Mongkok Tea House — Restaurant in Melbourne

We had ourselves a great evening at Mongkok Tea House and would definitely recommend to others - it’s particularly well suited for a date night or drinks alongs friends or even for those just in search of a tasty feed.

Great vibes and atmosphere here. An impressive liquor display is accompanied by bright green neon signage and a wall adorned with pictures of Hong Kong film stars which along with astutely selected decor and smartly dressed waitstaff (suspenders included), really helps to inspire a sense of old school Hong Kong. Little touches like the red corded wall telephone ☎️ were very cool to see.

The food menu is made up of mostly snacks and bites as well as a few larger sharing plates to choose from.

The pineapple bun with vegemite char-siu butter and pork floss was pretty amazing. I particularly loved the butter although I would have appreciated a slightly larger portion . The bun itself was nice, less sweet than the usual bakery versions and paired well with the butter. Serving size was suitable to share between 2.

The Fried chicken and waffle was a single serving portion. It was nice without blowing me away but I did love the fact that they used an egg waffle rather than the conventional Belgian-style waffle.

Scallop corn chowder was very tasty and has a base of steamed egg on the bottom which was both a great nod to Hong Kong cuisine as well as providing a great texture to the chowder, which is often a dish that in other circumstances sometimes runs the issue of being too runny for my liking.

Now the Chinese donut with stracciatella was the standout dish for us. These donuts can be difficult to nail, but ours tasted fresh and perfectly fried on the outside which was able to make up for an ever so slightly doughy interior. I would never have thought stracciatella would pair with this, but oh it absolutely does. Dip it, smother it, spoon it straight into your mouth - it’s glorious. The black vinegar glaze with hints of chilli oil really accompanied excellently with the stracciatella. Comes in a good size for sharing between a few also, but to be honest it’s a dish I might have trouble sharing in the future.

We also had the dry aged duck, for which they managed to deliver a wonderfully crispy skin and tasty flavors. It’s a large dish and a great option particularly for a group. It was probably the most conventional dish we tried.

Drinks-wise, the cocktails we had were very good. The bar staff knew their stuff, made great recommendations and were excellent conversationalists. We also had a Hong Kong style milk tea which excellent and in my opinion a vastly superior options to the milk teas delivered in bubble tea stores.

This fusion menu was exceptionally well executed and was able to combine styles in a manner that actually elevated the overall dish - we see a lot of fusion in Melbourne but I feel this is a rare feat.

Can’t...

2025 review: still as good as ever. Consistent with their unique clever fusion takes on dishes that we’d hesitate to eat but they make it work. Loved their integration of different oils to elevate the umami flavour of ingredients such as the kingfish crudo, and traditional fried rice. Highlight of the night is the ube watermelon granita with that ube cream mellowing the refreshing floral ice blended watermelon. Whilst I found their savoury dishes to be a bit too heavy, the dessert was fragile yet balanced. ——— 2023 review: Best tasting food at this modern fusion Hong Kong-style cafe restaurant. Mongkok Tea House offers a wide range of curated foods that combine traditional Chinese and Western cuisine at a refined level.

Familiar flavours of Hong Kong include the prawn toast, roast duck and spring onion pancake. The addition and fusion of Western elements, brings another world of flavours that are indescribable.

Pineapple bun with Vegemite char-siu butter & pork floss (5/5) 🌟 Prawn scotch egg (4.5/5) 🌟 Fried chicken & waffle with konbu crème fraiche & caviar (4.25/5) Burrata with cucumber salad and spring onion pancake (4.75/5) 🌟 HK BBQ asparagus with lap cheong sausage butter, egg yolk & HK BBQ crumble (4.75/5) Murray cod with leeks and soy cream (4.5/5) Honey roasted dry aged duck (5/5) 🌟 Triple cooked potatoes w fragrant chilli (4.75/5) Coconut Custard Crumble with pineapple & salted egg yolk (4/5) Van Gogh’s Sweet Dream (4.5/5) Broad Mug (4.5/5)

Each dish was executed with so much complexity and perfection that I cannot fault a single thing. This restaurant perfectly captures the concept of fusion food that is becoming the new normal for our dining industry. Hard to pick a favourite but I would suggest you try ALL sides + honey roast duck if you can’t pick (just try everything please).

Despite the little portions and hefty price on these theatrical cocktails, the tasty experience is just worth coming back for. Great to enjoy with friends and family, you rlly don’t need to travel to the city if you can experience a night life of its own in the local suburbs of Camberwell - well done team!

Food: 5/5 Value: 3.5/5 Ambience: 4.5/5 Service:...

This was easily one of my favourite restaurants of 2022👑. Excited for a taste of Jack Tsai’s (ex-Lee Ho Fook & Attica chef) creativity and culinary technique, I knew I was in for a great feast 😋.

Mongkok is a casual-fine dining establishment that combines Hong Kong tea house-style dishes with contemporary flavours that hit the upper echelons of the culinary scene. This fusion was reflected throughout it’s chic decor, checkered tiles, and walls plastered with posters of classic HK movie stars 🎥.

TDLR: All hits, no misses. Each dish was so thoughtful and often struck a nostalgic nerve that reminded me of parts of my childhood. 🥰

FEATURED FOOD: 🍍butter milk pineapple bun with vegemite char siu butter & pork floss ($9) - beautiful crackly top on the bun, and can we just appreciate the existence of vegemite char siu butter?? So umami and delicious

🦪 pacific oyster cocktail w/shredded lettuce, Chinese celery and Cantonese cocktail sauce ($8ea) - lovely flavour combination, so complementary and delicious

🍗 fried chicken and waffle w/ caviar, konbu creme fraiche and maple shaoxing ($9) - couldn’t fault this either, because who can when each ingredient is superb?

🍤 prawn scotch egg w/ sweet chilli jam and roasted prawn oil ($13) - cannot understate how good this was, the egg was so jammy and eaten with the prawn mixture and sambal, I was in flavour heaven 🤤

🐟 drunken kingfish w/ pickled kohlrabi and snow pea ($26) - an inventive play on drunken chicken; problem is now I want all kingfish crudos to be paired with shao xing wine 😣

🧀 fresh burrata w/ smashed cucumber salad, crispy chilli and spring onion pancake ($28) - think of Northern Chinese style cucumber salad. Now add burrata. It shouldn’t work, but it does, and so well at that 😋

🦆 honey roasted dry aged duck ($60) - it tasted as good as it looks, giving you crispy skin coated in a golden sweet glaze 👌🏻

🧋 milk tea parfait w/ condensed milk mousse, milk choc and almond ($14) - boba lovers will unite on this dessert

🥭 mango sorbet w/ whipped cheesecake, lychee, passionfruit and chrysanthemum cream ($16) - flavours of coconut sago pudding a consistent...