A DEAD BUG IN OUR FOOD. That we still had to pay for. That's what we got when my two friends and went to dinner at Shanghai Street last night. A plate of dumplings, so-so vegetables in a minute amount oyster sauce, and mediocre Chinese broccoli would've resulted in an unmemorable meal, were it not for the dead bug laying prominently on top of the vegetables. We immediately lost our appetites and informed the waitstaff. They offered us another plate. Um, thanks but no thanks! The waitress said she would take it off our bill. I explained we had lost our appetites and gestured to the uneaten second plate of vegetables. She said she'd take that off the bill, too. My friends wanted to leave without paying, but I insisted that since we'd eaten the dumplings we should at least pay for that. Imagine my surprise when the waitress charged me $18. $18 for dumplings? Oh, no, she was actually charging me for the uneaten vegetables as well, even though I repeatedly said we'd lost our appetites from the bug in our food. According to the waitress, "It was cooked separately." As if that somehow mattered -- as if that would somehow make their kitchen less overrun by insects, as if our appetites would magically come back. We left hungry and disgruntled, and vowed to let others know about our experience. DEAD BUGS IN FOOD. HORRIFIC SERVICE. I'll let you make up your own minds on this one, but will just say: there are plenty of other dumpling places in this city. read more

If you want some fast and furious dumpling action, this is the place for it. Forever busy, but they churn out food pretty quickly to try and turn over tables for the hoards of hungry dumpling fiends. This place has a bit of a cult status as best Xiao Long Bao in the city. While I won't argue that they're tasty, I personally disagree and I am not a fan of the cramped setting and constant queues that this venue permanently has. There is a larger version of Shanghai Street located further up Little Bourke in Chinatown that has the same offering in a better setting. Great option for take away, lunch or a quick bite. read more

I've eaten here a few times and it's been consistently good. It gets fairly busy at the lunch rush, typically a 5-15 minute wait for a table, but it's not their fault - it's just a small place! It's worth the wait. Food is delicious, honest and great value. Sometimes the service leaves a little to be desired, but we're talking about asian quick-eats here, so gotta keep that in mind. Fried vegetable dumplings are fantastic. Hot & Sour dumpling soup is a lunch-for-one favourite. Claypot noodle soups are great as well, although take a little longer. Xiao Long Bao is great too. Serves are pretty big. I'll often take a 1/3 portion back to the office after lunch. read more

These are some of the best dumplings in Melbourne! Located on Little Bourke St (and another on La Trobe) this place hums - nearly always packed with a line down Little Bourke. Wonder why they don't fit in more tables - with only about 25 seats and a handful of stools. Run by dumpling house royalty these experienced dumpling specialists offer great value but with it extraordinary quality! Incredible dumplings! Love the pan fried pork dumplings - or menu item 18 to be precise. I loved the thin well pleated wrappings of the dumplings - the pan fried element came through with crispiness. For $8.80 I got 15 great dumplings - top value for the CBD! Fillings great and juicy but the key is always to have no tears or holes in the wrappings for contents to escape and lose their punch! Also have enjoyed the fried chicken and crab dumplings here - 10 for $8.50. Really tasty and quality again. There are some dumpling houses with cheap dumplings but they don't have the quality to match. What is the use of 15 dumplings for next to nothing if they're rubbish? Not so with this wonderful establishment! Love the simple décor and open ambience. Seats by the window are popular looking out onto Little Bourke. Friendly and attentive staff. You can see the kitchen staff working away inside the restaurant - the open kitchen is small but adds to the excitement. The pleasant surprise is that the Dumpling House is not just about dumplings! Have been here now many times - a favourite "go to" lunchtime haven. The spicy pork sauce and noodles with bok choy dish is tremendous - the sauce is so flavoursome with a pork mince and a real kick with the chilli! Love the arrangement - the sauce is set to one side in the bowl but you can mix it all over the noodles. The bok choy complements the spiciness! Recommended by the waitress as her favourite (although yet to catch on yet I'm told). For the price of only $6.80 it was amazing value! Sat on a stool overlooking Little Bourke and so did the elegant woman next to me - who ordered about 8 dishes - greatly reducing my counter space so I was really hunched eating my meal. I was going to an important function that evening so I was trying to protect my shirt and tie from flying sauce, noodles and bok choy! Was mostly successful although had to visit the men's at work to wipe off the pork sauce drops on the Van Heuser! Couldn't believe someone could eat so much - was she another food critic? It's all good! Keen to try the wontons and buns! Love this place! read more

