this was suggested to me. looks gr8->
Hu Tong Dumplings – and you can watch the chef make the dumplings. http://bit.ly/9oL5b
@karalee_ @katekendall Hu Tong Dumplings is great and nearby, just make sure to book the queue can be out the door http://bit.ly/9oL5b
@MattsCravat article on dumplings http://bit.ly/1Edwo9 tripled my Hutong blog post http://bit.ly/wkvwx hits
looking forward to some yum yum dumplings in Melbourne tomorrow night! highly recommended – http://bit.ly/3Jopc
We had Hutong dumplings on Friday night, 2 plates of chilli dumpling and 2 plates of the house special. http://tiny.cc/6UYHz Fantastic!
I agree they are complete liars with the reservations. i didn’t even say what time i wanted a table and they said sorry none available. Plenty of other, better restaurants around. Don’t bother.
I’ll be waiting for Din Tai Fung to open in Melbourne. These guys have had their go.
I noticed its a bit of a fad in Sydney, even the bottom of the Lemon Grove building food court has a XLB restaurant that makes them in front of a window so you can see the xlb being made.
The food is not too bad. However, they need help on customer service. The waiters are rude and the reservations system does not work. We still had to wait despite booking a table and they could not decide where to seat us (upstairs or downstairs).
@ashleyjscott should we lunch here http://bit.ly/9oL5b
Make sure you check the bill before you pay and make sure you didn’t eat something you didn’t order but received from them. Last time we went there, we didn’t order tea, but the waiter gave us tea and put it on the bill, and we just ordered the normal eggplant claypot, but they put scallops in it and charged us for it.
yeah, the service isn’t great, but bearable.
The ??? XLBs were pretty good on the night, but everything else was merely ok. Nice decor though!
photos from my visit:
?? ??? ??? Hu Tong Dumpling Bar, Melbourne 2009.10.31
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/sets/72157622599426769/
PS… i stole your English text for this photo!
feel free to steal the (Simplified) Chinese for your blog
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avlxyz/4071736044/in/set-72157622599426769/
btw, there was a typo in your English version: (culture, not flavour)
… carrier of China’s traditional culture.
Tried HuTong today with DW, and a tad dissapointed. Nothing really wrong, but everything was just OK. Service was ok and food was OK, except for the spicy wanton, which was semi-warm and not OK. Maybe it was the crying baby on the table behind that affected my taste buds, so might try again to make sure. But the thought of meeting that waiter at the door who greeted us, makes me think twice. (monotone indifference)
Oh well, Hit&Miss
Have been there twice now, and it has been wonderful for both trips.
The dan dan noodles was a little lackluster though.
But the panfried dumplings were great!
I’ve been to the new Hu Tong at Cullen Hotel on Commercial Rd in Prahran twice in the last couple of weeks. Excellent dim sum meal a few Saturday lunches ago, good choices and the Shao-long bao were especially good.
The dinner, this past Sunday night, was a little disappointing … food was a little oily and serves seemed a bit small.
So I’ll be back there for more dumplings, and I’ll have to give “original Hu Tong” a try.
don’t bother. food is not worth the price, and the service is poor enough to make you want to cry – or throw something. rude, unoriginal and overpriced. save yourself the trouble – stick to red door (or even oriental tea house) for a worthwhile experience in the area.
Service is atrocious-waited 20 minutes and still the waiter (who was hovering around cleaning empty tables next to us) did not take our order so we walked out. Wouldn’t bother again.
Hope I don’t get in trouble for saying this – but many cafes/restaurants have this and Chinese restaurants staffed by students can be the worst. Avoiding eye contact. Prioritising cleaning tables over selling and serving food.
It’s funny because the owner makes more money selling food than cleaning tables – so the incentives for the owner and for the staff must be quite different. Or maybe the owner criticises them over dirty tables but doesn’t care if they sell more food.
I think the eye contact and shyness can also relate to poor language skills.
This is the worst restaurant ever! Being Chinese myself, I’d hate to tell people to not ever go to that place, but I have to because this place has no service, the staff is so rude that you feel like you just landed in hell, and they’re absolutely ungrateful and oblivious of your politeness.
The first time I made a booking and when the actual day came, I had something on and couldn’t make it. I called about an hour before the booked time and informed them I couldn’t make it. The waiter told me that “next time call earlier because now the table is going to empty and they’ll lose revenue”. I could’ve just forget about the booking and not call them, being considerate is not going to get you anything when you’re dealing with staff from Hu Tong!
