Review Flower Drum

Jia

I have always heard of this place as being highly rated for excellent Chinese food however never managed to pay a visit until we received a gift to dine here, and wow am I kicking myself for never trying this sooner! As soon as you step into the premises, the staff are all so welcoming and attentive. I can only echo what other reviewers have said and agree the service is second to none. I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant where I haven't had to get the attention of staff. And the food, wow! Everything was beautiful, we had the summer tasting banquet and we cannot fault any of the dishes. The coral trout was cooked to perfection, eye fillet was so tender and the veg was so simple yet wonderfully complimented the special fried rice and eye fillet. Dessert could be selected from a wide range from crepe to ice cream to something more traditional like milk pudding. We were spoilt for choice! We went with the almond pudding and the baked chestnut crumble. The custard pudding in the bake was really nice and not too sweet. Overall it was a wonderful night out, we will definitely be back and telling family and friends about this place.

life

The annual award winning 15 chefs hat restaurant lives up to its reputation. Fabulous environment for vivacious celebrations, superb food and friendly talented staff. Amazing crab, scallop and shrimp dumplings, stuffs crab shell, Jade tiger abalone and pepper eye fillet. Yummy.

Joy Dala

Amazing atmosphere, the customer service was immaculate. We came as a group of four, when we ordered the mains they served it all to us all equally instead of just picking at the dish. Our favourite was definitely the Peking Duck! Definitely would recommend going back and trying out more of there dishes 🙌🏼 The drinks were also amazing, a restaurant always worth visiting.

Guru Gun

So far this is one of the best Chinese restaurant with five star service. I can feel the warm welcome from the supervisor, it was very sincerely and the dedicated waiter was following the service procedures. Given i worked in five star restaurant many years ago, I can feel its very professional. The only suggestion I could give is when introducing the wine, normally the person who tasted the wine needs to wait to be the last pouring glass, but that’s just a minor thing. Also I can feel serving waiter doesn’t take customer orders, needs to wait for the supervisor, but it could be better if the serving waiter could acknowledge that client wants to make additional order and inform the supervisor. Overall the place deserve a five star, food is top quality, nice environment and good service. Definitely recommend friends and family members to visit and try out more often.

Nathan Coates

Ordered the Chef's Signature Banquet (6 courses) with the matching wine menu. The courses were all prepared well and the wine went really nicely with each. The selection was well balanced with both sea food and steak being offered, topped with a fresh desert. I would say Flower Drum is erring on the side of being slightly too expensive for the offering, but is still an excellent dining experience. The atmosphere and staff were very hospitable.

Melissa Trainor

We had another wonderful dinner at our favourite restaurant in Melbourne. The flower Drum is one of Melbourne icon restaurants we have dined here on numerous occasions & have always loved it. The restaurant is located at 17 Market Lane. The Flower Drum offers fabulous fine dining Cantonese cuisine however it's not cheap but is certainly worth the fine dining experience as the staff, food & atmosphere are absolutely outstanding.

Faye Mach-Phung

Amazing quality food & friendly staff. My husband has been celebrating his big birthdays here from 18th, 21st, 30th to 4oth and every time the quality of food never fails us. We also go for our wedding anniversary aswell.

M So

Came here with a group of 11 for lunch. Although almost of the dishes were cooked well, I highly recommend the Seafood Soup Dumpling, Crispy Skin Chicken 🐔 Peking Duck 🦆and Lotus Leaf Fried rice 🍚. The steamed milk and ginger was okay, but inconsistent between each bowl (some had more ginger flavours than others). The broth in the soup dumpling was so clear yet intense chicken flavour, the skin on the poultry was crispy with tender meat and the fried rice was full of aromatic smell of the lotus leaves. Definitely true to its Cantonese roots. 👍🏼😋😋

FoodingAroundMelbourne

Im hesitant to write bad reviews given Melbournes current food climate, but after trying to resolve issues via email I've given up. Ordered $106 of food through 'Providoor' this was shocking value for money. It only fed one of us and even then it didnt taste very nice. I emailed them to discuss, took 2 qeeks to get back to me in which they said they had some teething issues and could they send a complimentary banquet to rectify the issue. I let them know, this would be ok but that I would be providing an honest review of the second box. This was 4 weeks ago and am yet to hear anything. Having ordered 10+ Providoor banquets/meals at the same-ish price point flower drum is BY FAR, the least value and least flavoursome of the lot.

Mamacita Foodie And Hola Con Lola

Absolutely love the Peking duck! We had lunch last Friday with friends here Food is delish I can’t wait to come back!

Stuart Robinson

An iconic institution in the Melbourne food scene that has surpassed the test of time. Wasn't sure what to expect but imagined it might dish up exotic meals like those seen on Iron Chef. A little disappointed this wasn't the case as the menu was primarily Western-centric. The food was amazing and a super impressive wine list.

David Food Leasing

DO: Everything on the menu that you can afford. If you have no idea do the banquet or better yet, have a chat to the waiters and they'll sort you out. DON'T: Forget the wine list. TIP: There are a lot of "off menu" items. The Neil Perry crab Noodle is my fave. Ask the Waiters and say hello to the handsome Jason, the owner of Flower Drum

Nalia

We had a wonderful birthday dinner here right before the restrictions came. The entrees were excellent and the scotch century egg and fried potato pear were the highlight of the night for me. We also tried the pearl meat (nice), honey ribs (tasty), e-fu noodles (delicious), barramundi noodles (interesting, lo hon veggies (great), vegetarian 1000 leaf tofu (nice), chicken with moutai (slightly salty), special fried rice (tasty), baked chestnut pudding (delicious), milk pudding (so-so) and deep fried ice cream. A special mention to the staff who were superb - very attentive and considerate, the tea cup was never left empty. The price was also very reasonable. Thank you to the team for a brilliant evening, highly recommended!

Katie

I love this place. The food, the vibe. Just an amazing, iconic experience in itself.

LittleAsianGirl

Absolutley love the Peking Duck here. Generous portions for the banquet. I think we were a little greedy wanting to try everything. Definitely appreciate that they were able to substitute beef to seafood for me. Would love to come back and try the al la carte menu next time.

Aaditeya Bajaj

Great classic Chinese restaurant, great service first class, food simply the best, great atmosphere. This was the best Chinese food we have tasted in a long time. Would highly recommend

Jenny McWren

We had a spectacular birthday lunch for my dad today. Quality of the produce was evident as was the care of the cooking with very gentle flavours highlighting the coral trout and the beef. We loved the Peking duck and this is a must have at Flower Drum. Huge thanks to our wonderful waiter Barney who made dad's birthday very special and really made sure that we were well looked after. Such a kind and knowledgeable waiter. Thanks Barney!

Leo

Flower Drum has been in Melbourne for many years and it is a 2 hat restaurant. Nice decor and the ambiance is awesome for special events. I have been here twice already. This is the third time. Ordered the $150 banquet. Look at the photo for full menu descriptions. The first dish is the mud crab stuffed baked crab shell. Lots of crab meat mixed with curry mayo stuffed inside the shell and baked. Thus is a replacement of the abolone. Tasted good. The next dish is king st George whiting with fried Enoki garnish. So fresh and delicious with the pepper salt and lemon juice. Next came the seafood plate - 2 king prawns, 2 pearl meat, 1 scallop and crunchy sweet peas. Very fresh and tasty. Peking duck is next with each person 2 pancakes wrapped with roast duck, cucumber slices and hoi seen sauce. Succulent and delicious. Follow by grain fed black Angus eye fillet with Sichuan sauce. Very soft like cloud. The sauce is a tad too light. Luckily I was given the home made fermented prawn sauce. Dish came with fried seafood rice. For dessert, mango crepe, chestnut pudding and milk pudding. Overall very good, I can see why they are given the 2 hats. Very good service too and fast. Just tell the waiter you want your meals to arrive quicker. Highly recommended.

RM

Expected a bit more. It was a work lunch and took 40 minutes to bring the first dish and there was no flow or service that you would expect at that cost. Baked crab and Peking duck was amazing and mains were average (barramundi and prawns). The dessert was nice but again, expected more and plenty more and better places to try I think.

Debby

One of the oldest and most expensive Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. They have consistently listed in the top restaurants in Victoria. The dishes are cooked perfectly in a traditional method and the service is top notch. The seafood are fresh and the pork chop is soft.

Alisha

This place has got a classy reputation. When you tell people you're going to Flower Drum, they're expecting a fancy dinner with a price tag. The foyer to Flower Drum looks like a past edition of a magazine insert, and the main restaurant is decorated with like a traditional Chinese restaurant. Pretty crockery is on the table when you sit down, but this is taken away before the food arrives- not sure if we didnt order something or if it is for show. I enjoyed the food, but I wasn't wowed by it either. We were quite full with the serves and had to take away dessert as it was too much. I didnt get the hype much, but it was a pleasant experience. Not much love for the blue cocktail though 👎

Fredster64

Overhyped. Floor staff are excellent but the service (speed of food out of the kitchen) was quite poor. Additionally, and unlike any other Chinese I’ve ever been to (I lived in HK for 7 years!), every dish is served individually. We had 4 mains. Instead of 4 big plates of food in the middle to share and each guest having a single bowl, there are no plates in the middle and each guest had 4 separate bowls. This enables them to charge double without people ‘noticing’. Take Peking duck for example. Most restaurants charge $60 for a whole Peking duck, pancakes etc and a fried rice after. That would make about 20 pancakes and a fried rice dish. At Flower Drum it’s (from memory) $20/2 pancakes and served as a per person dish. Thus a $60 dish for pancakes and fried rice costs an equivalent of $200 for the Peking duck and a further $27 for the fried rice, therefore $227 v $60 normally. This pricing behaviour is replicated throughout. I don’t particularly care what I pay for a good meal, but I do object to blatant ripoffs. They have structured the service in an unauthentic way to maximise revenue. On the plus side they have an exceptional wine list. My bill for 5 was nearly $2,300 (yes we drank some nice wine) which I would have been fine with if I hadn’t felt skimmed, but I wasn’t because i felt we were. I wouldn’t return even though I quite liked it.

