Update 17/06/2023: Song's Dumplings is now closed.
June 14, 2022
We are blessed with diverse and delicious cafés and restaurants in our neighbourhood, but we've never really lived close to a dumpling restaurant. I noticed Song's Dumplings set up in the ground-floor restaurant space of a Royal Parade hotel during one of my numerous lockdown walks, but I'd forgotten it by the time I was ready to eat out. Michael saw it mentioned in his instagram feed more recently and that got us in the door for a weeknight dinner.
The menu runs to several dozen pages, including plenty of Sichuan style foods beyond just dumplings. This was fortunate for us, because they were all out of vegetarian dumplings! We skipped through the menu a second time, eyes on the helpful little green vege symbols beside the vegetarian dishes. (Vegans are encouraged to talk to the staff, and we were asked explicitly about egg.)
Michael had been recommended the dry fried cauliflower ($25.80, pictured top) and we could see why. It's a huge serving of cauliflower, florets soft in the middle and crisp around the edges, dotted with Sichuan peppers, showered with dry chilli pieces, growing spicier and spicier as you spoon into the shallow pool of oil below.
I tempered the spiciness with the vegetable fried rice ($14.80, pictured above), and we packed leftovers of both home to feed Michael for two further lunches. Our spring onion pancake ($8.80) was demolished on the spot, though - it's been too long since I last shook Chinkiang vinegar over a deep-fried treat like this! Song's pancake was especially puffy and crunchy with batter, reminding us both of the best potato cakes.
The Tuesday night atmosphere at Song's Dumplings supplies no more than the neighbourhood demands - perhaps two staff, taking counter orders from two tables of diners and a roster of delivery drivers. Charting-pop music drowned out any awkwardness, and the great food was plenty reason to visit. We'll be checking in again to try those dumplings.
____________
The South Melbourne outlet of Song's Dumplings has appeared on Gastrology.
____________
Song's Dumplings
441 Royal Parade, Parkville
0493 459 943
0493 459 943
appetisers, dumplings, main courses, cold dish & Sichuan main courses, Sichuan main courses, grilled fish & mini hot pot, dry wok, family packages & rice, dessert & drinks
Accessibility: Entry is flat, but the door is sticky and difficult to operate. Tables and backed chairs are regular height (see second photo), and arranged at medium density. There's a clear wide path to the low counter, where we ordered and paid up front. We didn't visit the toilets.
