Chumanchu — Restaurant in Melbourne

Chumanchu Resturant Review Chumanchu exceeded my original expectations with this beautiful symphony of a traditional meal with a modern twist.

I looked up cafes on Broadsheet to see if I could find a place that wouldn’t be busy and had large tables so that I could do some work on. I found Chumanchu, read the review, looked at the pictures and thought that it looked promising. I decided to give it a shot, and head down Gilbert Rd to investigate this new (to me) restaurant.

As I entered, I was presented by two large golden doors with many seats in the front of the shop. The restaurant was massive compared to the other Vietnamese resturants in the area. There was modern vintage decors, with one wall that looked elegant. The wall had a large fuchsia Sakura tree with sky blue hummingbirds perched upon the branches. I was thoroughly impressed, the smell of roasting herbs and a mix of spices enlightened the atmosphere.

I sat down and ordered a Vietnamese ice coffee, my favourite drink at a Vietnamese café. It came in the traditional format with the black coffee dripping through a mini colander into a big serving of condensed milk. The presentation of this masterpiece was simple immaculate, there was a tall glass with shaven ice. Most Vietnamese places I have been to, mostly use ice cubes instead of shaved ice, I thought this was spectacular. I mixed the condensed milk with the black coffee and had a sip, it was divine. The taste of Melbourne’s coffee with condensed milk was delicious. The taste was a bit more gentler on the taste buds, which might be what Chumanchu is aiming for, most Vietnamese cafes make the coffee really bitter and it gives off a stronger flavour, but I think I have a new found joy of having it served in this manner.

I had ordered the traditional Pho with wagyu beef, I was originally intending to get the Com Tam (Broken rice dish with lamb and pickled vegetables), but thought the price of $19 was a Massive mark-up compared to other Vietnamese resturants. The Wagyu beef was $15, which I thought was a little bit higher than the standard pho, most pho places charge $9 - $11 for a large bowl.

The Pho came in a large bowl, with all the herbs you would encounter anywhere else. It was presented on a small wooden cheese board with another bowl of sauces, bean shoots and hoisin sauce. Both these bowls were sitting on a strip of banana leaf. I thought to myself, they put a lot of effort into making this look presentable, and it worked a charm. Many places just hand you a bowl of Pho and a small plate of the condiments. Chumanchu exceeded my original expectations with this beautiful symphony of a traditional meal with a modern twist.

The pho’s broth had a gentler flavour compared to other places. Many pho restaurants soup broths are very strong and have a deep aniseed taste. Chumanchu most likely is appealing to more of the western markets. There was heaps of noodles, and a lot of beef which tickled my satisfaction. I very much appreciated their Hoisin sauce, which tasted like it was home made instead of a purchase from a grocery store.

I am incredibly impressed by the general customer service, they smiled and presented every meal as you would expect from a five star restaurant. I originally thought that the price was too high, but am now assured that it is justified. No Vietnamese café has a large venue with large tables with staff that smile at you instead of grunting at every opportunity. I am happy with my visit to Chumanchu and would insist anyone with the opportunity to visit this restaurant when they can, I am sure you will be thoroughly impressed.

I’m just going to add that the music choice was...

Hadn’t eaten much today as we were looking forward to having three courses for a birthday dinner for my Aunty. What a disappointment. We had to ask for drinks. Ask for our order to be taken. Ask where our food was multiple times whilst watching other patrons who arrived after get served their meals. We waited over an hour for our mains. Our drinks were finished before the entree arrived never got a second as no staff came near us. No water refill nor once. Empty bottles and glasses just left on the table. Finally got our meals except they came out at different times over ten plus minutes except for one which they hadn’t made at all. We also had to wait for the four meals to be out before we got cutlery to eat it with. The last meal came out over 20 minutes later arriving as the rest of us finished eating. Oh no apology for that being forgotten not even admitted to just told it is coming . Two of the meals were only half eaten at best the other three we ate because we were starving. Pancake oily . Fish so dry it was like board. Prawn dish also overcooked. Pas Thai weird sauce. Pho pretty bland. We have eaten here before and it was nice. Everything about tonight was ordinary at best. Yes you could eat the food but it doesn’t mean it was good it meant we were hungry. We sat there waiting for dishes to be cleared and leave because we weren’t going to bother with dessert at this point and no one came to clear the dishes. When they did they removed 3 of 4 and the empty champagne bottle and glasses still on the table after 2 hours. When we politely tried to provide feed back staff said oh we are trying a new system or only been here two weeks, oh the (female) owner is taking someone to the airport . No one just apologised and owned it and said we were wrong we stuffed up or that is terrible for you we just got excuses. Even showing them the bottles and plates still on the table for no apology . They told the male owner who cooks in the kitchen and we could hear his comments from the table scoffing and being rude. So I went to speak to him because other patrons could hear him as well and he said you ate 80% of it so it can’t have been bad ( nice exaggeration on his part) he then said “you should have told me during the meal not after what do you want me to do about it. Nothing I can do about it now it’s over” - direct quote still rolling his eyes and scoffing I said we had already waited an hour we were starving and he said well too late now. So I said let me tell you how the whole night has played out re the service as well and he just said “ahh well, I m out here so I can’t do anything about that”. Then with still no ownership they made out they were being generous doing us a favour taking $10 off the price of the meal that they originally forgot. which is embarrassing for them why bother. Truly showed they didn’t give a damn . Couldn’t understand it wasn’t about the money I can afford to. It My food that is why I went out. It was about the fact they didn’t care they had spoiled our evening with poor food and service. I am reluctant to blame the staff after seeing the attitude of the owner and his example of customer service. So no don’t eat there because they don’t care if ir a nice experience or if it is value. Go somewhere that appreciates your money. So we won’t go back and my Aunty who lives in the street will share it with...

Was served lamb that was sour and tasted rotten. Had 2 bites just to make sure it wasn’t just my pallet confusing me.

Was very hungry after watching my family finish their meals (which they enjoyed) my mother and sister tasted the lamb I was served too and were disgusted.

Before going to fix up the bill, I needed to use the toilet, and on the way nearly slipped over due to them mopping the floor without a visible ‘wet floor’ sign. And mentioned that my elderly parents could have slipped over if it was them walking to the bathroom instead.

I mentioned this to the staff and was met with an insincere sorry followed by profanity and swearing towards me under their breath. I was extremely shocked at how unprofessional their conduct was.

I complained to the lady at the register about the lamb, she spoke to the chef who assured me it was because it is cooked using fish sauce.

This is the 3rd time I have eaten the broken rice at this restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed it the other 2 times. The food was rotten this time and I enjoy the taste of fish sauce normally.

I told them that I refused to pay for my meal which was completely inedible while pointing out that I barely touched the dish. They said that I couldn’t get a refund. They wouldn’t refund me for that meal until I threatened to not pay for my entire family’s bill.

I said that everything else served to us was great. After coming to an agreement with staff to pay (minus my meal) I started walking out and the kitchen staff were sarcastically saying sorry repetitively. My silent response was met with a deeply patronising and deliberately aggitating “no worries”

Their immature and unprofessional conduct was a disgrace. Their inability to admit to serving me unfresh food is disgusting. This is on top of the issue I chose to overlook of the service being painstakingly slow.

I am actively warning all of my friends and family to never visit this...