Jasmine

Flower Drum is definitely on the high end of the spectrum. Classy, refined and elegant. There's a whole presentation before each meal where they prep each portion per person right in front of you. Ordered: 🦀 2x baked crab shell: $70.00 🦆 Duck Wontons: $42.00 🦆 Peking Duck: $40.00 🍗 Half Crispy Skinned Chicken: $25.00 🥩 Black Pepper Eye Fillet Steak: $40.00 🥧 Fried Bean Curd: $18.00 🍚 Small Special Fried Rice: $19.00 🍨 Deep Fried Ice Cream: $18.00 🍵 Oolong Tea: 4 x $5.00 per cup Review: There is always something intimate about watching someone prepare your food. Seeing our waiter take such care before each dish, and serving it to us was a touch of personalized experience. He also kept a watchful eye over the tea, and although it shocked me that tea was charged on the bill - luckily there was no a charge for refills. Overall, the favourites for me were: 1. 🦀 Baked Crab Shell: with its cheesy outer layer and easy to consume and flavourful insides. It didnt taste too much of the sea, but it was amazing enough that I still remember the taste a month later. 2. 🥩 Black Pepper Eye Fillet Steak: was amazing in its medium cooked form. Soft, tender pieces that seemed to melt in your mouth. There was no where near enough of this! The total price of $292.00 for four of us / $73.00 was a little expensive for the portions we received. However, for a really relaxed experience, where each dish is prepared carefully, consider Flower Drum for your next celebration. Make sure you make a booking beforehand!

Kim C

First time coming to Flower Drum. Every dish that came out was outstanding. So yum!!! My favourite was the mushroom dish. The steak was so tender & pork was soft & flavourful. 😍

Noble Foodie

This restaurant is well known since the 90’s. However it has changed owner last few years. I was told by a friend that it was a very grand restaurant with the setting like a Chinese palace and the prices are very pricey. Furthermore bookings has to be made in advance. So recently my family of four went to have our dinner there. Upon entering the premises, it was not what I had expected. The restaurant was renovated and quite modern and fit for fine dining type. The staffs are well trained and professional. We ordered a bit of almost every dishes for trying. Portion of dishes served are just enough for sharing. Menu may be different from other restaurant and prices are not cheap either. This place has been overrated. It is a place where you will not patronize often unless it is a company’s function or on occasion.

Tania

Look, this restaurant isn’t cheap but the food and service is impeccable. It really is a Melbourne institution. I also love the nostalgic/old school decor as it takes me back to my childhood family lunches/dinners.

Priscillia

Definitely one of the best Chinese restaurant in Melbourne. You won’t get disappointed. Service is excellent! We were trying few more dishes but didn’t even have a time to take all the photos. I would come back here again in a heartbeat. Highly recommended!

Bite The Looks By BHA

This restaurant have reputation of one of the best chinese cuisine in melbourne. The place and the ambience were so stunning like a traditional chinese restaurant with the huge grand entrance and the red wall on it. Moreover, from my overall perspective, this place really look sophisticated and modern. the staffs were also very attentive and friendly to me. FOOD 1. Peking duck 2. Yeung chow fried rice-special fried rice with prawns, bbq pork, egg, asparagus and spring onion 3. Sauté seasonal vegetables-selelction of green vegetables 4. Mud crab & fish maw & egg white 5. Black Angus eye fillet 6. S.A Calamari Overall, the food was really good, what i really recommend is that the crab and the black angus eye fillet, i feel like both dish are really one of the best dish that i’ve ever had in melbourne. Feeling so happy about their service too, always pouring tea whenever my cup is finish.. one of the best service that i’ve ever receive through my eating journey in melbourne.. Thank you for the experience. Will come back again for sure #BHAsFoodDiary

Carlo Boscia

I want to give Flower Drum 3.5, it’s a more accurate rating. This restaurant offers good Cantonese food, but it’s far from great, and given the pricing of the menu, I don’t think it’s worthwhile. I’ve been here twice, and I drew the same conclusion each time. The service is fine, the decor is somewhat dated, but part of the charm. I think if you’re coming here, do so as part of a group of 4 or more to enjoy more dishes. The pork belly was the highlight for me, definitely worth ordering. Not a dinner for the ages...

Burgers Of Melbourne

I nice spot in the CBD for a special event. A bit pricey for an average night out but a quality feed none the less. I have been here a couple of times and both times left extremely satisfied.

Makan2Melbourne

Went here on Chinese New Year weekend lunch. The kitchen closes at 3pm, so the service was very rushed. We didn’t have time between meals. They just kept serving the dishes with no breaks. The portions were big and filling, might be too big for a tasting menu. The food was pretty tasty, but there was nothing special. The best one was probably the peking duck. The worst dish was the beef, it had a distinct smell, more like lamb, and it was a bit slimy. Didn’t enjoy it at all, many of my friends didn’t even finish it. The deep fried ice cream was also disappointing. The batter they used tasted strange, maybe floury, or undercooked. They represented the ingredients well, the seafood dishes were high quality. But the taste and the whole experience was nothing special. Definitely not worth the $150 pp price tag.

Le Wine Journey

Never ever order off the menu. Let the professional waiters do it. They are well versed into the seasonal produce and what is the best way to cook it.

StepiiGM

Definitely a great dining experience - ordered mostly seafood and they tasted super light and fresh. Great service, friendly and informative. Food came out a bit slow though. Guess I should have asked for everything all at once.

Sunny Days Melbourne

Flower Drum has a legendary reputation for Chinese fine dining in Melbourne. Its name is always spoken of in reverence. Flower Drum's entrance is grand and its interior is stunning. While the food is typical Chinese cuisine, it's their service that is second to none. Their waiters and waitresses have an almost telepathic ability to predict what your immediate needs are - tea cups never stay empty, dirty plates are changed at just the right moment and it is impossible not to be able to attract the attention of their attentive workers for assistance. So while we enjoyed their food, it's their high quality of service that we will always remember. Yes, it's pricey but for the Camelot of Chinese cuisine in Melbourne, it's worth it.

Thi

My partner and I had to wait over a month for our booking, so expectations were high. We ordered the four course banquet with additional dumplings. Two stars deducted because we waited approx 10-15 mins in between each dish and the food was very small in portion. We were still hungry afterwards and went to McDonald’s, which is not what you want to do after a ‘banquet’. Now, the positives were the extremely attentive service, the tasty food that was served and the atmosphere. Did we enjoy the night? Yes we did. Will we go back? Probably not.

Some Bunee Loves Food

This restaurant is really worth 5 stars. The service, the food, and the experience was great. The food was unique, full of flavor and it was delicious. Ordered the crispy skin chicken with lemon and salt, black angus fillet, barramundi made into noodles, seafood rolls, and peking duck in a banquet. It came with fried rice, veggies and almond cake dessert. Food was great but slightly small in portions however their service is amazingly attentive, and friendly. Loved my experience here!

Tanya

My favourite Chinese restaurant. Super impressive! I’m much more adventurous with food choices here because everything is so perfectly prepared, I’ll eat it all! Such a beautifully decorated restaurant too!

HeraldSun Reviews

OMG. Wow. The door the entrance, the elevator up, the room the atmosphere, it’s definitely a rare occasion to be in awe. It’s absolutely beautiful. The food is beautiful, the experience memorable. The most outstanding thing however was the service. The best waiters in the country 100%. Pricey though.. very pricey. But worth it. Recommended

Fussy Eater

This restaurant has been so famous as the best Chinese restaurant in Melbourne and I have been there finally with group of friend. We didn't know what to order so had the 4 courses of set menu and it was so satisfying eventhough we paid extra $10 each per person for upgrading the fried rice which was including in the set menu. The drawing on the plate for peking duck was so impressive and special experience. The service was superb and all the ingredients were so fresh and tasty. The interior and ambience were quite old typical Chinese style and I didn't like the red carpet personally but the restaurant is clean and pleasant.

Mohammed Allah

This place has a big f***ing red door that say”s hey look at me you rich #ustard come on in you white caucasian Down syndrome laughing stock, There is a guy at the Front door with a red glass left Eye,But don’t look too close because he might think you fancy him and instead of going upstairs to the restaurant he will press the basement button and you will go downstairs to the dungeon where he will bum fuck you. The food is fantastic for any white Caucasian Down syndrome person , The best dishes is the special fried rice or the lemon chicken. Don’t order any lobster because they give you a bowl of water with a lemon in it , I believe it’s a appetiser before the lobster comes out, but to me it tastes like lemon water , very cold lemon water , so just stick to the special fried rice and lemon chicken and you can’t go wrong. A stubbie of VB is $12 bucks so try to sneak in a 6pack .

Thunder8621

Impressed with the layout, service and ambience. Food hit the mark, and highlights were the pearl meat, wagyu cheek and dumpling seafood soup with scallops that were fresh and full of flavour. Everything is fully valued/priced however, and some overseasoning did mask the flavours of the meats/seafood underneath, but still recommended!

Davisco Sprincorza

Flower drum was a great experience, heard a lot of good things about it so was good to try. We had the banquet menu which had around 4-5 dishes and had great flavor.

Aier

I've been hearing about this place for a while now, people call it the best Chinese fine dining in Melbourne. Luckily I was treated to a friend's birthday dinner here, and I must say it is a mixed bag, some dishes were amazing, some were very average for the price. The place seemed like a traditional Chinese restaurant, with a flair of elegance to it. The wait staff were attentive and efficient, service was impeccable. We had an ensemble of cold dishes to start, a mixture of jellyfish, chicken and mushrooms wrapped in beancurd. Then came the abalone, beautifully presented and seasoned, laid out on top of hor fun like noodles. It tasted fresh and the sauce was just right, definitely a highlight. The soup came next, we had the wallaby tail soup and the crab and fish soup. Both tasted light and refreshing, infused with healthy Chinese ingredients that only older Chinese would appreciate. This is followed by lamb pockets, which was stir fried lamb wrapped in bread pockets (similar to peking duck wraps). This dish has a unique presentation but very average taste. We then had the seafood fried rice with black truffle, I could see the glisten of truffle oil on the rice, the smell was overwhelmingly mouth watering, and it tasted even better. Definitely a highlight. Steamed fish came with the rice, I was not sure what type of fish it was, as I'm not a big fan of steamed fish. But I could tell it was fresh. It also came with a side dish of steamed vegetable which was very disappointing, the stem was tough to chew and I had to throw out majority of it, certainly does not fit with the other dishes. Overall I would say this is a mixed review, I'd give it 4 stars if it wasn't so expensive. Food: 3 Service: 5 Ambiance: 4 Price: 2

KnowingMelbourne

The flower drum is quality Chinese fine dining. It’s been around for years and is a Melbourne classic. When it first started it was in a class of its own, but now Melbourne is so lucky to have one of the most vibrant, inventive and high quality food scenes that the flower drum may have lost some of its spark. But, it’s still great food and service. The Peking duck pancakes are wonderful and the Black Angus rye fillet is always a fave. A must try if you’re a Melbournian.

