120-122 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Looking for a cheap eat in Melbourne? Look no further than Chinatown, running along Little Bourke Street between Swanston and Exhibition Streets. With so many offerings, everyone has their own favourite place to go. Whether it's cheap or expensive, spicy Szechuan or delicate Japanese, noodles or dumpings - Chinatown has you covered.
Despite breaking my #1 rule of Chinese restaurants (more Caucasians than Asians = probably less than authentic food) the offerings at Empress of China aren't too bad. The ambience is authentic China, you'll be setting your own table and pouring your own tea. Don't expect a smile out of the staff either, it also helps if you're a "waiter whisperer" to get any service. That's what I love about this place though, it's an unpretentious eating house to go with a big group of friends and enjoy some food and a few laughs without being bothered by anyone.
Once ordered, the food comes out pretty quickly - order something off the wall if you like food roulette, you never know what might be good! The garlic cucumber we had once was surprisingly good. Yes, it was just fried minced garlic on cold cucumber slices but for $3 what could go wrong? This time we had mostly the usual, which cost less than $10 a head for 7 people.
Chinese Brocolli with Oyster sauce - not overcooked or drowning in sauce, good for trying to have a balanced dinner!
Pan-fried vegetarian dumplings - dumplings were well packed with a variety of random vegetables.
Pan-fried pork and vegetable dumplings - standard pork fried dumplings, delicious and filled with hot soup to burn your mouth as soon as you take a bite.
Xiao long bao - not the most delicate dumpling casings in Melbourne, but still a good bite. As above, filled with delicious hot soup to spill. Slightly more robust casing means that this will probably occur right above your lap instead of in the serving basket.
Fried green beans and mince - THE classic Chinese dish for me. Not as good as my mum's, this one was a bit salty and the beans weren't crispy enough. The beans are typically deep-fried, then stir-fried again with the mince meat.
Shanghai fried noodles with chicken - not drowning in sauce and well cooked, tasty stomach filler.
I'll feature a few more of my other Chinatown picks in the future; Shanghai Noodle House, Sichuan House (those cumin pork ribs!), Shoya, HuTong Dumpling, and many others.. So stay tuned!
B.
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