Modern Vegan Sichuan Cuisine in Melbourne

· 4 min read
Modern Vegan Sichuan Cuisine in Melbourne

The interior is just as well designed as the exterior, with high decks & nice looking wood panelling throughout. Make a reservation ahead of time if you want to experience all this magic at Melbourne's top Chinese restaurant. Lau's Family Kitchen in Melbourne has the greatest Chinese food in the area. Simon's Peking Duck is being hosted by Melbourne's dependable bookkeeping Beijing Ducks. Sadly, Simon Lay (the "godfather" of Chinese cuisine in Melbourne) died suddenly in 2017. The business is still run by his relatives, however, so the monster is as safe as ever.
Portion size much smaller to what it was before and staff are very curt and rude. If you want good Szechuan food, try Szechuan house or dainty szechuan. The restaurant is upstairs in the shiny 墨尔本早茶 food haven that is 206 Bourke. Dainty Sichuan is part of the Rainbow complex, which also includes a pool hall and an amazing karaoke bar with themed private rooms (there are teddy bears!).

The ethos here isn't only bound by cuisine, but to rescue off-cuts from restaurants and not-perfect fruits and vegetables from markets. Their  kombucha is a must-try, as is the signature “umami e pepe”. It takes the cheesy, peppery Italian pasta dish cacio e pepe and takes it to new levels with a secret miso recipe made from leftover bread. Fall in love with their oysters with nasturtium, housemade charcuterie, beef tartare, and the aged cheddar with brioche, which is melt-in-your-mouth perfection. The wood roasted pork belly, with charred leek and wild garlic is vibrant and comforting, best paired with the lemony kipfler potatoes and simple farm leaf and radish salad. Destinations, curated by top chefs, food writers and sommeliers.
Surrounded by soft interiors, you’ll dive into a menu that showcases regional and provincial recipes. Find fresh and vibrant seasonal flavours, with signature dishes like steamed barramundi fillet, numbing beef, kingfish ceviche and more. You can also choose either a five course or seven course menu. Treat yourself to a fun cocktail while you’re there, like lychee martini or Szechuan mule.

Hi, my name is Dylan Cole, and I moved to Australia five years ago from England, UK. The restaurant is features ornate dragon’s as well as jaw-dropping chandeliers. Their scallop dumplings are highly recommended, as are their drool-inspiring mango pancakes for dessert.
Dao Noodle is a restaurant specializing in Dao xiao mian noodles, a delicacy from China's Shanxi province. Known for their handmade long and chewy noodles, they offer a unique experience with their secret sauce. Their menu also includes a variety of other dishes and drinks, and they operate six days a week, providing both pick-up and dine-in options. You can’t walk past the live seafood tank – one of the largest in the city – without doing a double-take. This Cantonese joint specialises in fresh seafood and seats up to 150 people.
It takes its inspiration from the underrated Chinese provinces and serves their culinary excellence to you, one dish at a time. These dishes are ordered via an a la carte menu and the service is also top notch. Over at Spice Temple, the flavoursome dishes attract visitors from all ends of Australia.

With everything from spicy ocean trout salad to barbecue skewers, charred meats and Thai curries on the menu, we recommend sharing multiple dishes and sampling them amongst friends. Wines are picked to match the flavour profiles of the food, so you can rest assured you're washing down your dish with an appropriate drop. Don't forget to head upstairs to thestylish European-inspired rooftopfor a nightcap and a dance afterwards. One of Melbourne's most highly anticipated openings of 2023 has been Reine & La Rue, a French-inspired restaurant and bar. Sitting ornately within the 1890's neo-gothic Melbourne Stock Exchange, the space has transformed into a quixotic, 150-seat dining experience. A selection of cheese for dessert is also served up tableside.
Take a short stroll south through the CBD to Flinders Lane or west to King Street and you’ll find eateries that are drawing crowds for their unique flavours and buzzy settings. The main ingredients of the food prepared here are chilli oil, chilli seeds and dried ch... A veteran master chef in Chengdu told me that in the 1860s, a man called Chen Xingsheng and his wife set up a small restaurant at a busy market place  at Wanfuqiao Bridge (万福桥), Chengdu’s gateway to the north. The restaurant offered quick simple dishes for labourers and porters, who often had the job of carrying barrels of cooking oil to Chengdu on bamboo poles. This Sichuan restaurant used to be really popular but have since lost it’s popularity due to the increasing competition.

The chefs pleating precise xiao long bao behind glass are part-performance piece, part-visual stimulus at the flagship location of this growing restaurant empire. Beeline to HuTong for those Shanghainese soup-filled dumplings as well as Sichuan food served in the key of fire. The ma po tofu is reliably comforting, as is the scallop and eggplant claypot. There are few design frills, but the excellence of the dumplings overrides any aesthetic concerns at this always jumping family-run joint. Get ’em boiled or pan-fried; just add chilli sauce and a bottle of something great (Punchin’ Bottlesis round the corner). Clean, delightful and always tasty, RuYi Modern Chinese is the perfect Asian eatery to enjoy with friends and family for any occasion.
Experience Melbourne’s only duck blood tofu hot pot restaurant, where so... This authentic Sichuan starter includes velvety steamed chicken, dressed with a slick of chilli oil, cucumber, sesame, soy and peanuts. Get your fix at Sichuan Bang Bang in Brisbane, where you’ll also find mod-Sichuan dishes, such as Chongqing Chicken with Potato Chips. Serving Melbournians since 1984, Bamboo House is home to some of the best Northern Chinese cooking in Melbourne. And with a luxurious fine dining interior, including gorgeous Chinese calligraphic paintings festooned on the walls, you’ll be dining like an emperor at Bamboo House.

Head to the CBD, where head chef Victor Liong is creating contemporary renditions of traditional Chinese dishes that are sure to impress. This sentiment carries through to the desserts, where custard is infused with jasmine tea and the trifle features rose tea and osmanthus cream. You can pick your favourites from the a la carte menu, or embrace the excess of Sichuan-style hot pot.