Shark Fin Inn City

Pretentious and rude service. Horribly overrated food. For those who know whereof i speak… Panda Express and PF Chang’s has better tasting food. Crystal Jade is better for yum cha.

Walked in off the street on a Thursday morning after reading reviews on Unilocal.We didn’t need a booking — in fact the place was half empty.
However that obviously doesn’t mean anything as the Yum Cha was delicious! We had a variety of steamed prawn and scollop dumplings that all arrived steaming hot. We were also able to order vegetable dumplings for a vegetarian in our group, which arrived within 10 minutes. Décor is minimal and nothing special, but the service was friendly and efficient!
A tasty Yum Cha for our last morning in Melbourne, would definitely recommend Shark Fin Inn.

I’ve been here for both Yum Cha and dinner; Yum Cha was a solid option for Chinatown, although nothing really stands out in my memory for being particularly fabulous.
HOWEVER…
For a luxe birthday dinner last night, we decided to go off-​road and let the team bring us the best options for the day, banquet-​style, and no one regretted it for a minute. For $ 50 per head (excluding drinks), we got the following — I’ve left notes for my favourite dishes only, as I was starting to drool all over the keyboard:
— Steamed oysters with 2 dressings
— Salt and pepper calamari — perfectly cooked, piping hot, crispy, adorned with green chilli, and the perfect size for our group of 4. Winner.
— Fish roll stuffed with prawns — when our waiter suggested this I was very skeptical, because it sounded like a fish cake, and in general, I think fish cakes are questionable. But this was actually a whole fresh prawn, wrapped in an exceedingly thin fish fillet (might have even been calamari?) and quickly deep fried. Crispy, golden, packed with flavour, delightful. Everyone was into this, even the picky eaters. It was just too damn tasty.
— Peking duck — actually not the best I’ve had, not by a long shot, as the crêpe was thicker than it needed to be. But still good.
— Chilli prawns with fresh noodles and egg yolk — lots of delicate flavours, and a lovely silky texture. The noodles were really fresh, as were the prawns, and the whole thing was delicious. Perhaps a little sweet for some people’s taste, though.
— Chicken with ginger and shallots
— Beef with broccoli and swiss brown mushrooms — exceptional quality beef, cooked perfectly. The vegetables were also expertly cooked, and overall this was a really light, non-​greasy execution of a Chinese beef dish. Which is just as well, as by this time we’d eaten our weight in food and were starting to question our choices in life.
— Fried rice.
If you have some time and a special occasion, I would HIGHLY recommend moving away from the menu and asking the experienced staff what they would suggest for a particular budget. However if you want to take the more well-​trodden path, you will also find all of your favourite dishes, as well as some really nice, unexpected additions in the Chef’s Selection area of the menu.
Note — service was quite slow and kind of absent-​minded both times I’ve been. That worked OK for me as both occasions were leisurely affairs, but this isn’t the place to go if you’re on a time budget.

Solid yum cha in a no-​frills setting. I like it a lot, and it’s only just behind Shanghai Dynasty in the rotation for me.
The best thing about the yum cha here is the great variety of shrimp-​and-​pork type dumplings. I like ha gow, but I also like to chuck in a few dumplings that have chives, or ginger, or coriander, and this place has a bunch of those types of dumplings.
The downside for me on this place is that it’s super packed all the time, and can be cramped depending on where you get seated. Outside of the ha gow-​style dumplings, they also don’t have the broad variety of some of the other places — I’d like a few more choices in the fried dishes especially. It’s also a bit drab and lifeless, the setting could do with a bit of an update.

The Shark Fin Inn is my Chinese restaurant of choice in the city. Lunch, Dinner and Yum Cha this is the place I try and book for.
I first came here over 20 years ago with my family, I remember eating the duck salad and I still think it’s my favourite dish here.
The Yum Cha will generally require a booking, you might be VERY lucky to get a table in one of the two sittings on a Sunday off the street but that is fairly uncommon.
Dinner and Lunch usually have free space but I particularly love that Shark Fin Inn is open until 130 in the morning and they cook fresh right up until this time. So late night munchies can be taken care of with fresh Fried Chili Squid or some Glass Prawns, Hot pot if you want to take your time with food or a tasty stir fry and rice.
The service is generally solid until it gets crazy busy and then you may need to be a bot more aggressive at waving down a staff member to get something specific. Yum Cha days you can relax as they come around with trolleys piled high with plates of delicate dumplings and other tasty treats, I love the egg custard doughnuts and tarts.