Georgia Sing

Had a wonderful experience here. I felt immediately welcomed on arrival by many of the friendly staff. The restaurant has the atmosphere and ambience of just what you would expect from a Chinese restaurant, but with a little more flair. The service was great, the cocktails beautiful, and the food delicious. The only dish to fault was the barramundi noodles... not much flavour going on. Apart from that, a very pleasant evening. Highly recommend.

Johnny

Treated to a birthday celebration here and was very impressed. This place is top notch. Not usually a fan of Chinese food but I am a fan of this place. Had the lunch banquet: Peking duck and crispy skinned chicken, served with greens and fried rice. Everything was splendid, decent value too all things considered. The service is impeccable. I can see why this place is so highly rated. Will be back.

John Carver

I went a little while ago and it was a great tasty treat. Amazing service and great food. Chinese like I'm not used to. Abalone and great Peking duck. So juicy. I'm not sure when I'll be back but I'm glad I got to try it.

Melbourne Food Journey

The food was not amazing but decent. I was expecting more from this Melbourne institution. I didn’t find myself being deeply impressed by any of the courses, just satisfied. The quality of the food was very good however. The service was impeccable and very attentive.

Oscar Lau

Service - Very attentive and friendly staffs. They take their time to explain each dish and the ingredients used. Food - They are very consistent with the quality of the food. Although portions are small but each dish taste amazing, they even removed the shells from the lobster. Wine - Relatively small wine list but the quality is there, especially the vintage wines. The manager explains and suggest wines for different dishes.

Ben Lee Kong

Most people have a Flower Drum story, and a view on its merits as a big night out. Back when I first ventured there in my mid-twenties it was a three star restaurant still at the height of reverence from most dining circles. It was described to me at the time as a destination restaurant even for people living in China. Naturally, I took that statement with a degree of skepticism, but when your waitperson has been at the same restaurant for 25 years, there is an instant knowing that something is going particularly well, in a world where a year is a milestone in hospitality. Fast forward almost one and a half decades and the knowing is of a different kind.

Khorry Sila

3.5 out of 5. The food is nice, but it’s a bit pricey. But the service was excellent, the staff so friendly, they explain all the menu very well. It was nice experience of the food and everything.

Look.its.sarah

My partner and I came here last night for my birthday. The service was the best I’ve ever received, I’m left handed and within moments of grabbing my chopsticks they came and reset the table for me. I’ve never been anywhere where the staff were that attentive to small details. The food was simple yet full of flavour and just what I had been craving. We wanted to share the duck wontons, which has 3 pieces, but the waiter was lovely and gave us an extra so we had 2 wontons each. The mud crab was divine, and tasted so familiar, like something my mother would cook. The Peking duck was a done beautifully, biting into the crispy skin and having the sauce and that rendered fat just mix in your mouth, then a light refreshing hit of cucumber in there too. Will definitely return to try the 6 course banquet

FoodieGuru_770

Ate tonight at the flower drum. A good fress. The food was delicious and the food was fresh, tasty and was nice. I felt a million dollars the waiter was great and will come again.

Two Sheds

I’d never been here but had always wanted to come to this well known Melbourne icon. It’s an extraordinary experience with the food and service hitting very lofty heights. We had the six course banquet and found every dish absolutely superb. The service hit incredible heights. It’d be close to to the warmest and most professional service I’ve ever experienced. I can’t fault the restaurant. It was truly excellent.

Flashfryer

third time to flower drum and what can I say it's flawless from the food to the service, you must try the dim sum it is the best in the country other noteble dishes had , quail San Chow bow , Peking duck pancakes , fried pork ribs , honey glazed ribs , lamb spring rolls !

TD

Best chinese i’ve had, the sauteed seafood is excellent, lobster is big and springy and presentation is different to your standard chinese restaurant. The peking duck is very refined and delicate. Even the fried banana was so good, batter was so light and crispy. If you are willing to pay the money, they definitely give you quality produce.

The Cheeky Chomper

The food is very good and standard Chinese fare..service is outstanding too. Would love to give it five stars but it didn't have the wow factor ... Excellent place all the same

Nes

Food was fresh but lacked flavour and servings were so small. For the high price, I expected much better quality. Didn’t live up to its reputation at all.

Brillat_Savarin

It’s been many years since I’ve been here and not much has changed. Formal fine dining service together with Cantonese cuisine cooked and presented beautifully. The quality of the ingredients are top notch. However, we all felt as good as this place is, it does seem a tad outdated here in 2018 and not that exciting. Another letdown was the long time between courses, argh! So excruciatingly painful! We spent over 3 hours here!! Too long! Oh well, a dinosaur will always be a dinosaur.

Connoisseurc

Very disappointing visit to Flower Drum with a few important people. Not cheap either at $200pp. Serves run small. There’s a lot of history but it doesn’t serve the style of Cantonese I expect and like. I wouldn’t describe it as fusion either, it’s like low fat, low salt Cantonese food, lacking in salt and oil and “wok hei”. Usually stir fried lobster is super flavourful and loaded with ginger and shallot. This one had barely any, but did have nice trimmings eg sugar snaps and all the shell was removed even the legs! Fried rice (a very staple dish) again did not have the wok hei or fragrance. Spinach braised in soup was probably the only dish seasoned adequately. Stir fried Chinese broccoli and beef was lacking seasoning, also the cut of beef used (lower quality maybe topside? and tenderised) meant it really needed some good flash frying... The signature entrees were inventive but serves are small, I would recommend the pearl meat dish and Portuguese style crab baked in shell. The service is unusually attentive for Cantonese, so much I found it uncomfortable...

Dumba

Chinese fine dining at its best. This place is a hidden gem. The staff are very friendly, and the food is substantially elevated from other Chinatown eateries.

Charles Leeworthy

Good Services can only go do far to hide disappointing food that lacked seasoning. I have what to go the the Flower Drum for many years and try their famous Squab. Blow the restaurant and the food did not deliver. Nice to try once but will not return.

Alijargalb

Went here with my family and the service was amazing but the food doesn’t meet the expectations. The food was good, but not authentic Chinese and I had the beef hor fun and it lacked seasoning. Overall the food was average

Michfish

Always wanted to try flower drum been so famous in Melbourne. Finally had a chance to try it out. The service was excellent the food was delicious. Recommend pan fried tooth fish and wagyu short ribs, crispy coating with tender meat. Barramundi noodles are amazing too!!!!

Lindsay Marriott

Staff was great, scallops were divine, but we found the rest of the food average for the prices they’re charging. Glad I went, but wouldn’t go back.

Jesskaar

They say this place is an Melbourne Institution and I can see why. From the moment you walk in, the dining room has the confidence and grandiosity so typical of Chinese restaurant. The waiters are scurrying around and are incredibly attentive. At times, I thought they were a little pushy with trying to sell a drink. All dressed in the same waistcoat and white shirts, they looked impressive in their uniformity. We opted for the four course menu. The food was definitely 'bastardised' Chinese food and appeared to be designed for the more western crowd. The more elaborate six course menu boasted the signature Chinese delicacies which are more typically associated with the East. We had steamed oysters in black bean sauce, King George Whiting, Peking Duck, Black Pepper beef with greens and fried rice and finished off with fried ice cream, an undeniably un-Chinese but decadent way to end the meal. The food was delicious and the service prompt, and before the end of the night we were struggling to stomach the home made almond butter cookies which deserved far more attention. I'm glad I finally managed to come here. The prices really are exorbitant at Flower Drum, but it will buy you an unforgettable experience.

Jolene Lim

Flower Drums has a reputation for exceptional customer service and Cantonese cuisine fine dining experience. My last visit to Flower Drums was a few years back and decided to return for a birthday treat. The restaurant located in Chinatown has been around for over 40 years , won many awards and widely featured in international travellers and culinary magazines. However, the building is a bit old. The elevator could use some servicing as it was a bit squeaky going up to the restaurant. The carpet could be replaced too and looked a bit dated. The staff are all well dressed in long sleeves and the senior staff are in suits. The staff who looked after us was a lovely older gentleman, was very warm and friendly. I asked him for recommendation as we wanted a light lunch for a hot day. His recommendation for the pearl meat was delicious and light, beautifully presented in big pearl shells. He even joked if I find pearl amongst the meat, I should give it to the birthday boy! He also recommended a special seafood crispy noodles dish for the birthday boy as a symbol of longevity. The seafood was so fresh and the noodles was so flavourful. The Peking duck was so juicy and presented with hoisin sauce drawn in a duck shape on the plate, how creative! Then as compliment from the house, came a big plate house made almond cookies and candle as birthday wish. How lovely!! The only let down for me was the fried ice cream. Overall, it was a grear experiment albeit the high price tad but it's worth it for the special occasion.

Justsoph

Best Chinese cuisine in Melb, they say... well, I'm still waiting for the drums to beat to the final bang. Having said that, it is after all a Cantonese restaurant and Cantonese cuisine is all about simplicity and clean flavours done well and there is much finesse at the Flower Drum. Couple that with impeccable service. At the end of the day, I do like it... just a tad pricey for me.

Dolce Bunnie

I first discovered Flower Drum from an issue of the Conde Nast Traveller magazine. A photo of thinly sliced, glossy crispy duck skin enveloped in a pancake with shallot and cucumber took up the entire page and it looked as tempting as ever. Immediately Flower Drum was added to my list of places to eat.

