Yum Cha, as one of the most representative forms of Cantonese cuisine, has always been popular. Items such as rice noodle rolls, shrimp dumplings, siu mai, steamed spare ribs with black bean sauce, steamed chicken feet, and BBQ pork buns are the most basic dim sum items and are usually the best indicators of the restaurant’s taste and culinary skills!
Do you know there are also many authentic and genuine Yum Cha restaurants in Melbourne?
Best Yum Ch restaurants in Melbourne
Secret Kitchen
The classic dishes are all handcrafted, such as soy sauce steamed chicken feet and truffle shrimp dumplings. On weekends, you can try signature dishes like suckling pig and Korean-style roasted duck.
222 Exhibition St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Gold Leaf Yum Cha
Located in Docklands, Gold Leaf serves over 100 types of dim sum day and night, but what really catches your eye are the monthly specials. Imagine pan-fried pipis swimming in XO chilli sauce, crispy Chinese doughnuts, and fresh Australian lobster with ginger and shallot sauce.
Lee Ho Fook
Lee Ho Fook is committed to enhancing the dim sum experience, which means as part of the weekend offerings, you will have a very respectable four courses to choose from. Fragrant tea and delicate dim sum are the mainstays here. It’s hard to beat the goji berry and pork dumplings, but the slow-roasted duck with rice steals the show.
11-15 Duckboard Pl, Melbourne VIC 3000
Crystal Jade
For just an hour, we recommend coming to Jade Kitchen with a plan. Start your seating with traditional Hong Kong-style dim sum and put dishes like steamed lava buns and salted egg yolk king prawns on your wish list. First-timers should try the snowflake crab with foie gras, a signature dish since 1999.
154 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Red Door
Located near Church Street, Red Door is a lantern-lit restaurant filled with Asian antiques and dumplings. There are no trolleys here, but don’t let that stop you from ordering plump prawn dumplings and sweet preserved fruit buns. The cocktail teapots are a bold attempt at standard drinks, and we went for the elderflower tea.
1 Mcilwrick St, Windsor VIC 3181
Tim Ho Wan
With a world-class reputation (and Michelin stars to match), Tim Ho Wan landed on the Australian coast in 2020. With over 100 seats, it’s a far cry from the brand’s humble alleyway roots, but the acclaimed dim sum series is still full of character. Bite into crispy prawn dumplings with mustard egg yolk sauce, sip on tofu skin rolls stuffed with pork and shrimp, and marvel at glass spinach dumplings filled with prawns. There’s a reason why Tim Ho Wan’s barbecue pork buns are famous.
206 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
David’s
Turn into Church Street and enter David’s restaurant for great service, atmosphere, and authentic Shanghai snacks. Founder David Zhou carefully curated the 11 dishes you’ll find here. Enjoy glutinous rice-centred pan-fried BBQ pork buns, crispy-skinned Beijing roast duck pancakes, and chewy coconut dumplings topped with white chocolate.
4 Cecil Pl, Prahran VIC 3181
Red Emperor
Highly recommend the egg tarts, Oriental liqueurs, fruit-infused mocktails, and dizzying local and international wines.
M10/3 Southgate Ave, Southbank VIC 3006
Shark Fin House
This three-storey restaurant has been around for over 40 years and is one of the most famous restaurants in Chinatown. Shark Fin House is a great place to learn about traditional staples such as chicken feet (with a choice of black bean or abalone sauce), taro cake, sticky rice, and silky steamed rice rolls.
50 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000