Dropped In one night after a show In the city. Great service And perfect food. Recommend.

I agree that the Yum Cha at Shark Fin is great. I tried this a few months ago. Last night I went there for a pre show dinner and it was good. Not as good as the Yum Cha though.
The service was fast and the food came out quickly. It’s not the cheapest place in China town to eat and food tasted great.

Weekend yum cha — yum. It gets super busy so you have to book. Great for large groups.

Make a book or prepare to wait, this place is packed and with good reason. The trolleys come thick and fast and you will be overwhelmed with the choices in each little basket. It’s all hot and fresh and the staff are friendly and accommodating, helping with special requests and orders of more chilli sauce (what can I say, I like it hot!)
The Char Siu Bao was steaming hot, the filling rich and sticky though I have to say just a little bit TOO sweet. Steamed vegetable and prawn dumplings were exceptional, as were the steamed rice noodle filled with tofu and green vegetable that came with a rich dark soy. I ordered the rice noodles as they didn’t seem to be going around on the trolley. I also requested a big plate of green veggies, and this was no problem and delivered within about 10 minutes.
An enjoyable Sunday experience!

I was told this was the best place in Melbourne for Dim Sum, and they did not dissapoint! The selection of dishes is great and they were all super tasty. The service was fast and friendly as well. I wish I lived closer then I would be back more often!

I had a dream. A dream that after a night of bacchanalian revelry with my fellow hedonists we could drag ourselves out of our lair and into the harsh light of a Melbourne Sunday, for yum cha. We consulted the oracles and cast the bone die, and so our quest for steamed buns and tiny Asian ladies pushing trolleys led us to Little Bourke street, to Shark Fin Inn. I had a dream. A dream that mainly involved xiaolongbao and cha siu bao. Unfortunately, Shark Fin Inn is a fucking nightmare.
We opened the door to Shark Fin Inn and walked in to the foyer– at which point there was a large bang and a cloud of purple smoke, from which emerged the immaculately dressed maitre d’. He gazed at us with an unfathomable, withering stare, until our own Asian element passed him some kind of unseen telepathic mongoloid signal and he wordlessly seated us.
We were led salivating through a byzantine table labyrinth of food, laughter and tea ladies, amazed by the epicurean delights that Shark Fin Inn seemed to have in store for us. We walked past tables heaped with char siew, clutched at tantalizing glimpses of fung jiao, and were so engrossed by the gastronomic mosaic before us we were unaware that our stoic guide had other plans in store for us. We passed through a doorway, and suddenly found ourselves in the white people room.
I am not unmindful that we live in a country rife with jingoism, where savage man-​baboons turn their noses up at any kind of cuisine that isn’t deep-​fried or smothered in gravy– but it’s another thing for the proprietors of Shark Fin Inn to then say «We hold these truths to be self-​evident, and all white people only eat chicken pie». We were seated at what I can assume was a scale replica of Northern Japan for all the solidity it held, and left to appraise our cell.
The room in question was a small offshoot of the main dining room, lovingly plastered with peeling faux-​wood paneling, lit by a single wavering fluorescent. Adding to the charm was the OCHS-​mandatory fire extinguisher mounted on the wall, and the carefully labeled door to the chemical closet. A small array of tables had been crammed in, and then filled with a select slice of the Sunday dining demographic– caucasians only. After some time, a single trolley rolled in, pushed by a belligerent. We were offered gourmet yum cha fare, such as «shickennn pie» and «lemon shicken» When we realised that yes, really, we’d been segregated from the oriental portion of the clientele and were being wheeled bowdlerized, milquetoast gweilo food.
Even after specifically ordering individual dishes and making our desires clear in both Cantonese and Mandarin, in case we had found ourselves in some kind of strange restaurant-​of-​babylon we were still hammered with homogenized dishes by ill-​tempered staff. It seems that bad service, at Shark Fin Inn, is a priority service– if the bill at the end was anything to judge from.
Visit Shark Finn Inn for overpriced, average yum cha-​partheid.

My favorite yum cha place in the city, couldn’t beat those in Richmond and Box Hill, but convenient, fast, and definitely satisfying (huge pieces of xiu mai, wontons). Everytime we ordered chicken feet, there’s always a five minutes wait, though!
Usually spent around $ 45 for 4 people. They serve yum cha up until 2 pm, but go before that or they’ll run out of many of the good stuffs by 2pm… got crowded on Sunday afternoon. Waitresses aren’t that nice. that’s probably my only complaint.