Jen

Delicious. Best Cantonese in Australia. Baked crab in turmeric sauce beautiful. Whiting with fried enoki so fresh and tasty it was amazing. Peking duck pancakes perfect. Short ribs too rich for me but husband loved

Jianierrrrrr

Finally got the chance to have dinner at the famous Flower Drum Chinese restaurant. The decoration of the restaurant was full of Chinese elements, elegant and low key. The overall service was quite good. Due to the large number of the group, we decided to have the banquet. #Pearl meat#-beautifully sautéed with asparagus, light, fresh, tender and sweet. Simply sautéed with no extra sauce to reflect the true flavour of the pearl meat! Recommend! But the #tooth fish# was quite disappointing, fresh but nothing stood out regarding to the flavours. #duck pancake#-was another highlight of the dinner. Freshly steamed pancakes wrapped with juicy tender duck meat and crispy skin. Every bite was satisfying, and the sauce painting was quite cute. #grain-fed scotch fillet# and #special fried rice# didn't impress me again. Even though the beef fillet was extreme enter, lack of "heat" and the "punch". #chestnut pudding# needed extra time since it baked freshly. Nice dessert to have but little too sweet for me. The kids were quite enjoying the #fried ice cream#. I had very high expectations of Flower Drum, but the overall flavours of the dishes I got was not that impressive. Also the price tag was high too, maybe I should try their A La Carte menu next time......

Leanne Dando

Went here for our anniversary and loved it. Firstly going up to the beautiful red door so mysterious. Then up into the elevator and once the doors opened. Totally in love with the decor! Ordered the special fried rice, pork crispy noodles, king prawns in garlic butter and the Waygu beef! I loved the table service where they plate the food so delicately. The taste was amazing. I was worried looking at it that the portions were too small and we would be hungry but we weren't. It was amazing. My favourite was the wagyu beef. Done to perfection! The fried rice is average but when mixed with the meat it was good that the fried rice didn't distract from the main component of the meat. I was so full couldn't even make it to dessert. Even the cutlery was spot on. Service was impeccable. Couldn't ask for a better night. Loved it !

Ben Carrington

Had a great night at the flower drum. The service was very good and the food was excellent. The duck pancakes are the winner! Would highly recommend

Good Food = Happy Mood

This place has been on the list for a while and finally we made it here , nicely set up and very organised was expecting a much more quality and better food , nothing special

Jpolinkos

Left Disappointed! A small group of us had lunch here recently and I was shocked at how inconsistent the food was. Some good, some average. I have dined here many times over the years, but not recently and it has always been fantastic. The Peking duck was cold and tough and the Wagyu Porterhouse equally tough. So much so that we returned the dish. The Quail Sang Choi Bao was very good I must admit. Maybe a bad day or just expected a lot better. I have eaten in a lot of Chinese restaurants of late and had more consistent food.

Michael Daaboul

Drumming to its own beat. Picture this. Earthbound entrance, unappealing lighting and a confusing entrance before jumping on the lift to quickly ask your partner if you're going to die tonight, "This is the right place, right?" Sure enough, when the doors opened, the warm lighting welcomed you to a grand view of red carpets that continued off to the distance with an army of waiters. Luxury fittings, generous spacing and gleaming wood detailing, it's sure to leave a lasting impression. The lasting impressions don't stop there, the professional service provided by the waiters was exceptional. Skilled, well-mannered and in-tune with the menu, it's pleasing to know that service like this is still truly alive. What's the food like? I'm glad you asked. It was my fiancée's birthday and that required the Chef's 6 Course Signature Banquet. The entrees came out, one by one, we were presented with the Baked Crab Shell, S.A. King George Whiting and the Quail Sang Choi Bao. The Crab Shell was beautiful as it was delicate, the turmeric sauce and garlic told stories to your mouth that you haven't heard of before. The King George Whiting would make any king proud, served with spicy salt on a bed of enoki mushrooms. Pale, soft and you start to wonder why fish isn't cooked like this everywhere else. The minced quail meat cooked with Chinese sausage was delightful, the added shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and spring onion served in a lettuce leaf, floated with flavours that could make your eyes roll like they're playing Ring a Ring o' Roses. At this point we were getting really excited to see what the mains would entail. The journey so far was nothing short of memorable and yet we had the likes of Sauté Seafood with Ginger, Peking Duck and Grain Fed Eye Fillet with Sichuan Sauce to arrive yet. Here it goes. The Sauté Seafood had crayfish, king prawn, scallop and pearl meat that was wok tossed with ginger and spring onion. A savoury mix of love and craft shines from its glittering surface, elegant and delicious. The roast duck, wrapped in pancake with cucumber, spring onion and plum sauce begged to be eaten multiple times, over and over. The plum sauce had exceeded any plum sauce I have tasted before, and if there was 100 of these, I would have eaten them all. The Black Angus eye fillet, with spicy Sichuan sauce, served with seasonal vegetables and rice was a fitting end to the main event. Treated like a king as the Sichuan sauce danced with the vegetables, the butter soft meat and rich flavour of the sauce ensured that you savoured the experience for that much longer. Then there was desserts, Fried Ice Cream and Banana Fritters, with gorgeous maple syrup and crushed berry sauce. The desserts are not in the same league as their savoury counterparts (unless you ordered the $135 Bird's Nest in Almond Soup), but they still tickle you in the right way, especially with the pile of almond cookies and Vittoria coffee that's provided. If it's your birthday, they will create a nice little surprise for you too :) Flower Drum is an expensive experience with flavours filled with vigour and a huge endorsement for Melbourne and Cantonese cuisine. It's at the top of its game, one that if it ever disappeared, would leave a lasting hole of one people who never tried it, would have regretted if they knew what they had missed out on.

RoxyMaxwell

I'd heard great things in the press about Flowerdrum, but it didn't overly impress. We had the Chef's 6 course tasting menu. The food was good quality and well prepared, but nothing really stood out as a 'wow' dish. Desserts were hit and miss, mostly very simple. My partner ordered the strawberry dessert, and it was just a bowl of strawberries. Others included fried apple with toffee, and fried banana. Service was good - very attentive, and the decor was nice enough. Expensive compared to other fine dining restaurants. Unfortunately nothing to rave about, wouldn't go back again.

Surfinhahn3

Overall it was a good experience. I went there for a dinner was a friend. We loved the peking duck it was perfect and the chinese was to die for. Would recommend.

Little Man

Easy to see why this is a Melbourne institution. We actually went to this restaurant some time ago but only getting around to writing the review now. Delicious food and great service. Restaurant needs a refresh.

Good Food Good Mood

Flower drum is renowned as an iconic Melbourne institution but by God is it dated. I found this experience extremely underwhelming. Sure the service is exceptional but the food was entirely unmemorable and did not remotely justify the prices. I thought this dinner was going to be full of elegance and opulence and looked forward to it with serious anticipation but the interiors were passé and nothing measured up to my high expectations. This was disappointing given the name Flower Drum is synonymous with fine dining and everybody raves about it. I can only conclude they revere the memory of its glory days ten or twenty years ago. Times have changed, standards have changed and the competition has stepped up.

GG

Was a lovely experience with family. Shout out to Derek his service was attentive and he was very funny! Peking duck was delicious! And the special Chinese tea was also a hit!

Lucy Nguyen

Definitely worth the experience, service was amazing and food was delicious, not your average Chinese restaurant as some would say, all the flavours and dishes were very unique. Highlights were the braised wagyu beef cheek, pearl meat, barramundi noodles, calamari and those banana fritters

Tassie Eleftheriou

Fantastic atmosphere and quite possibly the best service we have ever seen in a restaurant. We tried exotic dishes like the jellyfish and the Peking duck was completely unforgettable.

An

A timeless classic, providing of course fantastic food with high class service. However for a fraction of the cost bamboo house or the likes provide food of a very similar level in a slightly less refined manner (not always a bad thing) Great for special occasions , but it's not high on my list.

Sneha Arora

I had heard so many positive reviews about this place and our first visit recently certainly my did not disappoint! Service was impeccable and the food was spectacular. My taste buds were dancing with delight after dining here. We had the 6 course banquet with matching wines and each course surpassed the last. Expensive, but this place has been on my bucket list for so long so worth every cent!!

Luciana Pinto

Food was delicious! Service could have been better as we had to keep trying to get the waiters attention to get menus and the bill. Then they also overcharged us but did apologise for the mistake.

Paul Delaney

Went here for an anniversary dinner as I've heard about this places lots I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but I don't mind paying good money if the service and food is good and it was the service was second to none and the food was awesome the only thing I wasn't super happy with was the special fried rice was a little plain but I don't go to a restaurant for rice the wine was great and all of our other dishes were top notch would definitely go back again but make sure you book well ahead it's a pretty popular place.

Gursharan Chana

Great food and ambiance, and the staff very attentive. The restaurant has a very good wine list and the food is served at a good pace to allow you to really enjoy the experience.

Pinch Of Bacon

What's not to love about amazing Cantonese food! It is a bit more pricey it the food is well worth it. The staff are so attentive! A great dining experience!

Wedders

Exquisite. Perfect food combined with perfect service. The four course lunch menu for $75 is the best value fine dining experience in Melbourne. There is no better Cantonese food anywhere.

The New Fave

grandma's house - it's warm and welcoming, the furniture is comfy, your waited on as if you are the only person in the room and some the dishes, well, even though you can tell they have put in. a massive effort, are a little outdated. . The venue itself is on Market Lane in China Town. With its huge round

ToMaZo

Decided to give the Flower Drum ago as a special treat for my wife and I's anniversary. I must admit the food was enjoyable however the prices are extremely exaggerated for what is served. I get that back in the day it was rated one of the best restaurants in Australia however presently it's nothing overly special. For starters we ordered an assortment of dumplings, followed by the Peking Duck. The duck was great however $40 for 4 pre-rolled up pancakes seemed ridiculous when at Old Kingdom or Simon's I can get a whole duck for that amount and the quality is the same. Next up the spare ribs which were my least favourite course, quite bland and not a quality meat. Can't remember the dessert but I think it was banana fritters. The $250 bill with only a glass of wine and a cocktail really didn't equate to the wow-factor of the meal. Pay a visit if you are a tourist with money to burn otherwise I'd suggest one of the many other quality Chinese restaurants in Melbourne as the quality of the food will likely be the same and for about a third of the price. The $550/kg price tag for the Waygu Steak on the menu was particularly baffling!