The food here is top notch. Sat outside on a chilly winter night and enjoyed a seaweed soup, soup dumplings (1,2, and 3), and fried noodles. Best Asian food I've had in Melbourne. Great prices. I will be back shortly. read more

Shanghai Street Dumpling - Dim Sum Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

You know the dumplings are good here when you've burnt your lip from getting too excited to savour these little bad boys. The first thing you would probably notice from this store is the long queue outside this relatively tiny shop. A word of advice: don't be disheartened. The line goes on very quickly and it would probably be your turn in about 10-15 minutes (on average). As usual, my friends and I over-ordered. We tried two different flavours of their infamous Xiao Long Bao and pan fried pork dumplings. I thought the soup for their Xiao Long Bao was a little too sweet; my friend thought otherwise. Nevertheless, we both enjoyed the pan fried dumplings (this is where I burnt my lip). The Chrysanthemum tea offered with our meal was disgusting. Make a point to opt for water instead or just bring your own drink. Price wise, it's quite decent - it's about the average price around town. read more

- Huge portions. Really easy to over-order here - Food is a tad oily I noticed. Can get pretty heavy - Dumplings are good and tasty, but nothing extraordinary. Good value for money - You'll probably ignore my first point because everything's so cheap here. Enjoy your unplanned post-meal nap at work! read more

As far as value for money goes, Shanghai Street is up there with the best. The Pros: Consistently good dumplings, speedy service with a smile, $4.90 beers! The Cons: Lining up outside for a table, small space (groups of over 4 or 5 beware!), feeling a little rushed when it's busy I would not only put Shanghai Street a head above the rest when it comes to a tasty dinner on the cheap, but would say it's a worthy alternative when you find yourself without a table at Hu Tong. read more

It's really a 4 in terms of service, but I'll give an extra star because this place deserves more than 4's the other dumpling places are getting in this city. It's as good as any top places in Taipei, Shanghai or LA at a price you can't compete ($7-10) a plate. Best to go with pan-fried (#5) and dumpling in a soup #17, if you haven't had any before. Service is slow for a place that serves inexpensive dumplings, but that may be due to white people thinking this is a dining place rather than a quick bite place a shop like this is meant to be. This is equivalent to fish and chips! So c'mon, get moving people! If you want to talk, go to a cafe after you eat! I even saw some people ordering dishes other than dumplings which distressed me greatly for their stupidity, but that's my own issue. Is it worth the wait? I'd say yes- if less than 10 people are waiting in front of you. If more, then maybe not. It's open until 2 in the morning, so a perfect place to hit after some drinking late in the evening. read more

I enjoyed a marathon-like experience effectively wandering around Melbourne yesterday where my mission seemed to be to drink as much beer and wine as possible. The journey concluded at Hungry Jacks on Swanston Street at 2:00 AM and I have both an empty can of Tecate beer and the Whopper wrapper to prove it. Where I sourced the can of Tecate though is anyone's guess however before I began the alcohol-fueled journey of Captain Cook, I enjoyed a sober lunch at Shanghai Street Dumpling on Little Bourke Street. This cozy space which seats around 20 people, which is near the Elizabeth Street intersection can easily be found. Just look for the queue of smartly dressed corporate-types flowing out onto the footpath. There always seems to be a traffic jam of human beings waiting to get into this place, so is the product worth the wait? Two people can easily be fed cheaply, and it our case yesterday, we had a total of 23 dumplings for $19.80. The Chicken and Prawn Xiao Long Bao were good enough for the price but they were nothing to rave about. There was certainly not enough broth, which is the differentiating factor between good and great Xiao Long Bao in my humble opinion. Man Tong Kitchen at Crown provides plenty of piping hot broth in their dumplings, as does its humble sister, HuTong Dumpling Bar in Chinatown. You rarely have to queue for the latter. The pork dumplings, despite being great value for money and having a great taste, seemed a bit on the soggy side. Make sure to come armed with a pocket full of coins as this place doesn't accept credit cards and be prepared to be gazed at awkwardly by the hungry and impatient customers in the queue whilst you stuff your face with dumplings or slurp noodles. The staff will take your order whilst you wait in the queue so once are finally seated at either a table or one of the four stools up against the window (where you have a good view of the people in the queue) the food will arrive very quickly. read more

The skin of the Shanghai dumpling is very thick. There is inconsistency in the juice inside the dumpling--from no juice to very little juice. The pork dumpling is okay. They charge 50 cent for takeout container and another 1 percent for paying with a credit card. It's cheap but I prefer the dumplings at Din Tai Fung more. read more