One of my favourite yum cha restaurants in the CBD for its consistent production of high quality mainstay dumplings. Their ha gao, siu mai, ginger prawn, scallop dumpling, lo bak go, cheung fan, among others, (I don’t know how to spell these by the way) are always good, and are better or close to offerings from other city yum cha establishments.
I find that the food range and creativity is lacking compared to its sister restaurant — Shark Fin House and another restaurant — Crystal Jade — found another block down Lt Bourke St. However Shark Fin does the main dumplings so well that you are generally not left wanting for anything else.
Sometimes you can get a little cold upstairs, so bring an extra layer of clothing (feels weird writing this about a restaurant). Actually its sister restaurant is even colder.
The service is good however I have noticed lately it seems that management have instructed the wait staff to go really light on with the chilli sauce. C’mon guys, its chilli sauce. As a high volume consumer of chilli, this really annoys me. In fact, enough for me to give it a miss and visit other places. I don’t want to have to order 3 – 4 small plates of chilli sauce with one drop in each plate.
However it is still one of the top yum cha joints in the city and I definitely recommend it.

Thanks Unilocal.It was a Sunday morning after a night of relaxing with films and we needed something to brighten up the lazy Sunday. I decided to search for good Yum Cha restaurants on Unilocal,found this place, and what a great idea it was.
Ambiance: The restaurant looks incredibly classy and clean with rooms off to the side for a bit more privacy. The main room can get a bit crowded and therefore loud, but the tables are still spaced apart alright so you can get around decently.
Customer Service: Really good. Unfortunately it was a bit embarrassing because they didn’t speak Cantonese and when I asked them for certain meals in Cantonese, a lot of the times they didn’t understand me… but that’s okay. They were pretty respectful, courteous, and attentive — always coming by to remove finished plates and pour your tea.
Food: I noticed that although they do have a good range of authentic dishes on their menu, the majority of it is a tad bit Westernised — meals that I will never see in a true-​blue Cantonese Yum Cha spot. Not to say that the food isn’t authentic, but they do make the effort to appeal to a variety of food palettes.
The food is absolutely delicious though. Everything that we picked out was delicious. My recommendations:
Char Siu Bao (BBQ Pork Bun)
Ha Cherng (Steamed Shrimp Roll)
Ngow Cherng (Steamed Beef Roll)
Ha Gao (Steamed Shrimp Dumpling)
Gao Zee (Fried potstickers)
And for dessert, get some of the Mango Pudding with cream on top. This place makes the best Mango Pudding I have ever had.

My family’s favourite restaurant for a get together over some pretty tasty Chinese food and lots of jasmine tea, Shark Fin Inn is also a favourite of ours for Sunday afternoon yum cha.
Pricing is reasonable and the selection is good, all the usual suspects will be present. Just remember to book a table because it gets mighty packed in here on a Sunday. The noise factor is high and the atmosphere bustling, which is all part of the fun of yum cha at a proper chinese restaurant.
Shark Fin Inn totally rules.

Although I prefer its sister restaurant down the road, Shark Fin House, Shark Fin in is still worth a visit.
As Samantha mentioned, it’s cheaper than House, but just as busy. They do quality yum cha in a buzzing atmosphere that will leaved you feeling completely stuffed. It’s also one of the better spots in Chinatown for an evening meal, with a broad selection of traditional Chinese dishes all done well.
For me, apart from the prices and elevator, the key difference between House and Inn is the liquor license status. I always get it confused, but here’s the G.O.:
Shark Fin House: Licensed, but NO BYO
Shark Fin Inn: Both bar and BYO (yay!)

Shark Fin Inn has been the centre of many catchups with our crowd of friends over the years. It’s not overly expensive, but it’s not your cheap local chinese takeaway either. What is is however, is extremely popular. Don’t for a second think about trying to get a table without a reservation.
Perhaps most famous for its yum cha, Shark Fin Inn is the centre of the Shark Fin empire so worth a visit even if you’re not a fan of the other restaurants owned by the same group. It’s also cheaper than it’s sister, Shark Fin House (which is just a block away).
The food here is very authentic, and a yum cha sitting here isn’t so much a meal as an experience.
Oh, and you don’t have to eat anything with shark fin in it either.