Angela Eats

Loveeee the peaking duck and the beef! Pecking duck wrap was amazing and wouldn't mind eating another 10. Beef was extremely tender and cooked to perfection!

Chris Kilpatrick

My first visit to this Melbourne Asian restaurant with the biggest legacy of all! Big boots to fill..... and fill it did! The service was exceptional, decor was splendid without being jaw dropping! We decided to graze over a series of entree size dishes, which worked well for our mood. We enjoyed a solid Savy Blanc in the Catalina Sounds brand which accompanied all of our dishes well. We began with the squid which was tender, moist and amazing. This was followed by my dish of the night which was the Pearl Meat, amazing. We then had Peking duck, of course, this was very good. This was prepared at our table silver service and the detail in the sauce prep is highlighted in the photo. Our deserts well they were exceptional for chinese! Mango pancakes and toffee apples.... Yum! The apples were also prepared at the table with the toffee being spun magnificently. I suppose when your reputation proceeds you, expectations go through the roof, at just under $400 it was exy but you know this before arriving. Impressed

Foodie AC

Hasn't lost its touch after all these years. You won't find better Chinese. You won't find better service. Every dish a winner. Peking Duck the stuff of legends, pearls were lovely as was the fish. A few niggles- decor needs an update, ice cream with dessert not too good. But this is special occasion Chinese. And worth it.

Gino

Maybe I had lofty expectations because of its reputation but it didn't do much for me. The duck and service was exceptional. But at the end of the day it's hard to justify charging so much when it's still essentially Chinese food.

"JT" Jeffrie Trika

The former #1 restaurant in Australia ..... definitely has lost its soul. Always good to revisit restaurants that set "bench-mark" and "breaking-ground" just like this one, just sadly that "past-glory" is over and seems to be "non-Lazarus". The opulent set up is still there so are those well-groomed and tentative staff but VERY disappointed with their dishes in comparison to what they are charging (it hasn't changed much from previous years). Missing that special feeling ..... maybe go back to Lau's kitchen.

Lanz

Cannot fault Flower Drum, beautiful food, beautifully presented and friendly staff... If ever there is a special occasion this is the place to go!

Carissa Lee

Firstly, service was ah-mazing! The waiters pay attention to every detail and attends to your needs. Stand out dish was the abalone with rice noodle (note: this dish isn't on the menu) sooooo good!!! Have never tried anything like it. We ordered a set menu as well and food is good here. I mean, it is a Michelin star restaurant after all. Expensive food and their service is outstanding.

Julia Ye

Food and service meet the reputation . Enjoyed pretty much everything . We ordered two chef special , enjoyed every dish , and service is very professional and delightful. Of course the cost is a bit pricy , two people spent more than 300 dollars but we have ordered a nice bottle of wine. A posh Chinese restaurant with traditional decoration , nice place to take important business partners . Recommended at least try once in your life ;)

Stan

Polite and attentive service as you would expect. Great value lunch at $75 for four courses considering the quality of the food. Recommended for those special (or even not so special) occasions.

Olahn Zaft

Been trying to eat here for years but couldn't land seats. So for my wedding anniversary, I booked a table 3 months prior to ensure we get in. First thing we noticed, the setup... Requiring an elevator to get up to the restaurant level but we were assisted by a very polite gentleman. Up there... The restaurant is not your typical modern setup with big scenic windows and modern furniture. But it felt prestigious. The food was great... Very tasty and original, well for me anyways. I recommend trying their soup. Now, the service... I have to say... The best service I've experienced in Melbourne and probably up there globally. Waiters were extremely skilled at their jobs l, their timing and promptness were remarkable. Well done. Plenty of room between tables also, fine dining indeed. Although you will see the occasional big groups but the place is big enough for sure. Also most patrons were dressed nicely, so wear something with a collar if you want to blend in or not if you don't care. Its one of Melbourne's restaurants that you must check out. I'd go again for sure.

Caroline Beaney

For my 4th year anniversary my boyfriend had arranged for us to have dinner at Flower Drum. As like every anniversary, I had no idea where I was going. Flower Drum is a very fancy Chinese restaurant. The food menu is of course similar to the menus at other Chinese restaurants besides from being pricer. At Flower Drum, you are paying for a different type of experience - you can see the waiters preparing some of the food from your table. It's quite a show. You are also paying for the professional service - the staff are very attentive. The staff are also very knowledgeable about their food. We had this side dish which was this lovely chilli sauce. We also ordered the Black Angus Hor Fun. The waiter suggested we used the sauce on our meal because they made a good combination. He was definitely right about that! Just one note about the menu, for every dish you order, every other person on the table will also get this meal on their own separate plate. For example if it says for one dish it is $22 per person, that means if there are two of you, unless you specify you will get two serves. That's really not something I expected - meant I ate more food than what I thought I was going to anyway!! Haha. The Singapore Noodles were very nice, and probably my favourite dish. Flower Drum is probably one of the only few places I can think of where you pay per dumpling. We ordered some Berkshire Pork Dumplings/Jioazi. They are $4.50 each. They tasted really nice though. The Saute Mushrooms were definitely a highlight - the mushrooms were so well cooked and there were such a varied selection of mushrooms. The wine selection is pretty good too. I ordered 2 glasses of an Italian sparkling that was on the menu. Very nice! Expensive at $20 a glass though, one of the few places I have gone to where the cocktails have been cheaper than a glass of wine! But the waiter was really good though - when my boyfriend ordered the wines he didn't mention glass or bottle. I was just waiting for 2 bottles of wine to come out (one of those would have cost $300) but fortunately the waiter asked if we wanted a glass or bottle. I really appreciate that level of detail and care for customers and making sure the customer has specified what they would like to order instead of assuming.

Jit

First time for me dining in this famous Chinese restaurant Its ambience bespeaks of its nearly forty years existence I was impressed by the spacious area given to diners for their privacy. Sadly this is not given by many Chinese restaurants these days The ratio of diners to waiters is also great I had a three course lunch costing $60 The Peking duck was delicious as a starter My main was beef and it was excellent The dessert of coffee flavour apple toffee was a little too sweet All in I enjoyed this father's day treat given by my daughter

Occasionalist

Flower Drum has a special place in our family as we always go here for special gatherings. This time around, my parents were meeting my brother's girlfriend's parents for the first time. Things were getting serious! We had the 4 course winter tasting menu (which actually had 6 dishes): 1) abalone and glass noodles: The abalone was slightly overcooked so was a bit chewy. The glass noodles were yummy and the sauce was great. 4/5 2) barramundi: the first few bites of the barramundi had a distinct muddy aftertaste which I didn't like. But after that, the rest of the fish was beautiful and tender. The sauce was also nice and I liked the fact that I could mix and match with the chilli sauces on the table that they had set up for us. 4/5 3) Peking duck pancakes: we got two pancakes and the sauce was well presented with some of us getting a dolphin shape and others getting ducks. It was yummy but the skin was not as crispy as I thought it would be. Still delicious. 4/5 4) beef fillet: I ordered it well done for a change and I was expecting it to come out chewy because of that but it was just as tender as a medium rare steak. Very well done (no pun intended). 5/5 5) fried rice: I've been told that fried rice is served at Asian banquets and served last so that if you were still hungry, it would act as a filler. Well this was no afterthought filler, it was one of the best fried rice I've tasted. It wasn't greasy and it was just so fresh with large, juicy prawns and small pieces of Chinese sausage. 5/5 6) chestnut pudding with sago and ice cream: that was my choice of dessert. It was nice but in hindsight I probably should've chosen deep fried ice cream or something as I had some serious food envy. The chestnut pudding was nice but tasted very eggy ... Not much chestnut actually. The ice cream was nice though and I enjoyed that more than the pudding. 3/5 The service was 5/5. They were very attentive and looked after us. There's a reason we keep coming back. It's a real institution for us. (I would usually take pictures but given the formality of the occasion I tried not to be that weirdo that takes pics of everything before eating)

Hungry_One

One of the best dining experiences I've had. Been here a few times, each better than the last. Jason Liu is the consummate professional. The perception here is it's expensive. Unless you go for live seafood it's not. Even then, you get what you pay for. A quintessential Melbourne experience.

Helen

We booked in for 6pm and left 3 hours later but time flies when you're having fun and good food. Entrees included San choi bao, garlic ribs, dim sum, spring rolls, dumplings and eggplant. Mains included Peking duck, honey ribs and various vegetarian dishes and special fried rice. It wasn't as spectacular as when I came here many years ago but it was lovely. The service was professional and attentive and friendly. Desserts included ice cream, fruit and Peking toffee apple with cinnamon ice cream. The wine was lovely and smooth too.

Food Affair

I took a friend of mine from turkey to try some Asian food as she really wanted to indulge with Asian cuisine. I must say it looks really good from inside, the sitting area was very fancy, service was amazing! We went for lunch and tried there lunch set menu which was good! Will be back to try more stuff! Over all it was nice :)

TheBearReview

Who doesn't know flower drum? It is the quintessential Chinese restaurant of Melbourne. Many reviewers have dissected each dish and raved about how perfect the execution is. Just as many talks about the excellent service and wine list. I really don't have anything to add. However I will say do order the pearlmeat and truffle fried rice. Both so luxurious and decadent you will remember them for years. The other excellent dish is the baked crab shell. The flavour and texture is just sublime. Flower drum is a must do. Every year if I can.

David Lew

Firstly to confess: I've been here 3 times but none of them recently. Still, I remember it well. As far as service and food is concerned, there is no doubt it holds up to the standard of fine dining. The service and food are both fantastic. Here's my problem: Most Chinese food isn't made for fine dining. Pretty much what you're paying extra for (and it's a LOT extra) is basically just service. You can get amazing and authentic Chinese for $10 a meal in Melbourne if you know where to look. The exception to this is Peking Duck - this takes great skill to do really well. Again though, there are still places a lot cheaper that will do amazing Peking Duck - for example Old Kingdom in Fitzroy or Surrey Hills.

