HuTong Dumpling Bar

The HuTong Dumpling Bar might be my favourite restaurant right now. So much so that I ate at the larger restaurant in South Yarra with my friend from work (RH) and his wife on Friday night (soup dumplings, chili dumplings, peeking duck, and lots of wine) and went to the smaller bar location in the CBD for lunch on Sunday by myself (soup dumplings, mushroom and prawn dumplings, green tea) by myself. Melbourne's #1 attraction as far as I'm concerned!

Here is an extract from the internet on how to eat "soup dumplings" also called Xiao Long Bao

Method a.) You take the dumpling in your spoon, dip it in the vinager/ginger. Then, you proceed to gnaw a hole in the skin with your teeth. Then, gently sip out the broth like a vampire until it is gone. Proceed to consume the meat and the wrapping by popping the whole thing in your mouth. The disadvantage of this method is that you don't get to consume the broth and dumpling in one fell swoop. The advantages is that you can eat it while it is fairly hot and avoid burning yourself.

Method b.) You pop the whole thing in your mouth. Bite down, and the dumpling explodes in your mouth releasing it's juicy contents in a sublime mix of broth, meat, and wrapping. Advantages: The combination really tastes awesome. Disadvantages: There is 100% possibility that you will burn off the inside of your mouth because the broth is usually HOT.

Here's a picture of the guy making the dumplings: