With a big group reunion and my pregnant friend craving dumplings, we ended up at HuTong in South Yarra one night to enjoy conversation over copious amounts of food. The restaurant is clean, pretty and oriental with polite service and heavy wooden furniture. We were seated out the back (unfortunately near the smoking area with the smoke not contained by the opening door). The vibe was relaxed but sociable and so we began ordering and enjoying a large meal worthy of the festivity - with many vegetarian options too.
The spinach dumplings were fresh and tasty with green skins and spinach filling. I enjoyed these with lots of chilli and vinegar.
The eggplant claypot was wickedly good, with my favourite vegetable drenched till soft in oil with fresh spring onions. The long slices were moist and slippery enjoyed alongside rice.
The sautéed spinach with garlic was tasty and falsely felt somewhat healthier. The spinach had been wilted and then mixed with garlic cooked till soft but still white.
The spring onion pancake was dry and average in flavour. I will not order that one again.
The pumpkin cake was dessert, served with ice-cream. It was hard to resist these bite-sized rounds of sweet pumpkiny goodness.
For wine, we enjoyed a bottle of Taltani shiraz. It was surprisingly good with full fruit and oak, blended but with complexity. I will be searching out this wine in the future.
It was a lovely meal and a great catch up. The space is not too noise and unlike many dumpling houses, you will not be squished onto the smallest possible table. I’d advise booking, as even on the Wednesday night we went, it was full. And so were we by the end.
The spinach dumplings were fresh and tasty with green skins and spinach filling. I enjoyed these with lots of chilli and vinegar.
The eggplant claypot was wickedly good, with my favourite vegetable drenched till soft in oil with fresh spring onions. The long slices were moist and slippery enjoyed alongside rice.
The sautéed spinach with garlic was tasty and falsely felt somewhat healthier. The spinach had been wilted and then mixed with garlic cooked till soft but still white.
The spring onion pancake was dry and average in flavour. I will not order that one again.
The pumpkin cake was dessert, served with ice-cream. It was hard to resist these bite-sized rounds of sweet pumpkiny goodness.
For wine, we enjoyed a bottle of Taltani shiraz. It was surprisingly good with full fruit and oak, blended but with complexity. I will be searching out this wine in the future.
It was a lovely meal and a great catch up. The space is not too noise and unlike many dumpling houses, you will not be squished onto the smallest possible table. I’d advise booking, as even on the Wednesday night we went, it was full. And so were we by the end.
HuTong Dumpling Bar
