We discovered this restaurant while walking around Melbourne Chinatown. We were instantly attracted to the large snow crab sitting idly by the aquarium windows . We ordered a lot of dishes as you can see below. Their service impeccable: change plates, English speaking waiters and exact weight of snow crab. Highlight dishes for tonight: snow crab with truffle sauce, sweet & sour pork, braised goose and sharkfin soup. read more

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We had a really enjoyable experience at Secret Kitchen! The service stood out--everyone was super friendly, patient, and helpful in guiding us through the extensive menu. We ordered a fish dish along with the stir-fried broccoli and beef. The fish was incredibly fresh with plenty of crisp snap peas and mushrooms. Our server recommended the garlic and ginger preparation over the Szechuan version. It was flavorful, though I couldn't help but wonder if the Szechuan option might have packed more of a punch. He did mention it was very spicy, so maybe it was for the best! The broccoli and beef dish, however, fell a little short. We ordered white rice expecting to soak up some sauce, but the dish didn't really have much..it was actually a bit greasy. They have an impressive display of live fish tanks with fresh lobster, crab, and fish. That was fun to see!! Overall, we're glad we went and would definitely recommend it when visiting Melbourne. While a few small things kept it from being perfect, the quality of the seafood, great service, and unique atmosphere make it worth a visit. read more

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We were visiting Melbourne from Chicago (USA). About 20 years ago, my husband got to tried Australian White Snow Crab in one of the seafood restaurants in Chicago. However, he could not find it again. So, during our trip, we had been inquiring about it. Based on recommendation, we came to Secret Kitchen at China Town. Outside, it seemed to be a modernized Chinese restaurant but the interior retained some traditional Chinese designs. We were delighted that not only it has THE snow crab, the menu also properly noting Gluten Free options (which, not many Chinese restaurants in Chicago do). The server was very friendly and patiently explained to us about the selection of snow crab and preparation method that could be gluten free. She was quite knowledgeable about the dietary restriction. We ordered snow crab steamed in egg white and vermicelli noodle with Shao Xing wine, and a herbal soup. I added a dim sum combo as I saw review that this was one of the best yum cha place. The herbal soup reminded me of something my grandparents would make, and the dumplings had a flavorful filling with a thin and tender (but not brittle) shell. The star of the dinner was the snow crab. It was a different species that we have in the US - the shell was white (even after cooked), the meat was sweet and tender (so tender that you could hardly pull a leg meat out from the shell). Even better, the steamed egg white kept the crab warm almost the entire meal. This definitely will add to our trip memory. read more

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Tasty yum Cha, the servers were friendly and spoke English quite well. Venue is large, lighting a little dim. Plenty of food on offer and always available with the servers floating around offering. Well worth hitting up this place for a feed read more

Secret Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

The slat and pepper tofu was exceptional. Very light flavorful and crispy. The pork dumplings were only average - didn't arrive pan fried as advertised. It was 8pm Friday and the kitchen had fallen way behind and dishes were taking 25-30 minutes but I'd still go back for the friendly and authentic vibe and to try more dishes read more

We think this restaurant serves the best yum cha in Australia. The dumplings were amazing - little works of art made with high quality ingredients (prawns, scallops, meat etc). We did have a bit of trouble with the skins though - although they were nice and thin, the dumplings seemed to stick to each other and to the bottom of the steamer. The service was excellent - our teapot (which was placed on top of a burner to keep hot) was topped up regularly with hot water (without us having to ask) and although it was busy, the wait staff were attentive and responsive. This is high end yum cha and the most expensive yum cha we have ever had - but worth it for the wonderful presentation and service. read more

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The food is excellent so is the service and flow of the food so no one misses out. However overly expensive - $280.00 for two people and not overeating. Noticed none of the items are charged at standard yum cha. Delicious suckling pig but very expensive at $35.00 for such a portion. Will be back but much more careful on what we order. read more

Very limited menu, very expensive and I got food poisoning. Give this place a miss. For a yum cha restaurant there was not much to choose from and the quality was below par. read more

Think secret kitchen Doncaster but with a bit more luxurious menu.. same kinda lack lustre quality .. almost everything we ordered was salty!! way overpriced. yeah okok can argue the fact that expense ingredients were used but man the chef / cook hmmmm IMHO really needs to taste what he is serving! waste of quality ingredients! I'll come back to give it another try as the the yum cha dim sums look quite interesting and maybe dinner as they have goose!!! but otherwise unless I'm forced to I wouldn't rush back here anytime soon. eg. Budha's temptation... hmmm peppery and is nothing special .. soup was too busy no complementing flavours. Xinjiang roasted lamb shank .. was good but the serving was tiny.. we were a party of 6. We each had 2 tiny bits read more

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I asked a local if we want a good dim sum where shall you go? They recommended Secret Kitchen in Melbourne CBD. We decided to give this restaurant a try. When we got to the restaurant they are busy. The lady greeted us at the front desk and said they are full. I mentioned to the lady at the front desk that we don't mind sharing a table. She said to me "We are FINE DINNING restaurant and we don't share tables". I found it was extremely rude. As I was suggesting an alternative option to get us a seat anyways they are just another Chinese restaurant. She got us a spot but mentioned to us that we have to leave at 12 pm. My friends said they want to give this a try. We were seated and the waitress was serving us. They came with a lot of food selection. I would need to say the selection of dim sum was quite good. When we asked one of the waitresses to remove the empty dishes, she made the tat sound at us. She should have said, there will be somebody who will remove the dishes. This restaurant needs to change the attitude. As their service is pretty average. I will think twice if I would like to return to them. There is so many dim sum restaurant out there for us to try. I will rate food for 4 stars and the service is literary 2 stars. read more

