Shark Fin Inn — Restaurant in Melbourne

If you want yum cha just like a bustling Hong Kong yum cha palace, this is the place to go. Shark Fin Inn is one of the few places in Little Bourke Street still being run by the original owners, and it prides itself on being an unapologetic classic Hong Kong Cantonese restaurant.

My family has been coming here for yum cha and dinner for over 20 years, and we rarely go anywhere else on the Little Bourke Street strip. As an added bonus, Shark Fin Inn stays open very late and offers the full menu well after midnight.

Prices are very reasonable, given the city location, and service is efficient and friendly. We've been coming here so long, we've got to know some of the waiters by name. It's the sort of place where staff tend to stick around for a long time.

The yum cha here is the best in the city, and their dinner menu offers a wide range of classic dishes. Duck and seafood are brilliant here, but I've never really had anything that didn't work. The yum cha is best when you get there early or for the first sitting. On weekends, they always have at least two sittings, and on big days, such as Mother's and Father's Day, three. They do tend to get you in and out on those days, but that's fine; there's never a wait for the excellent dishes. To me, yum cha means trollies. If it's off a menu, it's not really yum cha; Shark Fin Inn sticks to that classic style.

If you want a good quality, classic Cantonese meal in nice surroundings, you can't do much better than Shark Fin Inn. I hope it doesn't change too much because I'd love to take my grandkids...

5 ladies went for dinner on Friday 18/05/24 and arrived at the restaurant around 6 pm (pre show). We were told that we could have a table but had to be out by 7pm - no worries! After being seated the order was taken after about 10 minutes. One of our ladies is a vegetarian and so ordered Vegetarian Singapore noodles again no worries. At 20 past 6 the large plate of Special fried rice appeared , at 6:30 one lady received her dish, at 6:40 another dish was served at 10 to 7 two more dishes arrived ( all dishes were individual- not shared) still no Singapore noodles. An inquiry was made as to what happened to the noodles and we were told that a mistake in the order to the kitchen- not once but 3 times had been made. Our friend was offered Singapore Noodles with prawns (doesn’t eat seafood). By this time it’s after 7pm and our friend decided to cancel her order- fair enough!! The waitress then told us that the soft drinks we had will not be charged for and neither would the noodles ( which we didn’t receive) . We then received the bill with the noodles and a Birds Nest that was not even ordered!! The bill was then sent back and rectified! What was supposed to be a lovely dining experience was a catastrophe- each of us eating our meals one by one instead of all together and one completely missing out!! Shark Fin restaurant- if you can’t handle the amount of customers that were there - then don’t pack so...

After reading some of the reviews, I brought my family of 5 there to celebrate my Son's Birthday. We ordered quite alot of Dim Sums with 2 main dishes, Yang Chow Fried Rice and Kai Lan with Oyster Sauce (Vegetable Dish). We had 4 Pot of Har Kow (Steam Prawn Dumplings), 2 Pot of Sui Mai (Steam Pork Dumpling), 1 Steam Pot of Lor Mai Gai (Steam Glutinous Rice with Chicken), 2 Steam Pot of Char Siew Pow (Steam BBQ Pork Buns), 2 plates of Fried Prawn Toast, 2 Plates of Steam Prawn Chee Cheong Fun, 2 Plates of Pan Fried Turnip Cake, 1 Small Chinese Bowl of Porridge with Century Egg and 1 Pot of Chrysanthemum Tea. The Bill, came close to Aud$167.00. My disappointments were..

1. Prawn Chee Cheong Fun was Over Steamed and it beame Starchy (Glue Texture) when we tried to picked it up to eat.
2. Fried Turnip Cake (Lor Pak Ko), same result, Over Steamed and did not Pan Fried Longer to get the Browning Effect Taste. When we took a bite, it was mushy in taste.
3. Over Blanched/Steam Kai Lan (Vegetables) drizzled with Oyster Sauce. (I believe its the HK style of cooking). Vegetables came Soggy. Personal perference, I prefer it to be Stir fry with Oyster Sauce to retain its freshness. Besides the quality of food, the Staff Service were good. Last but not least, I'm sure I can find better quality Dim...