There are lines already forming when we got there around 11:15 am and the place opens up at 11:30! But when they did open, we got to go through to sit down at a table immediately which was nice. The XLBs here are a bit bigger in size than what you would get at other places imo, but that is of course in no way a complaint! :P Definitely the place to go to for cheap dumplings in the centre of the city - if you don't mind the possible wait of course! read more

Shanghai Street Dumpling - Dim Sum Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

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It is true that in terms of price this is probably one of the cheapest places I've seen, but one thing is saying the price/quality ratio is good another is saying they have the best dumplings in town. I definitely had better. I would say, if you are looking for some 'okay' dumplings at a competitive price definitely stop by, but if you are hunting for the best, then keep walking. We got chicken fried dumplings, one of the wonton soups and fish/veggie fried rice. All very filling but nothing really impressed me, especially the fried dumplings..I found them too oily. read more

We have been traveling around Australia for almost 3 weeks now and this is one of the best meals we have had by far. We had the steamed chicken and prawn dumplings, fried pork dumplings, Shanghai noodles, and mini fried pork buns. Everything was amazing but the mini pork buns were to die for. Prepare for a bit of a line as it is a smaller place but the line moved quickly. Despite being out the door when we first arrived we were seated in about 10 minutes and eating in 20 or so as everything came out so quickly. Really good food and a great value; the four dishes were even too much for us and all cost $43 AUS. *side note* for those customers interested in paying with a card it appears they take them for a small fee despite their yelp page saying otherwise. read more

Passed by this place and saw that it was crowded. Decided to come the next day as we stayed in a hotel nearby. Came at 11.15am, and waited till 11.30am before the restaurant opened. Ordered 3 bowls of noodles, one each for my family, one plate of XLB and dumplings. Portion of each bowl of noodle was huge, easily shared by 2-3 persons. Taste was good and will come back for the XLB. read more

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Yummmmmm! This place always has a long queue... Their dumpling is worth waiting for... This is the place where u eat and go. They won't let u stay a few minutes after u r done with your meal hahaha since it is packed, they'll hurry u out... Food is satisfying :) read more

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The dumplings are amazing here! Although you can't really eat by yourself here because the awkward portion, but nevertheless the food is fantastic! The only problem is that the space, it's so small and always have to queue up for awhile. read more

Always crowded here. Good food for affordable price. Love their crunchy fried dumplings. The most common dish here. Almost everyone orders one of those fried dumplings. Xiao long bao is the most popular one. They run out of them when I order so I didn't have a time to try them. Hot and sour soup with dumplings are also run out quite quick sometimes. If you want a healthy option, pick pork and mushroom wonton soup with vegetables in a clay pot read more

First time having dumplings and I'm glad it was here. They were phenomenal! Came back the next night to have some more read more

Shanghai Street Dumpling - Dim Sum Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Seeing mixed reviews is always understandable but I must say I was impressed by this place. We booked for 10 people at 6pm on a Saturday night and thank goodness for the booking as it was bucketing down rain and there was still a line out the door. We were seated within a few minutes and though the space was cramped the staff happily moved us to a table of 6 when people could not make it to dinner. Favourite dishes: Fried vegetarian dumplings - crispy and small enough to eat in one bite Dumplings in chilli oil soup - be warned my friends thought this was a bit too spicey but the dumplings were the highlight Xiao Long Bao - juicy and fresh however the skin was on the thicker side Fried pork dumplings - crispy and perfect for those who enjoy pork I know they have an outlet closer to my workplace and now understand why there is always a line at lunchtime! Hopefully I can sneak in if I have an early break. read more

Situated in a spot which has seen a few other restaurants fail before it, Shanghai Street Dumplings is pulling in the crowds like a dumpling pipe piper. You see, it's situated on the other end of Chinatown so finally people on this side of the CBD have close, easy access to delicious dumpling. First things first, this place is popular. You'll have to line up at lunchtime or get some takeaway if you want to sample their goods. The dumplings are amazing, and rival any of the bigger places in town, but I'm here to tell you about their other dishes. I have no doubt a lot of reviewers will tell you everything there is to know about their dumplings, so here's a bit of info about their other menu items worth mentioning. The beef soup with vermicelli was a pleasant surprise. It looked a little different to what I was expecting, but wow was the flavor all there. And there was so much beef. The ginger and pork with rice is nice. The crispy chicken, and the fried crumbed chicken are crunchy on the outside yet moist on the inside. I haven't tried the spicy items because I'd probably die, but friends of mine can vouch for the spicy pork noodles. And yes, it's super spicy apparently. Next I'll be going for the pork hock items so I'll let you know how it goes. One thing I will say about the dumplings is that you must try the red bean and custard buns. Not too sweet and they're the perfect way to end off the meal, if you still have room for it. OK, so if everyone's having dumpling cravings and you're not, then you can still head over here and enjoy some of the noodle or rice dishes. read more

