Coming home from site there was a sudden craving for dumplings, so my sister’s suggestion to go to Authentic Bites Dumpling House in Northbridge was timely. This little shop has queues building up early even before the doors open which I found to be very Melbourne-esque where all popular dumpling houses had long queues. But hey lets skip the queue talk and get inside.
The dining area is small but the turnover here is relatively quick. The menu is pretty straightforward with a few of our favourite appetisers making a surprise appearance. To start was a serve of drunken chicken and lightly pickled cucumbers
Drunken Chicken:
Both, were amazing especially the chicken which had the fragrant of the wine coating the smooth chicken flesh. Its flavour was very mild and what was even more surprising was how the cold chicken tasted more fresh than heavy. Then comes the tangy cucumbers marinated in a little chilli, salt, sugar and some Szechuan pepper corn. Light numbing but superbly flavourful. It was a table favourite least to say!
The Shanghai Dumpling we ordered were a mixture Pork and Crab.
While I would normally go for the normal pork dumplings after a mediocre experience at Shanghai Street Dumpling in Melbourne, the lure of the briny crab flavour paired with the juicy pork was hard to resist. Fortunately, Authentic Bites did not disappoint. The flavours were great and I really enjoyed it then. Except for the fact that I went to Singapore and had an even more amazing Shanghai Dumpling where the skin was really thin. No one likes thick dumpling skin!! Especially when steamed :P!
We also had some noodles! The Braised Beef Noodle soup.
The braised beef itself was no doubt on part with some of the best braised beef in town and I was over all very impressed. What disappointed me was the broth which I felt could have been more beefy. It was very mild so I decided to enhance its flavours with some soy and chilli oil. Over all, not too bad but nothing to rave about!
We also had the famous the pot stickers filled with a morrish mix of spicy kimchee and juicy pork. Unfortunately I did a terrible job of getting a picture so there will be none. The dumplings themselves were very similar to the ones you’d get elsewhere but with a special crispy finish to bottom. It was really yums. I mean who would complain when they get more crispy bits right? Authentic Bites Dumpling House serves some serious dumplings but even better appetisers. Their noodles? Hmmm those were ok but I would not come back for them. Dumplings? Definitely. Dad though has his preference set for the more dainty Cantonese style dumplings served at yamaha. So this is not on his list!
WenY
