Friday lunch with work colleagues and we ordered up a storm of dumplings!

The 红油水饺 chilli oil dumplings hit the spot with a fair whack of heat from the lashings of chilli oil tempered by the sweet soy sauce. The less fire-loving of us wolfed down the plain 饺子 steamed dumplings which were also prety good. The 锅贴 pan-fried dumplings were nice and crisp, but maybe the pastry was a tad thick. We also had a serve of the 炒手拉面 stir-fried handmade noodles which were chewy and smooth. I've always loved the handmade noodles there. Another star was the 菜肉炒饭 special fried rice with bits of 火腿 Chinese ham and crisp vegetables.

We also ordered a couple of gwailo favourites just to see how they fared. Kane thought the 豉汁牛肉 black bean beef was awesome, but Davina and I thought it was gluggy and pretty bland. No one really liked the 柠檬鸡 Lemon Chicken, declaring it "too lemony". I thought it was pretty good, especially since they were very generous with the sauce, even if it was straight out of a bottle. The sauce was probably Chinese-style lemon sauce that's very similar to 酸梅浆 preserved plum sauce.

中华名小吃 Dumplings Plus Flr1/ 269 Swanston St Melbourne 3000