Dumpling Pizzas at Golden Chef Cooking

Stand back ramen burgers, cronuts and fruit sushi – the dumpling pizza is the latest food fusion fad to hit Melbourne.

Although unlike some of the aforementioned combinations that are profoundly odd tasting, the dumpling pizza stays true to its heritage.

A cooking school cum restaurant, Golden Chef Cooking offers dumpling pizzas in three variations – the combination option of pork, prawn, chive and vegetables; chicken, chive and vegetables; and the vegetarian option, vegetables and mung bean noodles.

Any hideous notion of mutated dumplings bound together by pepperoni and cheese is swiftly dispelled when the dumpling pizzas arrive. Connected by a thin crispy top layer that melts in the mouth, the potsticker dumplings are juicy and flavoursome, and not entirely dissimilar to dumplings you would find in esteemed Melbourne establishments such as Hutong and Shanghai Street.

What makes these potsticker dumplings different however is the fact that they are both pan fried and steamed – rendering them crisp and browned on the bottom, but without the grease that typically accompanies pan-fried dumplings.

Golden Chef Cooking has other dishes as well – ranging from the Australian stock-standard favourites of honey chicken and lemon chicken to Thai dishes such aspad thai and tom yum rice noodle soup.

On this occasion we tried the mee goreng. Topped with crispy shallots and interlaced with pork, chicken and prawns, the delicious mee goreng was teeming with light hints of curry powder and a zesty tang.

Though it may inhabit a rather unobtrusive corner of Melbourne – lying just a few stops from the end of the 57 tram route – Golden Chef Cooking offers a specialty dish that remains untapped by many of the Chinese eateries in Melbourne. And an incredibly tasty one at that.

Golden Chef Cooking
266-268 Maribyrnong Road, Moonee Ponds
(03) 9370 1816
5.30pm to 9.30pm Wednesday to Sunday
goldenchefcooking.com

Photographs by Tagen Davies