Oriental Tea House

I’ve been to Oriental Tea House’s city location a couple of times now for a Yum Cha lunch.
It’s quick. It’s tasty. It serves a multitude of different teas to pair with your dumplings. And I like it.
They have a great Friday night offer of $ 30 for unlimited Yum Cha and DJ tunes from the decks, which combined with a couple of glasses of wine, could be a great way to wind down at the end of a big week.
Of course, service is pretty typical of your usual Asian/​Yum Cha type places — maybe even a bit above that average to be fair.
I will admit some of their dumplings are no match for Hu Tong (think chilli dumplings), but they are still pretty tasty.
Would be happy to go back here again! If you work nearby, it’s great for a team lunch without having to trek further afield to Chinatown.

We visited recently on the recommendation from a work colleague. We had interstate visitors who only had time to catch up for dinner so it was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.
Friday nights there are two sittings for dumpling and music smörgåsbord ($ 30 a head). The tunes were pumping from the DJ upstairs just as the dumplings were being pumped out of the kitchen.
Wait staff walk around with large trays or steamers of dumplings and small plates and as they pass your table you just say how many of the piece on offer you want. And you can stock pile into the larger plates in the middle of the table and eat your way through.
Items only seem to come out once so grab them while you can. Food was of a good standard and the smörgåsbord option takes the hassle out of ordering for large groups.

Went for the Friday night all you can eat Yum Cha for $ 30, pretty good value as they just kept bringing things round for the whole time. Nice tasting dumplings, good variety and not to greasy.
Also worth opting in for the $ 20 drink package all you can drink wine, nice way to start a weekend.
Service was a bit hit and miss though, nice tunes playing.

Delicious tea and average dumplings. A perfect afternoon snack. I enjoy the cosy atmosphere here. The cold teas are awesome– especially the peach Melba. The dumplings are hit and miss– I’ve had more misses than hits though.

Lunch service was slow and disorganised. Trying to get a drink was an exercise in frustration. The food I think has declined in quality over the year. Still acceptable but not special compared to the many other choices in Melbourne. Calamari was excellent, most dumplings just ok. At least the bill was reasonable.

Had the prawn & chives dumpling at 3 for $ 7.8. Also had the roast duck dumplings at the same price. Both steaming hot and served in bamboo steamer. Busy lunch hour but service was quick. Hoping to get some steamed buns but none turned up in the time I was there. Good range of teas. 5 minutes from Collin street where there was a work meeting. Worth a visit if you like yum cha that serves hot dim sum. Range is not prolific but assuages your hunger.

Oriental tea house is definitely not your average Chinese restaurant, or should I say post modern Chinese restaurant. If you’re looking for a genuine rich Chinese food, this isn’t for you.
Most of their food is very simple and plain tasting even though the wording in the menu makes it sounds so exotic. The portion itself is very very small and the price isn’t add up for the taste either.
Their service is alright, I found the manager is really unfriendly. My favourite part of the restaurant is the interior, it’s really modern and cosy.
My recommendations:
— try their tea! (They have free testers near the entrance, it’s good to see which one you would enjoy)
— get the pepper beef, it’s the best food they make
— do not try the yum cha because they’re terrible at it
— if you got any spicy food, go for chai vanilla tea to cool it down
— if you want to avoid the crowd, try to sit upstairs but it opens certain time only :(

Not the best yum cha we’ve had! Which is a shame because this restaurant chain should and does deliver better quality.
The Peking duck pancakes were served complete and obviously been in the microwave. Then the sauce and cucumber was served separately so you had to run the gauntlet of scolding your fingers to open the pancake and add the sauce.
Unfortunately the dumplings were not much better. Served hot and gluggy — so that they are sticking to each other:
— Har Gow
— Xiao Long Bao
— Sui Mai
All gluggy which is common when steaming from frozen dumplings. The Xiao Long Bao were all served broken, which meant the juices had snuck out before I could enjoy them!
The peppermint tea and sparkling water was good though (trying to see something positive in this place).

So yeah, everyone should try the Oriental Tea House.
They are a commercial-​chain version of a traditional tea-​house/​asian cuisine restaurant… but they do it pretty well. I’ve been for just the tea (which is awesome), and for the food (which is awesome), and would definitely be going back again.
The Jasmine and Lychee White Tea is one of my personal favourites, but they also do a fantastic bunch of Green Teas as well.
Food is pretty good, and very consistent… but can be a little pricey for lunch, compared to the Melbourne average.
Worth a decent go-​over :)

The Oriental Tea House isn’t what you would normally call «yum cha» but, I came here for their all you can eat yum cha (on Sunday-​Wednesday nights).
It wasn’t the best yum cha that I had ever had, but for that price and the variety of what you got — it’s worth the four stars.
Pluses:
— Three types of dumplings
— Chocolate dumpling + egg tart for desert
— Prawn rolls with dipping sauce
The third of the fourth courses was actually the most disappointing by far.
Oh and lovely service.

A great selection of food here and the dumplings are on the next level (Spicy Wagyu dumplings!!).
At dinner it gets busy very quickly and as such service does suffer, hence no 5^th star.
If you like your tea, and serious dumplings then head this way.

Possibly my favourite Chinese restaurant in Melbourne!
I ordered takeaway, and was given a free iced tea and an apology that it would take 10 – 15 minutes. I don’t know what service is normally like, but I don’t really call 10 – 15 minutes a delay!
The service was exceptional from the moment I walked in the door, and the staff seemed very attentive to all of the tables.
The food was also wonderful. I had the scallops with five-​spice sauce and was not disappointed. A large enough serving to leave me satisfied, but not overfilled either.
I will definitely be back.

My man and I were craving a big yum cha fix one hungover Sunday and I did some quick research on the web to find a dim sum restaurant that isn’t in chinatown just because we wanted to try somewhere different.
Oriental Tea House seemed very popular with the online community especially the Prahran restaurant so we thought we’d give it a try.
I’ll come right out and say it — the yum cha here is very well-​made and delicious. I can’t fault the food itself. The fact that they offer home delivery of their yum cha is brilliant and I can see myself taking them up on this offer.
The restaurant itself looks fine, but it’s not a real chinese yum cha restaurant. Where’s all the noise, the trolleys, the hustle and bustle, the corny pop music or traditional chinese music trying desperately to compete with all the loud, happy voices? Basically, where’s the vibe?
I don’t know where the vibe was, but it’s not at Oriental Tea House. I got a good feed, but I certainly did not get my fix of a proper yum cha experience.
Back to Chinatown.