Jacqui's Food Fetish

It really is a treat going to Flower Drum. It’s like entering a whole new world, away from the hustle and bustle and interesting odours of Melbourne’s Chinatown – a world where the food and service standards are ridiculously high. This is true fine dining Chinese where the service is so attentive but in no way intrusive. Yes – this place has the formula right and that’s why it’s received accolade after accolade and remained in the top restaurant lists for so many years. Tucked away in Market Lane, it’s a large space with white tablecloths and waiters in waistcoats and bow ties.

Memeriez

After last night I take my family and friends for dinner, man the service with all the waiter my god so freaking annoying. Few came first and was a little hungry so we decided to order some light food to eat first but the waiter keep saying that do you want to wait for our friends to come and take order. Like freaking hell we know what we're doing just f*** take the order. While eating two friend came and we started our main. My god waiter people keep coming up can we take this can we clear this from right to left. Like u can clear the stuff but don't interrupt your customer. We all think the food was normal. After we all finished I went to pay, look at the bills to see if everything is correct the waiter stand next to me saying oh we checked twice already. "Right" who doesn't look at their bills and check what on the bills then pay. So the bill was 1k something but I wouldn't take my family and friends there again. Food was normal and annoying wait "rude" too. I think they better check the word high class services before saying it.

Food Comatose

The best dining experience I've had in Melbourne. The service here is at another level and the food is exquisite. Photos wouldn't do the dishes nor the elegant setting justice. I recommend everyone dines here at least once for a special occasion. This is a night I will never forget!

Guzzling

This restaurant deserves all the accolades and more. If you're looking for Asian fine dining then look no further. Service here is impeccable, and not only because staff are attentive. They make conversation with customers and aren't afraid to crack some jokes to show off their personality. We ordered the lunch banquet meal which was outstanding. Each course was presented beautifully and tasted fresh and authentic. I particularly enjoyed the baked crab shell and the enoki mushrooms in the fish dish. Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We'll definitely be back once we have some cash to spare!

Timinmelbourne

I went to this restaurant with some colleagues for a special dinner. We got there a little early and we were told in no uncertain terms that we were too early and to come back later! Wow I've never had that experience before. The restaurant is old school but it reminded me of an old Chinese restaurant. A very old fashioned place and the decor reflected that. The service was just ok, a little precious and indifferent for my liking. The food was average to good, but definitely nothing special. Overall the night was disappointing for all of us, not just me. This place appears to be past its prime and running on its reputation in my opinion. Thank you to Zomato for resending this review as I accidentally deleted it last night. And thank you to the 2 ladies who commented on my review yesterday, I tried to reply and I accidentally deleted this review so I couldn't reply to your comments. But I remember what your comments said which is helpful, thank you. 😄

Johanna

Flower Drum does not need another glowing review but it deserves one anyway. For such an institution you might expect a bit of snobbery and pretension. I went to take my 10 year old to Matilda this weekend and was foolish in not booking somewhere for dinner (he expressed a desire for dumplings ages ago). As a special night out I didn't want to just end up anywhere. Having found ourselves out of luck, I decided to chance it at Flower Drum. We were dressed up after all. We were not big spending, didn't order any wine, and were out in time for the theatre, but everyone was utterly charming to us, and especially to my son. He behaved perfectly and was treated not just politely but with charm. The dumplings were sublime, the fried rice addictive and the lamb pockets just the best thing I've ever tasted. But above all, it's just so nice to be well treated and have attentive service even when we don't fit the target market. We will definitely be back next time we have a family milestone. Best line from the waiter "you must try the fried ice cream it's the best dessert". We did. It was. And I've had it many times elsewhere. Really impressive all round Flower Drum!

TT

The entrance to this restaurant is filled with awards & certificates on all the wall surfaces making me excited for a promising dining experience. Have heard so much about Flower drum & couldn't wait to eat here. Saying that we are disappointed is an understatement. Both my husband and I felt so sick leaving here. Food isn't much better, if not worse, than what we can find in other Asian restaurants in Footscray/Chinatown/Springvale, some dishes can be so easily made at home, you can find much better lobster with noodle at BBQ house in Footscray and much better Peking duck at Old Kingdom in Fitzroy. I would never recommend this place to anyone.

Restaurant Rescue

The Devil is in the details! thank you flower Drum for educating Melbourne Aussies about food, experience, detail and the rest. Well you know the story.

Gary Taylor

You cant just go past Flower Drum. There is no doubt it is still the best in the Southern Hemisphere. The service is fine dining and the food matches such an experience. Menu's who needs them let the fantastic team indulge you on a culinary experience. In over 20 years it still outranks all competition. Anthony, William and Pat, well done on keeping up with the very high standards set by Gilbert Lau.

Missdelish

Still in bloom. Flower Drum has long been reputed as the leading Chinese restaurant in Melbourne - first under Gilbert Lau and then Anthony Liu. The food is reliably high quality although a few aspects at FD seem caught in the traps of time. The booking was in my name for three guests, only one of whom was male. He was the only person given a menu or the wine list even though my friends were my guests and l paid the bill. My other female companion and l asked for our own menus, which eventually did arrive after repeated requests. That drops FD down from the full score l would otherwise give it. Once that small but important issue was sorted, we had a fantastic meal, with excellent service. Rather than choosing the set lunch menu with its Patagonian Toothfish, we chose a variety of dishes. Here the service came into its own - we were skilfully guided through with understated expertise. Where a dish was not easily divisible by 3, an extra half portion was gently suggested - a delicate steer not a deliberate upsell. This was perfect for the lightly battered garfish, plated with the iconic duck wonton with mandarin. Who could go past duck on this menu? We ordered a whole roasted one which was executed perfectly - crisp skin, rendered fat and juicy meat. Less traditional are the lamb pockets (another extra half portion dish), but no less succulent, followed by sticky pork ribs and bokchoy in garlic. We then detoured past the yum cha and carbohydrates again - shu mai, prawn har gow and simple noodles. Sublime. Asian desserts are less sweet than their Western counterparts. The mango pudding with seasonal fruit was spectacular, as were the toffee apple dumplings with the spun sugar swirled around hot at the table. The wine list can be daunting but l was in luck as my dining companions have spent years fossicking around cellar doors. They chose a wonderful red as well as a couple of glasses of dessert wine which complemented the meal fabulously. For four leisurely hours of exquisite food on a Saturday afternoon, the bill was $527 before tip. So it's definitely a special occasion venue for mere mortals like myself, but it is indeed special. And l really liked the old school orange payphone in the lobby!

Terri

Lovely service and meal at the flower drum , we had the 6 course banquet and enjoyed it all, faves were the crab entree and the seafood served on an oyster shell, great to enjoy a Melbourne tradition in Chinatown, well worth a visit

Polito

Visited Flower Drum the Thursday night before Good Friday as we'd heard so much about it (I'm from Sydney). Very upmarket Chinese very different to your typical Chinese restaurant, this place is fine dining all the way. Ambience and dining room decor is top notch, the staff are very friendly, attentive without being too overbearing. Our dishes were all of the highest quality and very well presented. Very much different to what you'd expect from your usual Chinese restaurant. The only negative would be that the dishes come out quite slowly: opposite to most Chinese restaurant. It felt like we were there for hours, saying that the dishes are presented beautifully and delicious. Our starters and mains were great can't say about dessert though. Very much recommended for a romantic, fun night out or with a small group of friends.

Chad

What a fantastic birthday meal! This was our first time to the Melbourne Mecca of Chinese food. I know this establishment has been around for many years and with a full dinning room and tables being turned on a Sunday night it should be around for many more years. And why not? Food is great, service is attentive (nearly hovering at times), and I know for myself, I could go back over and over again. The best prawn I've ever had in my life was consumed last night!!!! And as I discussed with my wife after the meal, (this may seem silly) we were super impressed that they actually serve real ice water. Being from North America I am always disappointed at the water service in Melbourne. It's actually AWFUL, even at high end restaurants. But this place actually has an ice machine and it is glorious. It's this little things in life that often times that create happiness! The fried rice was amazing and I could have eaten literally 40 of the Peking duck pancakes with the sweet plum(?) sauce. Prices are high, I added a $20 dumpling to our 6 course tasting menu, but it was filled with delectable scallop and crab. So genuinely, I feel you get what you pay for and its worth it!!! And what's with those almond shortbread cookies at the end?!?! The server asked if we wanted some more, LOL! Of course, send out all you have! So yummy!

James Crabtree

The service was prompt, and staff attentive. The decor is in desperate need of a revamp. Most disappointing of all was the food, no better than a mid level Chinese restaurant and of very meagre helpings. My group left the restaurant very hungry.

J88

Melbourne's renowned top Chinese Cantonese cuisine. Their grilled wagyu beef with fried rice, fried oysters, San Choi Bao, and Peking duck were super delicious and flawless. Though the restaurant is little old and need refurbishing... The food quality and service were impeccable..no wonder it is a forever hatted restaurant, and Neil Perry's favourite... And mine too!

Sarah O

For me, one of Australia's best restaurants and dining experience. The service is impeccable, the food is done to perfection and it's really the only way to eat Chinese food in a fine dining setting. Their spin on dessert is absolutely sensational

The World Loves Melbourne

Flower Drum is one of the few Melbourne restaurants that can be spoken of as an icon over decades. This year Flower Drum, founded by Gilbert Lau, celebrates the fine achievement of 40 years as a world class restaurant (30th at current Market Lane address). We've had some icons come and go over the years, and only a few are at that level today. But 40 years and at the top!

MelbourneMiss

What more can be said about the Flower Drum. Service is exceptional. The restaurant is divided into three sections and the tables are far apart so you feel like you are dining privately. I was taken there for lunch for my birthday and would definitely recommend Flower Drum as a special occasion restaurant destination. We ordered quite a number of small dishes. Stand outs were the scallop dumplings (absolutely exquisite, so sweet), siu mai (I'm ruined for all others now), the eggplant in spicy salt (divine) and salt and pepper calamari (so tender and delicious). We wanted to try the lamb pockets and the peking duck so the waiter made up a special dish for us so we could try both. Nothing is a problem. Maybe its glory years have gone but it's still a wonderful place to go. Highly recommended.