The second time, we finally managed to go there and they gave us half a bottle of water for a table for 5 people. The water was cloudy and had all sorts of floaties in there. We asked for another bottle but they never brought us any. Then they told us they have no vinegar because it ran out.
There’re plenty of restaurants in Melbourne that serves good Xiao Long Bao and provides good service.
So my final word, DON’T GO THERE, PLEASE!
We visited the new outlet at The Cullen Art Hotel in Prahran. Food was sensational. Staff have been groomed in all things that are poor human interaction let alone poor customer service. A real shame. Hated leaving these people my money. Find a happier place, it won’t be hard.
Hu Tong’s Shao Long Bao’s are the BEST. Shao Long Bao’s have been my favourite since I was a child and I have not had anything better than what was offered at Hu Tong. The skin of the bao is thin, you can see the consume and the meat filling in the center through the translucent skin.
I have been there for 2 visits, and have tried their fired dumplings, Marpo Tofu, Fired Eel and Shanghai Fried Noodles. Fried dumplings were sensational. Marpo Tofu is quite good but nothing to rave about. The latter two dishes were poorly done. My general verdict is not to bother with any of these main dishes. I personally will only order bao’s and dumplings for my next visit.
I concur re: customer service is not their strong suit. But they were never rude to me. I do find their “walky talky” extremely annoying because they all yell at the damn thing. If they are yelling why will they still need the walky talkies?!!!
Mellie have you ever been to a restaurant called Lao Tuo Jia Restaurant on Peel Street (don’t know the number but roughly 51 Peel Street). They serve Xinjiang Cuisine northern chinese style. Their dumplings are very good too. Very reasonably priced. My recommendations are Fried Lamb Dumplings, Vegetarian Dumplings, Vegetarian Buns. Their decor is not the flashiest but food is worth a visit.
Seeing as I like the food but hate the service – maybe the best option is to get some takeaway from another place, go to Hu Tong, see how ordering goes, if it goes badly then eat the takeaway, otherwise eat their food and put the takeaway in the fridge!
WORST EVER. Food was cold and service was non-existent. Might have been because it was bitter cold outside, or because the restaurant was 3/4 full, or because the waitresses were pushing around the same food for two hours, or because it took us 3 goes to get our Shao-long bao, or because we were the ONLY ASIAN customers. Who knows?!?! But like I said on the day. I make better out of my microwave.
Hi Junkcat – sorry for the tardy reply! No, I haven’t been to Lao Tuo Jia yet, but thanks for the recommendation! I must give it a try! Have you tried Afanti on cnr of Little Lonsdale/Swanston? That is also Xinghiang. It seems so good when they are doing the lamb skewers in the afternoon, but we are yet to try it also.
Afanti has moved to 254 Swanston St, next door to Cookie. The lamb skewers and dumplings are quite good. Haven’t tried the Spicy Chicken.
photos: Afanti Chinatown Dumpling Restaurant, Melbourne ??? ??????
The shop on the corner of Little Lonsdale and Swanston is now Ayiguli. The lamb and chicken wings skewers are so good! Even better than Afanti
The Spicy Chicken with Handmade Noodles was also very good, despite being quite spicy.
photos: Ayiguli 323 Fast Food ??323 ????, Melbourne
Hi Mellie and Alpha,
Thanks for the recommendation, will give Afanti a try in a couple of weeks.
Ayiguli 323 Fast Food appears a little too fast foody for me. The pics look good but. Take away skewers may be the way to go.
On a totally different note, talking Spanish restaurants now, Mellie have you been to Movida Next Door, Aqui and Terraza? I am curious to know what they are like.
Thanks for that Alpha! Danny has been keen to try both places, but the offally type stuff gives me the willies. I really must get over that and give it a try, because it really smells darn good when I walk past.
Hi again Junkcat – once again I fail as a food blogger. I haven’t been to Next Door/Aqui/Terraza – only the original. Head over to Melbourne Gastronome though, as @mutemonkey has reviewed all of them. And she rates them too!
Hi Mellie and everyone
I was googling for the address of Ayiguli when I got directed to Tummy Rumbles! Probably cos people were commenting about it! I’ve just been to Ayiguli and blogged about it so feel free to have a look
Thanks for that Piggy Eatalot. Just read your post! Hmm..not quite sure you’ve convinced me to try it out though!
I live in New Jersey. Judging from these delectable photos, I am sensing a trip to Melbourne in my near future….this food looks truly amazing!