Hu Tong

Fantastic restaurant located in The Cullen Hotel. The dumplings were amazing especially the prawn dumplings! We shared plates and the seafood combo was a brilliant dish with just the right amount of spice!
The staff are also so attentive and always at hand to assist and make your meal more enjoyable. The only reason I took away a star was for the end of the meal we had a coffee and it was awful but considering the great meal we overlooked the bad coffee :)

Great dumplings, famous for the chili pork and soup dumplings. A la carte venue is great. Yum Cha on weekends super popular. Book for Friday and Saturday nights, and sat and sun lunch to be sure. Pricey but good

Two stars because of the service, and the fact that we were not given what we ordered. We were told we had to finish in 45 minutes, and when they brought out then wrong order, they told us there wouldn’t be enough time for them to make it correctly. Then they hurried us out. Not worth the mediocre food.

3.5 Star Review. Had Yum Cha here for Mother’s Day. And it was lovely. All the food and dishes were really yummy — standard prawn, pork, dumplings and buns you’d expect. It was a nice experience. And I think pretty reasonably priced. $ 50 per head, for tons of food, and 2 bottles of wine.
But just a couple things. It’s not BYO like the one in the city — not sure why. Also, the initial experience felt a bit rushed; literally while we were still standing/​sitting someone was offering us dumplings before we’d ordered wine or got waiter or had been attended to or anything. It would’ve been nice to have been attended to first at a place supposedly this nice. And thirdly, one of the waters was really rude and tedious. For example, we were seated in the back, and there was only little space for the dumpling tray to come next to us, and at one point, he dragged an extra table up against us, blocking that space, meaning the trays couldn’t even get to us and we’d have to get up (despite there being plenty of room). When we asked if he could not do that, he gave smart ass smirks and said something along the lines of «What you don’t want others to enjoy too?» and walked off shaking his head. I got up and slid the tables back across the room to where they were, and then all was good. And later when asking for the sweets, I told him «We’d like some sweet dumplings now please, something sweet, just like you.» And he blushed and became extra nice after that. He did this smirking thing too on several occasions. If these things are addressed, I’d knock the review up to four.
Nonetheless, aside from these minor bumps. We all liked it. Food was great, and all the other servers were very friendly, and there’s a lively but trendy vibe to the place. I’d return here, but will check out city one next time though.

I adore HuTong in the city, it’s my favourite for Xiao Long Bao and I could devour bowlful after bowlful of their chilli wantons.
HuTong Prahran I don’t rate as highly. While their XLB is still great, some of their dishes miss the mark and for some reason their chilli wantons just don’t taste the same.
Here they are more known for their duck pancakes, serving up half or whole duck to wrap up. Delicious!
You don’t come here for the service. There’s a lot of asian eateries that you don’t dine at for the service, but here it’s much worse than that. They are rude beyond comprehension. Expect to be treated like garbage, especially if you enter from The Cullen back entrance.
The service is enough to make me loathe dining here, even though it’s a large and often quieter version of the dumplings I love so much. I only come here when I’m stuck this end of town and wanted an easy option. Come with a few nice friends to make the experience a little more pleasant!

If I could be blunt…
Put this place in your must do list when in Melbourne
Located opposite the Prahan markets and adjoining one of Melbourne boutique hotels (the Cullen, which you must visit!), the restaurant is superb
The dumplings are world class, the duck not so much but hey given the price try it!
Service is excellent and I’m still trying to work out the price, it’s so inexpensive it’s not funny! If this place opened in the Melbourne CBD, they could charge three times the price and no one would complain
10 mins by taxi from the city, it’s simple…
Just Do It!

This review is for yum cha only — Solid with friendly and efficient service. Har Gow (prawn) and Siu Mai (pork) are the classics done well, the latter the best I’ve had. Their xiao long bao (shanghainese dumplings) are not as good with thick skins & basic flavour.
I liked being able to wander in on a Sunday and have a spot of yum cha, carts came around quickly laden with goodies.
The negatives, I think $ 5 per person for tea is a little rich, ham sui gok (lemon shaped fried pork dumpling) weren’t up to scratch. But still a solid option for yum cha and given it’s nearby I’d come back.

I’ve been to the smaller Hu Tong in the city many times. I love their food.
So I was extremely happy to find a more relaxed older brother.
Staff are different, more attentive and you’re still getting the great food that we expect from Hu tong.
Yep, the Xiao Long Bao is exactly the same and will always be a stayer on my Hu Tong order list.
We also got a duck and made our own Peking Duck.
I was pleasantly surprised by this HuTong in Prahran. Will be back for sure.

I nice surprise in the Melbourne burbs in a street of eats.
Although pretty full they managed to find a table for three suits (musta looked like we were going to spend!) and away we went.
One of my colleagues is a regular so he ordered — dumplings a la Din Tai Fung with soup inside, wontons liberally dosed in chili, more different dumplings and more different wontons, and the finale, a double portion of duck pancakes — fan-​bloody-​tastic! I love duck, and this was juicy, crispy, fatty goodness on the tongue and the pancakes thin, light and sizeable. I think we ate a whole duck!
Nice bottle of red from a reasonable selection managed to wash it down.
Service is spotty, and regrettably the waiter knocked a bottle of soy sauce off the table and straight onto our folded suit coats on the spare chair. Fortunately mine was not on top, but my colleague (whose was) was pretty cross, to put it mildly!!! a few fairly short words spoken, many rhyming with the aforementioned bird in pancakes, and the offer of dry cleaning did little to help, but an offer nonetheless.
Recommended — but remember to point out what you want on the menu otherwise you’ll get who knows what.

I have been going to yum cha every Sunday since I was a child, and we have some pretty good choices in NZ. However, HuTong is the best yum cha I’ve had — not the cheapest, but really delicious. You can watch them make the dumplings, and you MUST try the chilli wontons they are incredible and I crave them monthly.

