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MELBOURNE | MOMO Dumpling + Tea is a spacious contemporary venue in Prahran that is successfully reinventing traditional Chinese Sichuan cuisine, whilst still retaining its cultural authenticity. Co-owners and husband-and-wife team, Chloe and Johnny, hail from Northern China’s Shanxi province, which inspires most of the food and drink offerings at their restaurant. We were invited down to sample their menu, and to experience for ourselves what MOMO is doing so uniquely compared to other Asian-style restaurants in Melbourne.
Located on the ground floor of an apartment building, this open warehouse space emits a clean and comfortable ambience, with crisp white and light-hued shades subtly contrasted by black-wired chairs topped with thin cushions imprinted with Chinese writing. An ultramodern venue such as this has the potential to elicit feelings of unfriendliness and coldness, but MOMO’s light-toned décor and subtle odes to Chinese culture avoids this trap, striking the perfect balance between trendy and traditional.
Aiming to appeal to the young professionals that frequent Prahran, an impressive selection of Asian-inspired cocktails, wines, beers and ciders complement the vibrant bar-like culture they hope to achieve. In the non-alcoholic section, both house made iced teas and rooster pot hot teas are made using tea leaves imported from China, Japan and Taiwan, staying true to the authenticity of the restaurant’s concept.
As hinted in the name of the venue, dumplings are a signature item, with both meat and vegetarian fillings loaded with flavour. For a safe option, the pork dumpling is generously packed with pork meat inside a slightly thick yet delicate dumpling skin. If you’re feeling slightly more adventurous, the eggplant and sweet pepper dumplings, and chili oil dumplings come highly recommended. Most of the dumplings can be grilled or steamed to order (depending on the customer’s preference) – we recommend trying one of each to appreciate the slightly different textural contrasts of each.
In addition to the extensive regular menu, an extra page of weekly rotating chef’s specials are offered. One of the highly recommended chef’s specials is the steamed bao filled with roasted duck, slow cooked pork belly or soft shell crab. A trending item amongst Asian fusion restaurants throughout Melbourne, this Chinese-style taco offers a soft and fluffy bao to wrap around the succulent fillings.
Their variety of noodles, stir-fries and smaller sharing dishes are equally appetising and perfectly portioned for sharing. Unlike a lot of other Chinese restaurants in town, MOMO’s dessert menu doesn’t include any fried banana or ice cream fritters, instead choosing to present traditional Chinese ingredients and flavours, tweaked to appeal to the modern Australian palate. The matcha ice cream mochi cake uses organic Japanese matcha powder to deliver a subtle sweetness in this cold rice cake-wrapped dessert, whilst coconut sago serves as a light accompaniment to ice cream. A newly added item is the Nutella-filled spring rolls, whose only need for improvement is the use of more Nutella inside the filling.
Given the well-balanced finesse that MOMO Dumpling + Tea achieves with their modern Chinese-Sichuan offerings, we are surprised that their venue isn’t packed out every night that they are open. We predict their relatively unknown location down a suburban side street away from the main Prahran dining precinct is potentially a contributing factor. If you are in the area, we highly recommend paying a visit to MOMO Dumpling + Tea for their innovative food and drink offerings. If going on a weekend, take advantage of their highly enticing, cooked-to-order Yum Cha.
MOMO Dumpling + Tea
9 Clifton Street
Prahran
Victoria 3181
Australia
Telephone: (03) 8597 1633
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Wed – Sun: 12:00pm to 11:30pm