Hu Tong Dumpling Bar

Very happy with staff and general atmosphere of restaurant. Booked upstairs for small gathering. Bbq pork buns were a favourite!

Hu Tong provides a much nicer dumpling experience that its neighbour Shanghai Village. The menu is typical with delicious siu mai and the crowd favourite bbq pork buns. The staff are very efficient and often come across as unfriendly. You pay a little more for the food but its worth it.

I often tell others that this is the best place to have dumplings. Even my other friends agree. It is necessary to book to get a seat, as they have very limited walk in seats. There is a huge variety of dumplings and my favourite are the siao long bao (the dumpling with soup in it) and the chilli dumpling. Every bite is divine!
I would have rated this a 5, but we have noticed though that sometimes the food quality can fluctuate slightly from time to time, as can the service. For example once when we were there the staff were not attentive and not very polite, yet on our most recent visit the service was excellent. These are fairly minor complaints though and we still consider Hutong the best dumpling place in Melbourne.

This is your standard Melbourne CBD laneway restaurant in size only.
The food is very good and comes out quickly but not so quickly that you have to juggle table space.

Service is very attentive and the empty bowls were taken away promptly and replaced with the next dish.

When we finished there was no hurry up and the bill was presented only when we asked for it.

Two visits here have both been pleasant

Take a hint from the name and stick to the dumplings at Hu Tong and you won't be disappointed. TheXiao Long Bao is the standout dish here, soupy and delicious dumplings. Even though there are three levels it can still be a decent wait for a table here.

The reason it's a four star instead of a five is the service - staff can vary from indifferent to incredibly rude, but as long as they keep bringing out delicious dumplings we'll keep going back.