Level 1, 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne (map)
Phone 03 9663 0005
The new complex at 206 Bourke Street, billed as an “Asian dining, retail and entertainment hub” has so far failed to impress in culinary terms. When I first read about the multi-million dollar redevelopment of the former Village City Centre, I was excited at the potential reinvigoration of a Chinatown dining scene that has, in parts, fallen into such mediocrity that restaurants rely on street touts to lure in customers. Amongst 206′s star recruits are Dynasty, a 600-seater Cantonese and dim sum specialist based at Shanghai’s Renaissance Yangtze Hotel; a high end Japanese restaurant called Opulent; and Nan Xing Steam Bun, another yum cha specialist. All of these restaurants are yet to open. The existing tenant, John So’s Dragon Boat, has reopened, having been renovated and expanded over two floors. You can see why I’d be excited.
After lacklustre dim sum at the restaurant of John So (he’s no longer my bro), we decided to have dinner at 206′s other new restaurant, The Bund. Named after Shanghai’s famous quay, the Bund specialises in Shanghainese cuisine, with influences from Zhejiang, a province known for dishes like Dongpo rou (Fried pork belly stewed in soy sauce and wine), Jiaohua ji (beggar’s chicken) and Xi Hu cu yu (West Lake sweet and sour fish). It is also the region where the famous Dragon Well green tea originated.
The alarm bells should have been ringing after the spin campaign touted ”affordable luxury with 5 star chefs from Shanghai’s Shangri-la Pudong Hotel” who will ”bring the amazing taste of Shanghai to Melbourne’s doorstep and present it in one of the most opulent settings the city has seen”. The opulence obviously includes “two five-tonne shark tanks”, the purpose of which caused me some confusion when I first read it: were live sharks’ fins going to be offered? The sales pitch continued on their Facebook page, which offered daily free glasses of wine and “buy one cocktail get one free” deals.
The Bund is located on Level 1 of the 206 complex. Led up the escalator by one of the two friendly touts at street level, we arrived at a pleasant and modern dining room dominated by a large marbled bar smack bang in the middle. Starched table cloths and funky light features lent to the opulent aspirations although this was somewhat cheapened by A4 paper plastered all over the front windows which advertised the specials. The entrance also had a design quirk in that it didn’t have a partition or front greeting area, so that the table closest to it feels as if it’s halfway out the door! (Luckily that was not our table).
The sales puffery started to dissipate once we were seated: the shark tanks turned out to be a colourful aquarium behind the bar – nice but nary a shark in sight – and we were not offered any free drinks, with wine glasses quickly whisked away after we asked for water. Perhaps they should have made it clear what the conditions of the offer were?
Now to the food: the menu was divided into various sections for seafood, meat etc. However, descriptions were scant, with the provincial origin of dishes often not stated.
Drunken Chicken
Shanghai smoked fish
Xiao Long Bao
We started with entrees of Shanghai smoked fish, drunken chicken and six Xiao Long Bao (soupy pork dumplings). The smoked fish was tasty though nothing exceptional. The XLBs were also nice, with a good broth inside each dumpling, however, the skin was a tad too thick and certainly not a patch on Hu Tong. The poached drunken chicken had great flavour and was very tender indeed. However, it was marred by the bright red bone attached to most pieces. I know that the cooking technique calls for the bone to remain rare, but it’s off-putting to cop shards of bloodied bone whilst eating and for one’s plate to pool with red liquid. Perhaps the chicken could have been deboned or presented differently?
Spinach cooked with salted and century egg
Dragon Well Tea prawns
"Grandma's" braised pork belly
Our mains arrived in extremely quick succession, almost without a break from our entrees. We shared spinach cooked with salted and century egg, Dragon Well Tea prawns, “Grandma’s” braised pork belly, and seafood fried noodles. The spinach, which turned out to be snow pea shoots, was the dish that was probably the pick of the bunch (pun intended). Swimming in a nice soupy gravy, it was tasty though the century egg lacked a bit of flavour. The prawns were very bland, with a complete absence of any tea flavour. Instead, Mellie noted an unpleasant aftertaste which suggested that the prawns might not have been very fresh. The fatty pork belly was OK, though it was too sweet and cut a little too thickly for our liking.
Seafood noodles
After instantaneous serving of our mains, the fried noodles took an eternity to arrive. We had to ask about it twice. When it finally arrived, it was disappointingly not worth the wait, as it was the stinker of the night. Completely lacking in wok hei charriness, the noodles were soggy rather than crispy, with a tasteless brothy sauce containing some bland seafood, particularly the rubbery calamari. Terrible.
Service was friendly but a little lacking in areas. We were not offered spoons with the XLBs or the noodles and had to ask for these. Plates with piles of chicken bones were also not cleared promptly.
I realise that The Bund is newly opened and every restaurant has teething problems. I do hope they sort these out, but our dinner was very disappointing. It’s all fine to have a great fit-out but it has to be matched to good food and intuitive service. Additionally, the ugly side of social media of the kind that’s been perpetuated by the complex must be backed up by substance. You can fool tourists but food-savvy locals will be turned away if things are not up to scratch. I will continue to try the other new restaurants at 206 as they open, as I believe in giving eateries a fair go, but I now do so with trepidation given our two experiences so far.
