James Buns

JAMES BUNS HAS NOW CLOSED

A long overdue catch up with one of my good friends from high school brought us to James Buns, a place which recently opened up on Gouger St called James Buns to satisfy our dumpling cravings. I had my eye on the xiao long bao because I have always wanted to try them and was very disappointed with the ones I had on my trip to Melbourne.  

Homemade Chinese iced tea $4

I had a sip of Sophie's drink and it was ridiculously sweet. She thought it tasted a bit like bubble tea (which I cannot attest to as I haven't drunk bubble tea years).

Fried rice with prawns $9.50 

I don't usually expect much from fried rice whenever I'm dining out but this was better than I expected. Simple, but a little on the salty side although that could just be my personal preference.

Spicy wonton with pork and Chinese spinach fillings $9.80

So addictive! The dumpling skins were very thin and the sauce was full of flavour, but not very spicy, so this was very easy to eat. My only criticism was that the sauce was far too oily.   

James' pork juicy steam buns $8.80

The moment of truth. The skin of the dumplings weren't too thick, but still thick enough to hold in all the soup. And yes, they contained soup! I think this might be the last time I have something like this for a while however, as I saw that the soup contained a lot of impurities, probably from the meat filling as it was cooked. It looked so unappetising pouring out onto my spoon, I've been completely put off. 

Stir fried vegetables with garlic sauce $6.50

We ordered these just to have some greens on the table. Soggy and disappointing, unfortunately!

Nothing about this meal seemed to have that 'wow' factor. My favourite dish was the spicy wontons, but even they weren't enough to win me over. I read a lot of bad reviews regarding the service so I paid particular attention to this while I was there, and it wasn't bad at all. Not the best I have encountered but the waitresses were friendly and helpful, and the food didn't take very long to come out after we placed our order.
Sorry James Buns, I don't think I'll be seeing you again for a while!

Shanghai Street Dumpling - #MELB2014

Day 2 - Dinner

I've been wanting to try xiao long bao ever since they first appeared on my instagram feed a while back. I wanted to try out HuTong Dumpling Bar but apparently you have to call and book in advance to secure a table. Instead, my friends and I dropped into Shanghai Street Dumpling which also seems to be rather popular. We decided to have an early dinner after an exhausting shopping expedition at DFO in South Wharf before spending the evening at the Eureka Skydeck and the CBD for more shopping and food, so getting a table was no issue at 5:30pm.

Seafood fried rice $12.80

Nothing really special about this - just your standard fried rice with prawns, fish and crab cake slices. The rice wasn't too soggy which I liked.

Fried pork dumplings $9.80

Tasty but nothing special. I liked how the dumpling skins weren't too thick.

Steamed chicken and prawn dumplings $9.80

These look rather sad, don't they? Again, nothing special!

Steamed chicken and prawn xiao long bao $11.80

I was so excited when these came out because I thought I was finally able to try my first xiao long bao! Imagine my disappointment when I placed one on my spoon and bit into the skin, only to find that there was no soup or even meat juices in it... Such a let down. The filling was identical to the steam chicken and prawn dumplings.

 Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce $11.80

We ordered this just to satisfy our veggie intake for the meal. You can't really screw this up and they didn't! My only criticism was that it was a little oily, but what else do you expect from Chinese food?

Unfortunately, that was a rather average meal and I'm so upset about the xiao long bao! This place would be good to satisfy your Chinese food cravings, as there is a decent menu and the food arrives at the table very efficiently. Warning - do not come here expecting fantastic service because you get the complete opposite. Honestly, the waiters and waitresses all look like they hate their job, and they will just plonk the dishes down on your table (even if the plate doesn't fit) and saunter off. Oh well...  

Dumpling King

The dumpling cravings were SO real last week.

A friend of mine has been insisting that we visit Dumpling King so this was the perfect opportunity!

The part of the menu we were most interested in - the dumplings!

 Steamed vegetarian dumplings $8.80

This came out first, and we were absolutely ravenous! I really enjoyed the filling, particularly the shiitake mushrooms. 

 Steamed chicken and prawn dumplings $8.80

I wasn't a huge fan of the slightly soggy dumpling skin although it had a delicious, juicy filling. Probably my least favourite of the night.

Fried pork dumplings $9.80

My favourite of the three dumplings because of the crispy pan fried dumpling skins! The filling also tasted great although I could practically taste the fat in it.

Dumpling King provides a great lunch or dinner option when you're craving something greasy, unhealthy and ridiculously cheap! Great for uni students like myself who don't want to make a huge dent in their bank accounts/wallets with most dishes coming in under the $10 mark.

However, the service is rather appalling, with the waitresses practically ignoring you for the first 3 times you try to catch their attention and some of the food being brought out only after we asked for it. We asked for some soy sauce and chilli oil since they weren't already on the tables outside where we were sitting, and the waitress brought them both out and slammed them down on the table. In saying all this though, I definitely did not expect any spectacular service coming here and I don't think you should either. Come for the food though! I saw a really nice rice and tofu dish which I will definitely consider ordering when I come back.

Star House

My family and I decided to try out somewhere we had never been for yum cha and settled with Star House. A lot of people were shocked knowing I had never been here and said that they definitely recommended it, so I had rather high expectations. 

I found that the prawn dumplings had very chewy fillings which is the exact opposite of what I would expect from prawns. Also, I spotted a hair in the dumpling skin. Gross!

These were put together very clumsily. The layer of rice flour was very thin on top but very thick on the bottom, which you can see in the roll closest to the left of the fish. Also, they were very inconsistent in length. The one on top would be very long in comparison to the two extremely short rolls on the bottom.

I loved these! Prawn filled deep fried bean curd with a tangy sauce. Yum!

My parents and grandma loved these. They were deep fried balls of sticky rice with a minced pork filling. 

We also ordered salt and pepper squid which wasn't as great as some of the other places I've tried. 

Also, we tried the green beans which were essentially green beans blanched and then soaked in garlic infused oil. They looked really soggy and I couldn't bring myself to eat them!

We encountered a few problems with the staff there. A minor thing which is a usual complaint for most people is that some orders or requests are never put through. It took us far too long to have chilli oil on our table. When we asked for soy sauce, a waitress proceeded to tell us that you're not supposed to eat yum cha with soy sauce. Okay then...? We ended up with soy sauce at the table but it was the wrong soy sauce - too dark and rich for yum cha. So disappointing!

I don't think we'll be back any time soon and will just play it safe with our favourites, Citi Zen (blog posts here and here) or Ding Hao.