HuTong Dumpling Bar
HuTong has folded xiao long bao down a Market Lane laneway in Chinatown since 2008, and the soup dumplings are the reason the line forms.
Why go
Concrete Playground puts it plainly: "it's the dumplings that everyone comes for, and many traditional styles are represented." The signature is "the soupy xiao-long bao from east China," the thin-skinned parcels that hold a mouthful of scalding broth. The menu runs past dumplings into regional plates, "dry chicken in hot chilli from Sichuan and Dong Po Square soft pork from Hangzhou," and the room stacks over three levels, which is what makes it work for a group.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the xiao long bao first, then the pan-fried dumplings, and add the Sichuan dry chili chicken and the Hangzhou-style Dong Po pork to round out the table.
- Avoid: arriving at peak with no plan. The Market Lane room queues, so come early or book a table on an upper floor.
What locals & experts say
- Concrete Playground:
it's the dumplings that everyone comes for, and many traditional styles are represented,
led bythe soupy xiao-long bao from east China.
1 - Concrete Playground on the range:
With three levels of dining space,
the kitchen reaches beyond dumplings todry chicken in hot chilli from Sichuan and Dong Po Square soft pork from Hangzhou.
1 - Popularity signal (Google Maps): a long-running Chinatown draw with heavy review volume and a queue at peak, treated here as a trending signal, not an opinion source.
Good to know
- Timing: open for lunch and dinner daily; get there early or expect a wait at peak.
- Booking: recommended, and the way to seat a group on the upper floors.
- From MCEC: about 2km across the river in Chinatown, a tram or a fifteen-minute walk.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Authentic
Verdict
could-visit — Re-ruled from should-visit on 2026-07-30 after three checks came back empty. HuTong holds no hat at any level in the 2026 Age Good Food Guide, an edition that hats plenty of cheap and casual rooms. No critic or guide carries a judgment of the food, only description. And in 74 industry picks by 44 Melbourne chefs and writers, nobody named it; the one chef asked where he takes a group for dumplings named Juicy Bao around the corner instead. What is left is a dependable Chinatown dumpling house of long standing, three floors deep, good value, with a menu that reaches past xiao long bao into Sichuan dry-chili chicken and Hangzhou Dong Po pork. Eat here if you are in Chinatown and want soup dumplings without a trek. The class dropped from Hearth to Coals in the same pass for the same reason.