As we left the complex, The Bund’s touts, obviously having forgotten who we were, asked if we wanted to try some Chinese food. No thanks.
We were disappointed by the food too, although the red bits on the chicken we thought was one of the most authentic part of our dinning experience. Sadly when friends visiting ask where to get good Chinese food, I have to say Boxhill.
You should have answered “yes” to the stupid touts, and asked if they could recommend anywhere decent.
I did wonder when you mentioned the free drinks – and those you didn’t even get!
It’s generally safe to assume that nothing in Melbourne comes close to Hu Tong’s Xiao Long Bao.
Oh! So no point trying now till they sort their problems out. That is quite disappointing. Where else can we find really good chinese food in the city?
We’ve already booked for Dragon Boat. I’m curious to know why you didn’t like the yum cha? Not too late to cancel the booking.
Thanks for everyone’s comments. To be fair, The Bund Restaurant has since emailed us thanking us for the feedback and saying that they will address our concerns regarding the food and service. We shall see.
Penny, I think Flower Drum is still great, though pricey. The good ones seem to be out in the ‘burbs. One of my favourites is New Royal Garden in Syndal. My parents have also been raving about Chrysanthemum House in Doncaster.
Billy, Dragon Boat is certainly not the worst yum cha; we just reckon that there are better ones, like Shark Fin House. When we lunched at Dragon Boat, they seem to have quite a limited range. The same dishes kept doing the rounds, with no new ones coming out. We also didn’t get any sui mai, which is a common dish and my favourite. Some dishes were very ordinary, like a salt and pepper calamari. And some of the waitresses spoke only Mandarin, which was an issue as we couldn’t request dishes that we could only name in Cantonese. If you do go, let me know what you think
What a disappointment! Nothing worse than a bad meal leaving an awful aftertaste in your mouth (excuse the pun).
I do agree about Dragon Boat yum cha. I brought my parents there once (out of desperation – you can’t get a table at SFH without booking) and they thought it was trash.
I liked the yum cha at Crystal Jade. It errs on the pricey side but good quality and great selection of dishes.
oh dang! Hopefully they will address those concerns.
I recently ate at Chrystal Jade on Russell st. I loved it and the service was pretty good. Their Deep Fried Prawns in egg yolk is very addictive.
Try BBQ House…the Cantonese food there is great!
I actually think crystal jade has better yumcha than sharksfin house, and better service too!
We ended up going to Dragon Boat for dinner. Menu was limited and servings were stingy.
No complimentary prawn crackers or peanuts on the table or ‘lai tong’ or cut fruit either.
We didn’t try many of their specials because my Uncle in-law isn’t very adventurous. The ‘jiu yim har’ chilli salt prawns were decent but it was as if they left the other half of the serve in the kitchen.
The flavour of the dishes were decent but not really getting value for money.
On another note, have you ever been to Docklands Goldleaf for yum cha? I’ve been there a couple of times and thought it wasn’t bad.
I wholeheartedly agree, the Chinatown dining experience has been going downhill for a while. We have been bitterly disappointed with various restaurants the last few visits after making the mistake of being lured in by the touts then receiving a meal inferior to that you can get at the corner takeaway shop, then being priveleged to pay $50 for the experience.
Michelle, we’ve only been to Crystal Jade for dinner, so must check out their dim sum too.
Billy, haven’t tried Goldleaf, but should give it a go. They must be cursing their luck though with the ferris wheel currently out of action. Would have drawn more customers if it was running!
Guyman, I recommend avoiding the places with touts. Good places do not need to “yell to sell”.
Surprisingly the Docklands Goldleaf is still packed on the weekends despite the wheel situation. I think they all got their rents reduced anyway.
The Age just did a piece on the best yum cha’s in Melbourne.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/epicure/2010/01/18/1263663043227.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Gold Leaf did not rate well. Looks like the best rated places are also the most expensive. Yum Cha’s not suppose to be expensive dammit.
Hi Billy, agreed and I have posted my thoughts in the comments section of that article:
http://www.theage.com.au/national/project-yum-cha-on-the-trail-of-melbournes-best-20100119-mhss.html?comments=21#comments
Ate at the bund last nite, found the food quite nice. Think the XLBs skins are still a bit on the thicker side but personally think the soup inside and the flavour is better than hutong. This time they did give us spoons with the XLBs. Also had the grandma braised pork which was the closest i’ve had here in melb to that in shanghai… with the even layers of meat, fat and skin. Had the long jing tea prawns which wasn’t very nice.. still a let down. My favourite for the night was the honey crispy eel the waiter recommended..very beautiful… crispy… a bit sweet… a bit salty… perfect with my asahi.. recommend you guys try it. Overall.. service is quite good… can be improved. Could tell the staff is young and trying. Guess they took your review pretty serious or I went on a good night? Dumplings for me.. hutong is pretty good.. but for the hot dishes.. i would choose the bund…hope they can keep it consistent though!
