Oriental Tea House is the place to come to relax and unwind, sip on tea and down some dumplings. The have three restaurants in Melbourne, South Yarra, Chadstone and Little Collins Street Melbourne. In the new year they are planning to open a few more tea houses. I dined in the Chadstone restaurant for lunch and saw just how popular these places are. I got here just before the lunch rush while it was still very quite, but before you knew it the place was filling quite fast.
As this is a Tea House, they have a large range of tea products on sale too, and have a large area inside the restaurant with their displays. Before or after you dine, you are most welcome to try all their teas in the sampler section of the restaurant. I found this was a fantastic way of trying different tea blends before you buy them. They also make up a variety fo gift packages too, a great way to promote their products.
Football Dumplings
On the dining menu, they serve up Yum Cha food, so loads of dumplings!! I ordered some football dumplings to start, these came fried. They were delicious and had a delicately light texture to bite into.
Off the tea menu I ordered my favourite, the jasmine Green Tea. They served this tea in a ceramic mug, quite different from the teapot and cups I normally drink from. As you can see in the picture, the inside has 2 compartments, the small one for the tea leaves, and then you drink from the opposite side. I was surprised how hot the tea stayed in this mug, stayed a lot hotter than normal teapots. The only downfall with these mugs is that a lot of the tea leaves seemed to come into my drink.
Shark Fin Dumplings
These shark fin dumplings are one of my favourites, but I wasn’t too impressed with these, they tasted quite tough. They were also crunchy to bite into, and made it awkward to eat. I never knew dumplings could get so tough.
Marinared Pork Buns
The BBQ pork buns were delicious, they tasted so fresh and the buns were very soft. The marinated pork had such a nice flavour, this was a good dish to end on.
Oriental Teahouse also offer customers the choice to buy their freshly made dumplings in take home packs. They come frozen so you just need to defrost them then steam, for that oriental tea house experience at home.
Chadstone restaurant have a beautiful outdoor area, which is decorated with lights, couches and plants. While inside, this place holds many people, tables cater for all sizes and in different dining styles too. You can choose to sit at the front window on stools along a ledge or at the back wall on high white couches with lights coming down on each table. The place has a very modern feel.
The service is fantastic, quick to the tables, and always clearing away once you’ve finished, this is the service you tend to get at Chinese restaurants. They also have a waiter stationed at the door greeting everyone coming in, I give a lot of credit to them for their hospitality.
Here is a recipe I’ve taken from their website on making Pork Dumplings:
MAKING THE DUMPLING FILLING
- In a large bowl add 450g of minced Pork, leave some of the fat on for flavour. (if you can’t mince, just dice finely)
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- Mix in a tablespoon of potato starch and 60ml of water. Mix well, then add another 60ml of water and continue to mix.
- Add 1/3 teaspoon of sugar
- Mix in 1/2 tablespoon Sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of Soy sauce & 3 tablespoons of oil.
- Add 1/3 tablespoon of pepper to the mix.
- Add a handful of finely chopped Spring onion and 100g of diced cabbage
MAKING THE DUMPLING CASING
- In another big bowl, add 450g of flour and gradually mix in 250ml water, and 2 teaspoon of oil.
- Mix and knead by hand to form soft dough.
- Cover the dough with a towel and put it aside for about an hour.
- Scatter some dry flour on a cutting board, knead and roll the dough into a sausage, about 5 centimeters in diameter, then chop it into small pieces.
- Press each piece with your hand and to create a pancake shape.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the pancake to make it about 1mm thick.
- Hold the pancake with your palm and put the filling in the centre
- Wrap into half-moon shape and pinch the edges to close the dumpling.
Mmm I love dumplings! I shouldn’t have read this post so close to lunchtime!
I always reckon you can never get enough dumplings, ever…
I haven’t heard of football dumplings before, but I like dumplings and I like football so I can only assume I’d like them too
Haha I like that prediction you made!!
football dumplings are very unique, you’ll have to try them now.
Wicked… I haven’t made dumplings for years, these little babies look soooooo good. Any in’s on getting the dipping sauce recipe too? Heading to Melbs for New Year, so many wonderful places to check out.
Cool post, just subscribed.
Dumplings can never be the same anymores, after visiting HK… =(
It’s not unusual to use mugs with “central” infusing compartments (which can be removed), generally designed for green tea varieties. But when used for “redder” varieties you have the possibility of over-infusing, making the tea broth over bitter/dark – so removal at the right timing is essential. Though i suppose that’s no different to the HUGE tea pots at yum-cha places… that would be such an atrocity if they used expensive teas, which they don’t. LOL
HmMMm… I’m not too big a fan of the Chaddy outlet.. however, I quite like the one on Little Collins.. food is a little fresher and wider in variety (as there are a lot of customers).
I haven’t been to Little Collins Street one yet, but I’ll definitely check it out, I really enjoyed chadstone. Is it much different?
Yum! & a recipe to boot, thanks! I’ve never eaten here. Looks great, I’m always up for dumplings.
Heidi xo
Its a great casual place to dine, and the food is great too.
I’ve made my own pork dumplings and they are fun to do. But going out for full-on dim sum just can’t be beat. The variety and the sharing at the table make for such a great experience.
Sure do Carolyn, and the more people your sharing with, the more you tend to try to, which makes it even more fun!!
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I love yum cha, but find Oriental tea house too over priced and not authentic! but I’ll try the recipe one day
… now i’m craving yum cha… damn.
Thanks. It seems good.
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Interesting stuff! I went to England this summer and had my first ever afternoon tea and scones, and it was so delicious I thought I’d try and make my own last week. I might have broken a few rules though – I found a tonne of random scone recipes here and made 5 different ones! My friends were so happy when I invited them round for tea and scones. Great fun!
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