Gong De Lin

The food is fresh, creative and plentiful. The mock meats are impressive, especially the prawns. The veggie dumplings are delicious and fresh. The service is polite and friendly. Level 3 Swanston St is a nice place to get away from the city buzz below.

I got the dumplings to go for lunch, but I ended up not eating them until the morning after. They were still good, if a little hard (that was my fault — I didn’t heat them up). It was pretty empty when I came in around noon. The server was nice and gave me corn soup while I waited :) I think this place is really cute and would love to come back.

Dined here with my fussy Vegan mother and she was very happy. We dined alone however, during what would normally be considered the rush hour for most restaurants. Non-​vegetarians might find this place a bit odd with all the faux meat dishes on the menu, but vegetarians will no doubt find the vast menu a bit thrilling (particularly if you like Chinese food in general). I would visit again (only just) if I had vegetarian guests to entertain.

While the food was tasty, this place is NOT GLUTEN FREE FRIENDLY.
I am gluten intolerant and my dining partner has crohn’s disease, so not eating gluten isn’t a lifestyle choice. From the start of our visit I was politely querying our waitress about dishes on the menu. She assured us that some of the fake meat was wheat protein and some was soy. When our «tofu hotpot» (which she confirmed on ordering was GF) arrived, it was full of fake seafood. I again queried her to make sure it wasn’t wheat protein meat, which she told me it was not.
Unfortunately within minutes of eating my dining partner began to have a major reaction — so definitely not gluten free!
We went here because some sites had tagged this place as «gluten free friendly», but please avoid Gon De Lin if this is one of your requirements.

I was taken here by a very dear friend for dinner and it was just about a perfect evening. Nice clean décor, attentive and friendly staff, an easy atmosphere, air conditioning, and the food — primo! The menu is extensive, but, as my friend said to me after we’d agonised over ordering for some time, everything is great so you can roll the dice and order just about anything and be confident that it’ll be delicious!
Would I have liked to have been able to order a beer or a wine with my dinner? Yes, absolutely.
I’m very happy to have found a new favourite spot. I highly recommend giving it a try. I will definitely be going back very soon.

I feel like a really bad vegetarian/​vegan nog knowing about this place before. I think I’ve walked past it a million times and not paid it any attention. We ate on aMonday night so it was pretty quiet, but the service was super quick and friendly. Not sure how well the staff understood my requests for not hot food when they pointed at dishes that had a 3 or 4 chilli rating, but what I got was pretty delicious and big too hot. I fear I could have eaten double what I did, but thank god I didnt. Def worth checking out. Great flavours and I was super full for price i paid!

If I hadn’t been told to keep an eye out for the elevator to take us up to Gong de Lin, then I would have kept on walking up Swanston St when I got to it. It’s sitting behind a wall buts it’s visible from the street and actually not that hard to see, so let’s just blame the pre-​dinner drinks.
We stepped out of the elevator directly into the restaurant and were greeted with a smile and directed to a booth along the wall. As we perused the menu we started to get a little overwhelmed, there are A LOT of options here. Probably too many actually, but with the waitress’s help we soon had placed our order.
In no time our table was filled with plates. Fried dumplings to start the were quite large and with six pieces, probably would have been enough, but that’s not how we do things so we powered through them. Our mock chicken was delicious (everything here is vegetarian, with lots of fake, but tasty meats to choose from) and our plate of beans with a vegetarian mince mixed through was surprisingly fantastic. We will definitely return!

Accidentally stumbled across this place when fighting our way through Boxing Day sales. Ugh. Why I was in the city then I’ll never know.
But, no word of a lie, I was feeling terrible. I needed to go home. I didn’t even want to sit on the tram. So we stumbled across Gone De Lin, went up the lift and it was nice and quiet and air conditioned and there was lovely quiet music. And we sat. And we ate. And I felt better. Much better.
The food is good, all vegan, average prices. The staff are very friendly, nearly attentive enough, and fast. The meals are large and there are a lot of fake meat options. Will definitely be back!

Stumbled across this quiet little restaurant while battling the crowds on Boxing Day. Everything on the menu is vegan? Sign me up!
My partner and I ordered a wonton soup, spring rolls, and a stir-​fried noodle dish. All meals were very generous in their serving size, and everything tasted fresh and delicious. The young woman tending to our table was friendly and polite, and more than happy to answer any questions we had about the dishes.
Lots of vegetable only dishes, as well as the mock-​meat versions of some classic Asian favourites.
I’ll definitely visit this spot again.

Great Food !