Tony

Only been once. Was kindly invited here. Probably too young to really enjoy it. This was a catalyst to me enjoying Chinese food. Awesome courses, great service. My first taste of Peking duck. Loved. Did not pay, however thoroughly enjoyed it

M.

I'd heard mixed reviews about Flower Drum so was excited to finally experience it for myself! We went for lunch and the staff were extremely welcoming and attentive, seating us immediately without a booking. The crispy skinned chicken, peking duck pancakes and wagyu fillet were all cooked perfectly! Although I personally thought the sauce for both the chicken and the steak were lacking considering the prestige of the restaurant. For dessert the deep fried icecream and toffee apple dessert were delicious, and I enjoyed how some dishes were creatively plated at the table. Overall an enjoyable experience, though I wonder if it was a two hatted one. Score: 7.5

Nestor Tsioustas

Visited here for lunch and it was a splendid experience. The service and attention to details was the best that I have ever seen. The waiters noticed my friend remove his Shallots from his Pecking Duck Pancakes and they proceeded to the table without asking permission saying "Here is your pecking duck pancake without Shallots" - the food was amazing but this level of service truly left us with a story we will never forget.

Kaushik Sridhar

Flower Drum...what better place to celebrate a loved one's birthday than Flower Drum! Entering the venue and then being escorted up in an elevator...it was like a scene from a movie! The ambience was authentically oriental and the all-male staff were quite respectful and friendly. The parcel appetiser was the cream of the crop in terms of the dishes we ordered. It was succulent and melted away in our mouths. My wife was given a special dessert for her birthday and decorated to her liking. Overall a great experience with wonderful food. We almost felt we had escaped to another world of royalty!

Lee Pownall

Now this is a classy restaurant that impresses. The food is beautiful and is presented with precision. The waiting staff are friendly and extremely attentive. Prices are up there however it is warranted.

Rodger Reviewer

This place should get 5 stars for the service alone. Our party was treated like royalty. The food was incredible too. Definitely a special occasion venue.

Fraser Mason

The glory days are long gone. But the high prices remain. Extremely disappointing. The food is pretty much just standard Chinatown fare. Don't do it

Hahappieats

Can I give 3.0 for their overly priced menu though? Haha. What can I say? Gourmet dim sum at its priciest figure. I love the scallop Siew Mai. How it's so fresh, sweet and delicately decadent. 💕 it's prob the only real reason why I rated 4.0 Everything else? Was.. Alright.. The roasts and rice is subpar.. Hahappieats

Steven Shipley

My partner and I spent our 1 year anniversary here. We got the banquet which was $150 each and enjoyed the many dishes that came with it. Food was delicious and very well presented (portions were small though) Was expecting more food for $150 each but sadly my partner and I left the venue hungry.

Dave Zoogs

The service was fantastic, we ordered the slow roasted garlic pork rib, shang hai pork dumplings, peking duck, also a beef dish with oyster sauce. The only reason I can mark it down was the beef dish, it felt it was rushed and nothing special, every other dish was amazing. Its the second time I have been here and its a must if you are visiting Melbourne, it will beat Silks at Crown no problems and is the nest Chinese restaurant in Melbourne

Maddie Loves Food

There is a sense of splendour and occasion at Flower Drum, reflected in the menu which focuses on high quality, local ingredients and traditional Cantonese food. Most items are priced per piece or per serve, with prices at the higher end of the spectrum, and there’s nothing we read that doesn’t immediately set out mouths watering. Pearls of Jade Tiger Abalone are succulent and meaty, sliced to a delicate shell-shape alongside crystal noodles made from mung bean starch. Freshly made pancakes wait in a bamboo steaming basket over a flame while our waiter prepares peking duck.

Melbourne Foodie

Wow, attended the Master & Apprentice lunch which was a cook off between old and new Chinese chefs from Flower Drum and Victor Liong from Lee Ho Fook. We were treated to an afternoon of amazing food with courses alternating between the two chefs. Who was the winner? Who cares it was one of the best meals we have been privileged to eat. The service at Flower Drum was exceptional and some really interesting wines on the list. We will return again and again.

Antigone

After hearing about the amazing food at Flower Drum for the past 20 years, I decided to give it a shot. Our family went for my sisters birthday, and we ordered one of the two five plus course banquets on the menu. At $110 per head, we were expecting the best of the best. We had a variety of traditional Chinese dishes which were all outstanding. The service was fabulous and so was the food, although the ambiance felt a bit cold. It isn't the most cosy Chinese restaurant in Melbourne! We sat down, and I looked at the table to see a set of beautiful Chinese plates which were hand painted, but as we got the menu, the waitress took the 'show' plates away, and brought back less extravagant plates for us to eat on. It feels very grand and you sit there thinking, is this a restaurant or a museum? That said, the food did not let us down. I would recommend getting a banquet the first time you go, as the menu can be overwhelming at expensive restaurants like this one. I recommend the San Choi Bao, one of the best I have had, as well as the mango crepes for dessert. And it is a formal dress code, so try and look your best. Be prepared to pay a lot of money, but a beautiful meal as well.

Bander

Visited from NY in August. Ok food. Quite bland. But way overpriced. The prices do not compensate for the admittedly nice service and atmosphere.

C

Super high quality Chinese food, with a price to match. Certainly a reasonable choice for a special occasion, although there are alternatives with similar quality food for far cheaper. Does silver service exceptionally well, with very professional and friendly wait staff. This being said it has failed to keep up with the times, and for the price Melbourne has many other fine dining venues that are more exciting and more innovative.

Uberfrauline

Finally I make it to Flower Drum! Uber Uber Exquisite! This place is class all the way! Service was just amazing, the waiter even fetched an extra chair just for my handbag! Happy handbag! Food was absolutely beautiful. Standouts for me were just about everything! Duck tangerine dumplings in broth was just divine, every flavour I hoped to find in a good duck stock, was there. The Pearl meat dish was luxurious and reminded me of maybe a combination of scallop and abalone, delicious. I loved the truffled fried rice, I did wonder how this combination would work, but it certainly did. The Barramundi noodles are a must try! This is a texture sensation and quite a clever little dish. Ribs great, seafood dumpling great. The Flower Drum is a little on the pricey side, but absolutely worth it. Luckily we all had hangovers from the night before, so when we went for lunch on the Saturday no one could face any more wine! Wow, you do forget how much this keeps the cost down! So we thought the price was great! Well done Flower Drum. Consistency and attention to detail is the key and you guys just keep on turning it! Thank you for a memorable experience.

NomNomNom

I can't fault this place. It's the most perfect Cantonese food with 6 star service. Yes it's pricey but it's totally worth it for the experience.

Shane Lucas

Went the other week what a disappointment, Ameritech hour describes the service, good but not great describes the food. Fine dining describes the price. Such a shame this once "place to go" for a special night has become all name no action. Avoid is my advice.

Heidi

Fine dining with excellent service and very nice wine too. We had the 2014 D’sas Pinot Gris. The Peking duck was amazing as so many people have told me. Barramundi with rice and vegetables for main. Delicious barra, melts in your mouth! And to finish fried ice cream of course! Great place to take clients to for lunch.

HH24

This would have to be Chinese food at its very best. And a wine list to match. A great night out. All the food that came out was so fresh and delicate.

F&K

The service is second to none. The waiters know the exact moment that you are ready to order and when to bring out your food and wine. I don't have any favourites on the menu - everything is fresh and of the highest quality. I recommend to try as many bite sized dishes as you can and end the meal with the toffee apples and cinnamon ice cream.

Carla Kathleen

Wow! The Flower Drum exceeded my high expectations.. Our waiter was exceptional particularly when he took the time to give one of our guests a chopstick lesson.. The buffet is a must! My partner who is a very picky eater did not leave a crum on any of the 9 dishes. If you live in Melbourne and haven't been to the Flower Drum, what are you waiting for!

HungryPole

I was taken to the Flower Drum for my birthday dinner. Not being overly familiar with Chinese cousine and after being told it was holding a reputation of an institution in Melbourne I went there with great expectation. The venue itself is kept in very traditional style. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. We chose the banquet menu with paired wines. Everything was very tasty especially the Szechuan beef and the mud crab dish. I loved the presentation of each course. It was one fantastic dinner to remember

Silk_rr

What a great dining treat! Yes it's a bit old school but that's part of the charm :) What's the most important is the food and the food was fabulous! Best Peking Duck pancake - so moist and crisp, best Szechwan pork with tofu and pinenuts, TRUFFLE Fried Rice (need I say more!) and the toffee apple dessert made at our table was too cute. Great meal!

Tyler Brown

We arrived at Flower Drum last night (Sunday) with no reservation, about 9.20pm. We were told by the man at the entrance downstairs that the kitchen closed in 30 minutes, but we were welcome to go up. We had heard about Flower Drum before and I always thought it was just another China Town restaurant. However, like other reviewers before me, it really is a step back in time - and is just like the good restaurants in China. The staff were so friendly and didn't rush us at all to make our minds up for dinner. Seriously, the staff were so attentive, it was a little too much... I felt like we were being watched (by friendly people) the entire time we were there. Sharing the steamed scallops; pork chop; lamb spring rolls; fried rice and Peking duck - it was a tame dinner, but it was late so we didn't want to go too crazy. We had a great time here and were appreciative of the advice when ordering, the attentiveness and friendliness of the staff. Left a good tip and were happy to do so. Will definitely return when back in Melbourne :0

Nelly

Yes you still need to book 6 months in advance. Yes this place hasn't been renovated in a while. Yes it's expensive. However, they are very friendly. Moreover their passion is definitely served on your plate. Chinese is a difficult one to turn into fine dinning. It doesn't always look glamorous and or pretty. Whilst I have seen better plating in other fine dinning, given the cuisine they do a good job. This may no longer be rated Australia's best restaurant, yet it doesn't mean it's no longer worth while going to. I don't go often due to the expense & having to book so far in advance. But the food is truly incredible. It's traditional Chinese no fusion here. So just enjoy Peking duck at its best, fish so soft that it literally melts in the mouth, and much more.

