Ding Hao

Ding Hao and I go way back. This is where I used to come for yum cha as a uni student, and thankfully it hasn’t changed a bit. It’s still overcrowded, packed to the brim, and dishing up fast, fresh Chinese food. I actually went to catch up with friends from uni – the six of us got stuck right in, with no shortage of dishes coming around to enjoy. I am a sucker for prawn dumplings, and the seafood ones that Ding Hao serve are huge, tasty and definitely not full of mush. You can feel the disparate textures of the filling – so good. We indulged in a plate of salt and pepper calamari, deep-fried and full of flavour, not rubbery at all. The crispy beef was another favourite, coated in a thick sauce and with a slight chilli kick, they vanished pretty quickly. No yum cha is complete without prawn-filled long rolls (not the technical name, but hopefully you know what I mean), and I devoured my share of those before munching on some oyster sauce-drenched greens. Finally, it was time for mango pudding (more, please!) and farewells. Yum.

Ding Hao, 26-28 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA, no website

Oriental Teahouse

When my friend mentioned that she’d found a place I’d love in Melbourne, I was expecting some kind of dessert mecca. Instead, she took me to the Oriental Teahouse, a place that combines two of my favourite things – tea and dumplings. It was a quiet Friday afternoon and we were the only ones in the store. We both started out with the sparkling iced tea special – raspberry and vanilla. It came out in a jar with a handle and was refreshing, sweet and fizzy with a couple of raspberries inside. On to the dumplings. I started with the prawn dumplings and then had the xiao long bao, both of which were served piping hot with three pieces each. The soup inside the xiao long bao wasn’t as flavoursome as the one at Lotus, but the skin was a bit thicker and there was a nice amount of filling inside. Prawn dumplings are my favourite, and these were pretty high up on the list of delicious ones with plenty of prawn inside. We finished with the chocolate dessert dumplings, which were deep-fried and coated in sesame – yum! Check it out for great tea and nice dumplings.

Oriental Teahouse, 378 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC                          http://orientalteahouse.com.au/