Yum! Lives up to Hu Tong in China Town. This place is nicely decorated, fairly large and has free street parking.
The service was fantastic! We were seated, the waiter pulled out my chair for me and placed my napkin on my lap.
Water came out immediately and our order was taken shortly afterwards.
What we ordered:
Won tons in chili sauce
Soupy dumplings (not the technical term)
Hot and sour soup and
½ duck pancakes
While we were eating the dumplings and won tons, all we could do was talk about how we should order more.
Hot and sour soup was delicious and the duck pancakes were so tasty.
I’ll be revisiting for upscale dumplings very soon!

Always reliable for delicious dumplings and fast service.

Hu Tong has built a bit of a rep for itself as the place for Shao-​long Bao in Melbs. I’ve been meaning to give it a try for a fair while, however had difficulties in past attempts at scoring a table within the City restaurant.
I managed to get my act together and organise an early sitting at this Prahran venue… arriving I was impressed by the massive entrance door and classy interior.
The place is fully licensed so be prepared to splash a little bit of extra cash on the sufficient sized selection of vino and other drinks.
And so to the dishes:
Shao-​long bao lived up to it’s reputation with beautifully delicate pork dumplings containing an amazingly juicy steaming hot meaty soup that was delightful to suck out and savour.
I had dumpling hunger pangs so also chose a pork dumpling dish and a vegetable dumpling dish which were satisfying yet not spectacular… cheaper and tastier dumplings can definitely be found… although they weren’t bad, just not great!
This was then followed by a similarly pedestrian gauged dish of Stir Fried String beans with mince pork and chilli sauce.
The staff:
I found them attentive and polite, however there was a lack of friendliness and the staff demeanour felt to me a little bit chillier than you would normally experience when dining in Melbourne. There was a hiccup with one of our dishes coming out incorrectly which was quickly corrected once I had broken down and explained the problem to a manager who arrived quickly and sorted the problem out with a minimum of fuss.
Past reviews I’ve read have commented on the staff being rude or impolite, to me there is perhaps a cultural or language barrier playing a part in this perception.
Overall:
It was a decent yet not overly impressive experience, I’m glad I’ve tried those Shao-​long bao which we hear so much about, and they really were a delicious experience!
In closing I made some rather same-​same selections and definitely plan on giving this place another chance to impress me… my Hu Tong bucket list contains a couple of other dishes, in particular some glazed Peking Duckie goodness and the Szechuan Won-​tons in hot chilli sauce… next time my friends next time.

I’m going to have to disagree with the rest of these lovely reviewers. I did not enjoy my time in the Big Brother House… I mean HuTong Dumpling Bar.
If you’ve been to the one in the city, or even China Red, then the bar has been set pretty high for Chinese dining. I feel, though, that something got lost in translation when the restaurant group that owns all three moved south of the Yarra.
I went here for a family friend’s 60^th birthday dinner. Although the staff were absolutely wonderful — so attentive, to helpful, and they didn’t even ask us to leave when the entire restaurant had cleared out without our knowledge — I think the food wasn’t really up to par. I mean, I say this within the context that HuTong is meant to be the best. It was all delicious, it just wasn’t unbelievably, mouth-​wateringly tasty. I felt a lot of the dishes were very oily, and that oil often consumed some of the other ingredients.
They probably offer the best dumplings in the area, but if you’re willing to travel a little further you’re probably better off in the city. That’s just my opinion, though — many seem to disagree with me!

HuTong takes the dumpling bar experience to a whole new place. This is no dodgy China Town tourist trap, it’s the real deal.
I would definitely recommend going here with a group of friends and sharing a variety of dishes. On the occasion that I went, I was eating with a friend with a number of food allergies, so was only really able to eat what I ordered for myself. Looking around at the food on the tables surrounding me, I was seriously jealous.
The standout for me was the deep-​fried squid and whitebait in salt and pepper. SO good! The Shao-​Long Bao is always a favourite and did not disappoint here either.

I’m vaguely aware that HuTong actually serves stuff other than dumplings. In fact, I’ve heard the menu is relatively comprehensive. To be honest, I don’t care. I go here for the dumplings and only the dumplings. Alright, and the chilli wontons.
The dumplings here are plump, juicy and steaming hot. The service is a little stilted (mostly down to a bit of a language barrier) but efficient and in most cases quick.
Thou shalt go and thou shalt order:
Szechuan (chilli) wontons
Shao Long Bao (soup dumplings)
Duck dumplings
Vegetable dumplings
And repeat. Or order something of your own choosing… either way.
Whatever you do though, if you have your heart set on some HuTong action, call ahead. Sometimes you can chance a late table just before the kitchen closes, but in most cases you’ll be outta luck.

There’s a reason why this restaurant is always packed and reservations are recommended. Their dumplings are really good, and this is coming from someone who’s grown up eating the real shebang!
Personal favourites include Szechuan wontons in hot chilli sauce, pan fried dumplings and shao long bao — a delicious bite sized pork dumpling with a tasty broth inside it. The trick to savouring this mouth-​watering delicacy is to take a small but precise bite into the skin to drink the hot soup before adding a dash of ginger (or in my case lots of it) and chinese vinegar for the win!
There’s also a reason why this hot favourite haunt at the hip Cullen Hotel on Commercial is called a Dumpling bar. Take it from me: forget the seemingly delicious mains on the menu because Hu Tong is renowned for their dumplings.
Our first time there, we chose to ignore this advice given from other foodies and opted to order some mains to share. Among the somewhat mediocre dishes, the dish that stood out most was the braised chicken with tea flavour. Ironically, the chicken was no larger than a quail and was too dry for our liking. The verdict: stick with the dumplings!