We were seeing the Harry Potter and The Cursed Child play at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, and wanted to dine somewhere close by for dinner. Thankfully Chinatown is close to that theatre and I saw it as an opportunity to check out some cheap dumplings. I’ve been to Din Tai Fung and Hu Tong, but had also read that Shandong Mama was great for dumplings so that’s where we headed.
Broadsheet Melbourne states Shandong Mama, ‘…serve traditional recipes from the fishing town of Yantai on the Chinese Shandong Peninsula.‘
Shandong Mama is located inside the Mid City Arcade building and there’s limited tight seating inside. We’re given menus and tap water promptly. The dumpling menu is separated into steamed and pan-fried, and there are 18 different dumplings available. There are also noodles but we were eager to devour dumplings only.
The boiled mackerel dumplings ($18.80 for 10 pieces) are Shandong Mama’s signature dumplings made from scratch. Even though the menu state they have coriander in them (MR FPJ hates coriander), I just had to try the signature dish. When the boiled dumplings arrived, we noticed they were about twice the size of the dumplings we’re used to, and we quickly realised we would never finish off the four plates ordered.
The house made mackerel dumplings didn’t taste too fishy at all. The actual fish mince was super soft and fluffy like a marshmallow or mousse. I have no idea how it reaches that consistency. It also had chives, ginger and spring onion. And yes, it was delicious with coriander in it! It may have even been over boiled as the dumpling skin was very soft.
We ordered the prawn, black fungus and chives boiled dumplings ($16.80 for 12 pieces – photo behind the mackerel dumplings above) which were again huge, tasty with actual large chunks of prawn in them. I believe this was the only plate that we finished in its entirety.
We ordered the Melbourne pan-fried dumplings ($14,80 for 10 pieces) which the menu photo shows comes in a long rectangular shape, however a few minutes after ordering, our waitress advised they had run out of that shape but could just pan-fry the boiled dumpling version (looks like a traditional dumpling) instead and the boiled version came with two extra dumplings for the same price. We were happy with that approach. The Melbourne dumplings were filled with diced seafood (prawn, calamari, mussels, fish), chicken mince, lemon rind, olive oil, parsley and garlic. It sounded amazing but we found there was too much lemon in it that it made it quite sour and overpowered everything else.
MR FPJ sneakily added in a fourth dumpling dish, the pan-fried beef dumplings ($15.80 for 10 pieces) of beef mince, onions, and black pepper sauce. This was MR FPJ’s favourite as it used lots of good quality beef mince enhanced by the pepper sauce. The dumplings were perfectly crispy and moreish.
We snagged the last table at 6.00pm so the restaurant definitely fills up fast. I understand there’s usually a queue outside. There is no website and bookings are not taken, so get there early. Décor is simple. Service is quick. There’s soy sauce, vinegar, tissues and cutlery on each table. A friend told me that there’s a Shandong Mama Mini at Centre Place where you can choose from a more limited menu.
We’ll definitely go back to try more dumplings and perhaps some noodles next time.
Note: Cash only
Shandong Mama
Midcity Arcade, Shop 7, 200 Bourke Street, CBD, Melbourne, VIC
Opening hours:
Seven days a week 11.00am – 9.30pm
Foodgasm 8/10
Value for money 9/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 25/30