Shanghai Street Dumpling - Dim Sum Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Shanghai dumpling restaurant on Little Burke St, with great food and friendly staff. The have comprehensive menu but I was solo on this meal and only got to try 4 items. Dumplings in chilli oil soup - Excellent Fried sliced fish with chinese wine - this was excellent. I ate far more than I should have. Dried Beef floss fried rice was pretty good but I think I would have prefered pork floss and more of it. Shanghai Fried Pork Mini Bun - Larger than I expected but they still taste good. read more

It was good...not like Chinese Noodle Restaurant level great but pretty good...the hot and sour soup was tasty and the dumplings were delicious. We would eat there again read more

Shanghai Street Dumpling - Hot and sour soup with dumplings - Dim Sum Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

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Incredibly affordable, delicious and authentic. Expect a 10-15 minute queue as this particular restaurant is very small. Service is fine. Great for students. Favourites: steamed soup dumplings, fried pork dumplings. read more

Omg amazing laksa, just right size for lunch, skip dinner if you have it at 2 as still full. Fresh, super hot chilli, good service and very busy which is a good sign. Spring rolls just run of the mill a bit bland. More water needed on table as flame throwing laksa. read more

Not the best service but the food is great! Highly recommend the pork fried dumplings. The chili beef pot with noodles is also quite tasty.

Very attentive waiting staff. The food is a little pricey for chinese food. The food is very good. I think they may have two locations. One on the second level which I went to and the other one is street level close by and that one might be cheaper in price. So pending which restaurant you want to go the one on street level is cheaper but has a line. read more

Best dumplings in Melbourne. And I eat a lot of dumplings. Fried pork buns are especially good here. And yes, the queues are worth it.

You know you are about to eat good dumplings when you have to que up and the staff are so focussed on getting food to the table. We have tried most of the dumplings and they are all great - especially when you add the chilli and vinegar. read more

Delicious and so worth the wait! We went for lunch on a Friday, had our order taken while standing in line, and got to enjoy some of the tastiest and freshest dumplings and buns we've eaten in years. Vegetarian friendly, though not too much choice. The egg custard buns were a perfect end to the meal. read more

Disappointed to visit this long favourite place for the Xiao Long Bao I love only to find all but two of my soup dumplings served to me without containing any soup. They had stuck to the steamer or burst before they got to my table. I get that they're tricky things but expressing my disappointment to the waitress was useless. So I went home annoyed I'd bothered to make the special trip into town just for them. read more

This place is generally packed every day with a huge queue out front so when I was walking past and there was no queue I just had to duck in. I had the vegetable dumplings (15 steamed ones for $8.80), which were scrumptious, and my friend the stir fried green vegetables, fresh and simple. I drizzled the mandatory chilli oil, which was nice and strong and oil not just bits of dried chilli. Cheap, quick and yummy food, worth a visit, if you can stand the wait. read more

I only have the dumplings when I come to this place.... Cannot fault.... Absolutely amazing

These were the best vegetable dumplings I've ever had. Yum! (However, the other dish that I ordered was pretty ugh.) Stick to the dumplings!

Best value dumplings in the city. Always busy but service was quick. Food and prices were amazing

The food was very tasty. The atmosphere was bustling and fun. The food was very reasonably priced. The only downside was the limited number of vegetarian options. My friends who eat pork loved the range of options. read more

The trouble of being damn GOOD is the queue .... always packed, one of those place where people on the queue are lurking to get you to go, the joy of eating at a damn good place. Well done management for making us wait in line for your delicious offerings. read more

All I had here were the fried dumplings filled with pork (#5 on the menu) and they were phenomenal. Juicy, savory, fresh...I want more!

Dumplings taste great but waiting 40 minutes after ordering them at lunchtime on a Wednesday is enough for a 2 star review when i would otherwise give 4 stars. Shocking service. read more

The noddles is very nice. Dumpling portion is too big for one person. Nevertheless food excellent. Center of the city. No need to walk long. Would always go there to have at least a meal. Friendly staff too. read more