Apologies for hijacking this thread or throwing it off topic D:
I could write a thesis-length post on the ‘Yum Cha situation’ in Victoria, but I think it’d be done in vain. =\
I will summarize by saying the following:
- All the good ‘dim sum masters’ have left Chinatown, either of their own will or because they’ve been headhunted.
- “Evolution” of yum cha (and really, any other type of chinese food) is stunted by negative stereotypical of ‘Chinese food’ (It ain’t asian/chinese food if it’s a) not cheap, b) you get a huge serving c) drenched in a sauce (soy, sweet and sour, honey etc). Unfortunately, comments such as those posted by Billy (no free this, no free that) only exacerbate the stereotypes =\
- Yum cha is ‘traditionally’ not suited to the Australian or western palette. This is naturally, a cultural difference and the non-acceptance of certain qualities.
If you want to know more, or want a clearer explanation or just more opinions, feel free to contact me @ the e-mail attached to this comment. More than happy to hear your opinions and your thoughts on this as it affects me on how this unique type of food is being bastardized =\
-G
P.S – Long time lurker of your blog, Mellie. Keep up the good work.
Went to The Bund with friends for dinner. The feed back was the food was nothing unusual. No ‘wokhei’ The steamed slice pork with preserved vegetables was warm, Spinach with salted eggs – a couple of cut century eggs with no taste, guy lian with garlic, spring beans with pork mince, beef fillet in Cantonese sauce. Pork Hock was the only one that can be seen steaming hot. Guess this one has the flavour after cooking for so long. Chinese is most particular that the food must be steaming hot. When the rice came, it was just rice left over from the afternoon sessions. It was disappointing a simple thing like steaming hot rice is not served.
More over one lose the appetite when the waitress served with her hair dangling over the dishes, Remind me of the Oriental Tea House Restaurant in Chadstone which we never went back.
I have been to Chrysanthemum House in Doncaster, at least one could expect the standards ‘sort of’ remains the same. I wont say the best.
I will not take friends to New Royal Garden in Syndal as I had had many experiences with the food coming out just warm. The standards can change to the extreme.
I had not had any good reports on Gold Leaf Burwood Hwy.
The Docklands Goldleaf is recommended – so far the food has remainds to its ‘standard’.
I have never heard of good services in any Dragon Boat Restuarant. Only go to Dragon Boat if you know someone working there. LOL otherwise one can wait forever.
Hymmmm I have to organise another get together meal again. I wont bother for next month as The Chinese New Year will be in and thats the worst time of year to enter any Chinese Restaurants hehehhee
The best restaurants sneek in, don’t make outlandish claims like this one apparently has. Speaking of which…
DT/Mellie what’s that Hunan place upstairs (near Post Deng) called? I invited you there a few weeks back. Forgotten the name.
G,
“Evolution” of yum cha (and really, any other type of chinese food) is stunted by negative stereotypical of ‘Chinese food’ (It ain’t asian/chinese food if it’s a) not cheap, b) you get a huge serving c) drenched in a sauce (soy, sweet and sour, honey etc). Unfortunately, comments such as those posted by Billy (no free this, no free that) only exacerbate the stereotypes =\”
Dragon Boat aren’t serving anything different from other places like Gold Leaf so I don’t think they are trying to ‘evolve’, yet they (Dragon Boat) are cutting out on things like free ‘house soup’, peanuts, prawn crackers and cut fruit at the end of the meal that other restaurants serving the same style of food do provide.
Forgot to mention that dishes like Beef in Peking sauce and battered prawns “jiu yim har” ain’t suppose to be fine dining so I don’t see why you reckon small servings are justified?
@ Billy
So your judgment weighs heavily more so on ‘service’ and ‘freebies’ more than the actual items you go in and pay for?
My apologies, but last time I went to a restaurant, I was there for food that I paid for and not for the extras I thought I was entitled to.
Serving sizes are relative and rather, should be relative to their price (and to an extent, the quality of the serving).
G,
Ofcourse I care about the quality of the items but what I’m saying is that the battered prawns at Dragon Boat are not noticeably different from those served other Chinese restaurants yet the servings at Dragon Boat are smaller and they charge just as much or even more while still not providing ‘freebies’.
If it was Flowerdrum I’d understand but Dragon Boat is no Flower Drum.
@ Billy
As you’ve stated explicitly this is about the non yum cha stuff, then I have no argument here, I’m no defender of any of Dragon boat’s restaurants, with exception to the Knox city one (I recommend a serving of the spicy salt chicken ribs
)
G,
I thought for a moment you might have invested in the place or something or maybe John So .
I do like my spicy salt chicken ribs but my favourite is duck egg yolk battered chicken ribs. It’s addictive like crack cocaine and probably just as bad for health.
Went there for lunch with 3 friends. All our dishes were too salty, couldn’t taste any of the flavors, what kind of chef does this!?
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