Little Red Dumpling Toowong — Restaurant in Brisbane City

My wife and I dined on a busy Fri night, at around 6.30pm. The place was pretty full, but we still managed to squeeze into a small table for two in the corner against the back wall.

The ambience is energetic, lively and fun but also super casual and relaxed. Just come as you are, no bookings required. You can order using an app, which we did, and overall, service was quick and efficient. And the pretty young waitresses were polite and friendly. My wife wasn't happy with her pina colada cocktail because it was too watery, so the helpful waitress remade it for her with extra rum and cream and that made my wife v happy, in more ways than one. You can also order in the traditional way and there are paper menus that you can grab off the counter.

The interior is basic but colourful and bright with strong lighting, white walls and comfy, but rather utilitarian wooden furniture and I found my chair a bit low.

But what shocked me about L.R.D., and really sheeted home to me the extent of the hyperinflation crisis that we are currently enduring, and of which the govt refuses to do anything about, were the prices. L.R.D. is a fairly basic dumpling joint that caters mainly to the thousands of students who live around here, but still, for two drinks and two serves of dumplings we paid a hefty 53 pesos. It’s about 15 pesos now for a serving of dumplings, something that only a year or two ago would have been 10 or less. Drink prices were average I guess: 7 for a can of Balter XPA and 15 for a pina colada cocktail. The dumplings were decent enough, if they were half that price. We ordered the vegetarian, and the lamb and coriander, there are 8 -10 dumplings per serve, so that works out to 2 pesos a dumpling. Unbelievable. Yet even at these prices, this place is still popular, which makes me wonder how these guys can afford it.

This is the latest in a chain of L.R.D. outlets, and if you check their website you will see that they have many other locations all over Qld. Two years ago, we visited their West End restaurant and looking back at the review that I wrote then, I noted that we paid 50 for two drinks and three serves of dumplings. Compare that to now, where you get only two serves of dumplings and two drinks for 53.They were right when they said that it wouldn't be easy under Albanese.

This L.R.D., is conveniently located in the little Clements Arcade, a short walk from the Toowong Village Shopping Centre, where you can park for a few hours free or unlimited after 6pm. There are grotty toilets in the arcade, male on one side and female on the other, two cubicles in each. They're never clean and the hand dryers belong to the 1980s. The arcade itself though is a hive of activity, with two Japanese joints, both always busy including the popular Genkotsu Ramen.

Although we had a pleasant time and everything ran smoothly, at these prices, I’m not sure that we’ll be...

It's been a while since I've been to the original Little Red Dumpling in Sunnybank, but I can't say the food at this new Toowong branch is comparable.

I sampled the following $14.80 items pan fried pork dumplings (8pc) braised beef noodle soup minced chicken dry noodle

The dumplings came with zero presentation effort - randomly plonked on a plate, decorated with a scattering of burnt black bits. The noodle soup was unremarkable. The dry noodles were unexpectedly spicy in a way I didn't enjoy - turns out it's Sichuan style and it actually says so on the menu but there's no way you'd know this if you don't read Chinese.

I also tried some of the cumin flavor (sic) lamb ribs ($12.80) our friends bought. I had high expectations for these but it was the nail in the coffin - they had been cooked to death and tasted like drought in the desert.

I guess they encourage online ordering from your table but if you're not keen on the mandatory card surcharge that attracts you can order at the counter...

went twice, and got the same things both times. with one exception

pan-fried pork dumplings: for a chain restaurant that has the word dumpling in its name, i was expecting a little more. this tastes like any other pan-fried dumpling i’ve had, so i can’t rate it that highly. 3 stars.

minced chicken dry noodle: this is so good!!!!!!! literally the only main i’ve tried and i loved it. the second time i went it was a bit more watery but i’ll let it pass this time lol. 4.5 stars!!

shallot pancake: yeah no. i’m a big lover of shallot pancakes and this was such a let-down. it was like 80% flour? very thick and not much shallot taste. the texture wasn’t enjoyable either. idk what’s up with this one but don’t...