restaurants

House of Delight 家宴渝悦

House of Delight is now the area that Shanghai Dynasty used to be, right in the heart of Melbourne’s China town on little Bourke Street. I’m a huge fan of Melbourne Asian food, particularly Chinese food – and in a highly competitive Melbourne restaurant district, House of Delight will certainly be a tough one to beat. With high quality and range of traditional a la carte Chinese cuisine, to a delicious range of Cantonese-styled yum cha options – which they also offer a lunchtime buffet for, I wouldn’t hesitate coming back here for an authentic Chinese meal with family or friends. The good fat: The a la carte Chinese traditional dishes were definitely stellar – having tried a range of such foods from China itself, as well as from home cooking – I was definitely impressed with House of Delight. The traditional Shanghai fried fish was bursting with flavour, cold as it should be, preserved with hints of sweetness from the classic sauce. Braised sea cucumber was a bold decision – but we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. The texture was silky smooth, and the braised XO sauce it was drizzled in was just a throwback to all the delicious memories of Asian food either in China, or at home. Delicately presented stir-fry is not something you normally hear of – but our cod was exactly that – fresh, silky smooth strips in a sweet, sticky Chinese BBQ sauce, on a bed of vibrantly coloured veggies. The yumcha standouts were the egg tarts and pastry buns. I wouldn’t expect anything less from a Hong Kong-styled yum cha buffet, and House of Delight lived up to these expectations. The pastry was melt-in-your-mouth and the egg filling was sweet, with the light texture of jelly. MY GOD! I’ve missed these! The BBQ pastry puffs had the most delicious outer layer, golden on the outside and crumbly as you bit through. A famous Hong Kong yum cha delight is of course the salted egg custard bun: dashes of saltiness coating the bun, with warm, Chinese custard inside that just melts like the inside of a runny egg yolk – my first time trying this (strangely) and I cannot wait to try them again. The bad fat: We were so excited to try the durian pastry (as my friend loves them) but were told after about 30 minutes that they had sold out even though we had smelled its presence beforehand, which was a bit of a shame but maybe that just means I’ll have to go back! Their Shanghai Xiaolong Bao is definitely not one to order – the skin was really thick, and there was a lack of the classic “soup” inside, but then again it’s not supposed to be a traditional Cantonese yumcha food. SHOULD YOU GET FAT HERE? YES – It is rare that a Chinese restaurant is able to impress me to this extent with their a la carte dishes, and for such a classy, refined setting, House of Delight is undoubtedly one of my favourite Melbourne Asian restaurants! FAT-O-METER: 4.5/5