Bowl Bowl Dumpling

Absolutely delicious dumplings and wonderful service. Have been in quite a few times and have not been disappointed once. Now our regular Collingwood dumpling haunt. Would recommend first time dumpling eaters and those with high standards, neither will be disappointed.

My family are fairly regular customers at Bowl Bowl, but we won’t return. I took my 2 children for dumplings a few days ago. When the dumplings arrived they were extremely burnt. It was obvious as soon as the plate was placed on the table (see photo — these are the best of them). With small children you don’t have much of a window so I asked for a knife to cut the burnt parts off. The waitress said she would do it and took the remaining dumplings to the kitchen, returned with them on a smaller plate and gave me a knife and fork. They were so burnt and chewy that we could not persevere and decided to leave. I told the owner that the dumplings were extremely burnt and unsatisfactory. She replied that a couple of larger groups had arrived for lunch without a booking and they had not be prepared for that (the place was not exactly full) and any other time she would have remade the dumplings. She then accepted the total amount of the bill — despite the dumplings being barely touched. Very unprofessional and disappointing. This is Melbourne — we are spoilt for choice… theres always another place to eat.

Delicious and wonderful service!
We got the water dumplings, fried rice, and pan fried original dumplings. All were incredible and we’ll definitely be back here

A hankering for dumplings usually means a tram ride city to go to Chinatown or drive to Richmond. I was excited by the prospect of getting dumplings a little closer to home now that the cold winter nights have set in. So Ms. Four and I headed off down Smith Street to check out Bowl Bowl and (in her words) «smash some dumpling Dad!»
It didn’t disappoint. Service was great — our waiter helped us settle the pan fried vs steamed argument by choosing the combinations for us. The food and drinks were prompt — the service was attentive.
The ‘Water bomb” dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) were the highlight — perfectly sized to comfortably eat in one go and the broth was delicious. We also really enjoyed the Salt & Pepper chicken on rice — crispy and not oily what-​so-​ever. The waitstaff took care to put the spicy seasoning in a side dish so that Ms. Four could eat it.
The restaurant itself was comfortable, simple and clean — the kitchen looked clean and organised. Given it’s in the neighbourhood and the service was good I’d happily go for mid-​week dumplings there again.