Secret Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

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Tasty yum Cha, the servers were friendly and spoke English quite well. Venue is large, lighting a little dim. Plenty of food on offer and always available with the servers floating around offering. Well worth hitting up this place for a feed read more

Secret Kitchen - Delicious dumplings - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Loved this place until bill time. The cashier at the front loaded a $41.00 tip on our $90.00 bill. There's a disclosed surcharge of 1.5% for credit cards but not that. If I wasn't on the ball I would have easily signed off. No apology. I wonder how many times they've done this to unsuspecting patrons. - A damning dishonest disgrace! And instead of thinking about the excellent yum cha only remember the dishonesty! WATCH OUT!!! read more

Secret Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Wow wow wow, what an amazing experience. I love Yum Cha and this place nailed it. Melbourne is one of my favourite cities and china town here is awesome. I was dying for Yum Cha and my brother in law recommended this place and it definitely didn't fail to deliver. Food was great, service was great and the atmosphere was just like a city restaurant like this should be, busy!!!! read more

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I've seen this place on previous visits to Melbourne but never ventured in. I'm glad I did try it this visit. It serves yum Cha but not as I've seen it. They try to be a little more adventurous than your average Chinese restaurant - both in terms of presentation and food styling. I enjoyed the rice noodles with prawn as a starter and then ordered the assorted seafood dumpling steamer. All great flavours. I would have loved to have tried the Sui mai and glutinous rice balls but was dining alone and couldn't eat any more. This place is nice but I prefer the traditional no fuss yum cha experience. read more

A very busy Hong Kong style dim sum place in Melbourne that will need you to make reservation earlier so you don't have to wait for your table, especially during the weekend. They have fancy dim sum dishes like purple rice chee cheong fun, mushroom buns, durian puffs, etc. Nice fresh food, good service, but bit too pricey. read more

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Good service and clean atmosphere make us feel relaxed Traditional Guangdong snacks. It will be better if add more types of Guangdong dishes or snacks ! read more

Secret Kitchen - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

This is a relatively new Chinese restaurant in the city. Seeing as how I've tried most of the other Chinese places nearby, I thought I'd see how Secret Kitchen compares. I've been told that this place can get kind of busy but it was half empty when I arrived. But they accept online bookings so you can do that if you don't like to wait. I was pretty impressive with the service. All the waiters speak Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. The place is still new, so everything was spotless and the tables weren't covered in horrible butcher's paper like you see in a lot of Chinese restaurants. Lighting was a little on the dim side for my liking, but it wasn't so dark that it was distracting. I noticed they concentrate more on the higher priced menu items and less on the regular a la carte items like dumplings and such (maybe it was just bad timing on my part). I stayed for about one hour and didn't once see any of the dumplings I was waiting for. The BBQ pork buns are done really well here; they look a bit like the ones at Tim Ho Wan - baked, not steamed, with a slightly over-sweetended dough. There were also a lot of deep fried items, which were all pretty good, but I felt a little bit greasy towards the end. Finally, I was tricked into ordering their $16 seafood dumpling; it's a single large dumpling stuffed with all the high-end seafood you can think of in a seafood-style broth - amazing, but I feel like it wasn't quite worth it. Everything I tried was above average, and most menu items are actually pretty reasonably priced. read more

Wagyu Beef - black truffle, secret kitchen fried rice and seasonal greens. Paired with 2010 Katnook Estate prodigy Shiraz. The beef is well cooked and tender but needed a little bit more flavour. The fried rice was average needed a lil bit more salt but the dish matched nicely with the wine provided. This wine was produced in a small vineyard instead of a mss produce vineyard. read more

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I am a Canadian that was on vacation in Australia and this place was recommended by a friend. First off, the service was actually not bad compared to some of the other Asian restaurants I have been to. It is a given that all Asian restaurants have bad service and this place wasn't too bad. Secondly, the food was exceptional. We came here for dim sum and the flavours were unbelievable that we had to come here twice! I highly recommend their dim sum. read more

Secret Kitchen - Steamed abalone soup - Chinese Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

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some dishes too salty. nicer ambiance and large banquet tables. fish was ok but not super delicate preparation. rather typical chinatown spot similar to other countries. read more

I always enjoy racism in my own town. Plenty of empty tables, yet apparently not one for 4 people. Couldn't even bother putting 2 tables together. It was clear looking at the clientele that they didn't want is there. We had a nice meal down the road. read more

Don't go! Over priced. Mediocre food, service & quality. Better food at any other place

Absolutely shaizenhaus service. I booked online with my wife and baby for yumcha and received a booking number plus reservation number. When i arrived at the restaurant at 11am, the waitresses told me that they did not get my booking and that the online booking system does not work. She was not even apologetic and then asked for the next person to come forward. read more

Make sure you check that the bottle of wine the waiter brings to your table matches what you order from the menu. this place cons people by charging for the wrong bottle of wine! we ordered a $44 bottle of shiraz and got charged for a $128 bottle! when we went back and questioned it, the manager blamed us for not checking what the waiter brought out to serve even though we had clearly pointed to the wine we wanted in the menu! good way to con customers and make a few extra bucks! read more