SN

Always a joy to return to this award winning Chinese diner. Well crafted menus, brilliantly cooked meals and skilled wait staff who'd warn you to stop ordering because there was too much food ordered already ... And possibly the smartest takeaway parcels in town. Absolute old favourite.

Kevin

Amazing experience. Great atmosphere, service was impeccable and excellent food. We has an excellent evening and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. We will return.

Foodinfocusz

Have to agree with the very recent review by Dan Stock ... the Flower Drum dining experience was underwhelming and a step back in time ... three hat rating, I don’t think so! Wonder how long they can prosper on their past glory.

Erin Burke

Iconic. All too true, and is proven from its old school approach on literally everything. Decor is true to this living legend and the service I can only compare to one other restaurant; Attica. Some say it's just really good Chinese food. But is that not the beauty of this place? Where can we really say you can get all the trimmings that this place offers. The food and wine selection is so well suited to the atmosphere. And forty years of awards and business that has not changed over time. We all may be moving towards Asian fusion these days but this oldie trumps the ages.

Tales Of Rose

Old-school service of classic Cantonese food. Such a great space to have a meal and be able to talk privately. The service was exceptional and attentive. Funny as it sounds, i love iced water and it was so nice to have my glass maintained the entire evening - i never reached the bottom; that's service :)

Foodie Gal

We had high expectations for this chefs hatted restaurant but we came home disappointed. We started off with dim sum, Peking duck, silken egg roll and their pear shaped potato ball filled with duck liver. It was small portions, tasted nice, nothing spectacular. Mains were crispy chicken, lamb pocket, pork with Sichuan sauce and some veggies again very small portions and pretty average in flavour. They served it with the smallest steamed rice portion I've ever seen for $5 a person for steamed rice I expected a bit more rice. Desert was pretty standard too, banana fritters and ice cream. Staff are very attentive and the ambience was nice. The foods just not up to the standard we expected from a chefs hatted restaurant. The portions were very small and prices expensive. As we were leaving my husband half jokingly said did you want something else to eat from china town and I don't think he was kidding 😊

John Harrison

Went there for a suppose "good feed" night out, we weren't to concern with the price as we have eaten at some of the best place's in HK and China, let me tell you that you will get a better feed in Victoria St Richmond and at a 1/4 of the price, really!! they are trading on a old reputation name, go elsewhere and you would not have missed out, sorry, Flowerdrum has had it's day, just like any other chinese restaurant, save your money , spend it elsewhere with heaps of change leftover to spend on other things!!!!

Chewing Is Exercise

My parents used to run a restaurant opposite Flower Drum. Growing up as a kid, I would always wonder what was behind the heavy red door across the road, guarded by the friendly man (pretty sure my parents went without me). Now I know. After 15 years, I finally got to see what was on the other side. And it was an elevator with a flight of stairs hidden around the corner. The restaurant is actually upstairs. Who knew? I think I was too surprised to take photos. But trust me, the inside is certainly very grand looking (but if you are an untrusting person, Google it).

CBF Glutton

The food was average. Portions was a tad small. Price was slightly expensive.Service was good. Decor is nice. Ambience is average. Looks nice but nothing special.

Michaela Foodie

Came here for my birthday and had a wonderful time. Service is on another level and the food is delicious. Highlight was the sawtooth fish which I had never had before and I also enjoyed marvelling at the dexterity of the waiters wrapping the duck pancakes. I left full to the brim. It is expensive but it is worth it for that level of experience.

Gtime

Nice and spacious without the hustle of the latest fad places. Super quality food, let the waiter just arrange a suitable banquet to fulfil your hunger taste and what budget you're on (I had to ask him just in case). Ten courses later had great experience with well blended traditional Chinese cuisine.

Natalie W

Outstanding food and fabulous services. Only in Melbourne for a couple days and decided to try the lunch banquet, really tasty quality food. It is expensive but the banquet was the best option! Definitely recommend the crispy chicken, it was delicious!

Brad Disher

Was looking forward to this place for a long time. Was disappointed. Service was good, food was mostly quite good, but for the price and reputation - not worth it. Put it this way, I cook better xiao long bao at home, and I'm a gweilo!

Sgue

Outstanding service and attention to detail, a really wonderful experience, many other reviews say it's too pricey but it is a special restaurant for special occasions, we had the 4 course banquet (actually 5 with desert) and loved every course and were very full by the end.

Simmybear Eats

I was excited to try Australia's best Chinese restaurant but was a little sceptical on how good Chinese food could actually be. Our waiter was very nice and he chat to us a lot, he got bonus points because he noticed my gains. My glory was short-lived as he told me his son was a body builder too (one that I have been following for some time and was in much better shape than I was). The food was quite nice but I wouldn't call it the best Chinese in the country. Some of my meals at silks at Crown Perth have been more impressive. I didn't really have a favourite dish, they were all just good but nothing special. I got the 5 course banquet for $140.

Melbourne Patron

To be given the label 'institution' or 'iconic' is high praise indeed, since it is so hard to come by. Rarer yet is an Asian restaurant afforded the title of a Melbourne 'institution'. And yet this is a badge that Flower Drum has retained since its debut 40 years ago. After six years of hearing about it, I elected to visit Flower Drum for my birthday lunch.

Chloe Whatley

I agree with other reviews: past it's use by date and overpriced. While the staff were friendly and somewhat helpful, the food was delivered very slowly. We waited almost an hour before starting our banquet- with no appetisers to be seen. Won't go back

Mark.mcbriarty

Sensational. Quite simply the best chinese food and service I have had

Nibblesforgiggles

When you think Chinese restaurant, your first thought would be non-existent service, cheap decor and bargain food. WARNING: Flower Drum will blow this stereotype out of the water. As we entered the building, we found ourselves in what seemed like your stereotypical Chinatown eatery in Melbourne. The room was plain and unrefined, however we were swiftly greeted by a young man ( looking completely out of place in his smart attire) who guided us to a dreary looking, underwhelming lift. We were feeling quite unsure by this point, considering Flower Drum is regarded as the best Chinese restaurant in Melbourne… But alas, these doubts did not last long at all! It was as if we had taken an elevator all the way to China! As the lift doors opened, we were in awe of the intricate Chinese decor – deep red carpets and walls lined with oriental paintings; smar

Nancyc

The Flower Drum is a Melbourne institution that has been pushing out high end Cantonese cuisine for the past 40 years. They have been, and continue to be awarded for their food, high standards and unprecedented service – so it goes without saying that I was excited to try this 3-Hatted Melbourne restaurant.

Greedy Girl

Flower Drum is an amazing treat. Service is friendly, warm and blindingly efficient. The decor has barely changed in all the years Greedy Girl has been going there, but she always finds something remarkable about the food - mainly in terms of how the chefs can transform such basic Chinese dishes as scallop dumplings into feats of gastronomic excellence.

FoodMeUpScotty

We approached the little red door in Market Street that signified we'd arrived. I didn't really know what to expect, but as we walked up to the door, it was opened for us by a smiling doorman who ushered us into the worlds slowest lift to rise one floor to the main dining area. Stepping out of the lift was like stepping into a time vortex, it looked like an 80's movie set and sure did remind me of my visits to Hong Kong in the 80's with my family

Epicurean Of Southbank

I began to frequent Flower Drum in the evenings on Saturday of all times with very little notice because like Tom Cruise's star, the hype and awards waned and availability of a table was assumed. For me though the quality of the produce and ultimately the product that was served remained consistently top notch

Candice

The Calamari was really soft and cooked perfectly. I loved the coating on top and the dipping salt that came with it

The World Loves Melbourne

The Cloudy Bay Duck Trail 2012 will also feature sublime dishes from top Melbourne restaurants Duchess of Spotswood and Flower Drum. This is a popular event and one not to be missed.

Popcornandtoast

Fresh and moist, the cod was silky, slippery and velvety. Enhanced only by the spring onions, coriander and aromatic seasoned soy.

My Seasonal Table

After years of wanting, I finally had the chance to dine at Flower Drum. A restaurant which has for the last 36 years been a constant in the Melbourne food scene. Truth is, I have wanted to eat there for as long as I can remember. Like most Melburnians(if not all) it is a restaurant that I have always known about. So imagine my joy when my husband asked if I wanted to eat there for our weekly night out. We are greeted on the ground floor by an extremely professional host and shown to the ye'olde looking lift. My excitement is growing as is my anticipation. How will the food be? Is the service as good as everyone claims? Most importantly, what will the dining room look like? Then the doors open and there in front of me is the scene that I had pictured in my mind. The plush fabrics, the rich colour palette, the stained wood and the beautifully set tables with immaculately white table cloths. All that was missing was Bruce Lee bursting in and

Hold The Peas

I don’t think Flower Drum needs too much of an introduction. This fine dining Cantonese restaurant on Market lane has been wowing diners for well over 30 years. It has taken us a while, but J and I finally got to Flower Drum to see what all the hype was about. Though there have been rumours in recent years that the quality has gone downhill, we were happy to judge that for ourselves. We were greeted in the doorway and ushered into an elevator. What we had never realised is that the restaurant is actually upstairs. Exiting the elevator we were greeted by two hostesses, one confirmed our reservation in her book, and the other guided us to our table, about three quarters of the way down the long room. The room is divided into sections by wooden slats, and there are two further rooms down the back, on the way to the bathrooms. The decor is traditional. We started with a glass of Pol Roger. Chilli sauce and fresh chillies were placed on the table for us to add to dishes as we wi

Lydiapebbles

Flower Drum is a successful establishment that has weathered through decades of competitions. Many travel magazines and bloggers around the world have given high regards for FD. It is one restaurant not to be missed, so I heard. With my parents’s visit, I finally got the chance to engage myself in this fanfare. From the outside, FD looked quiet and uninteresting. Once you stepped inside, it felt as if you have been transported into another era! The decor was traditional with a deep red hue. The waiter was courteous and immediately showed us to the lift where it would bring us to the restaurant level above.

A Food Story

As soon as the crab dish arrived we knew it would be an epic afternoon of eating. The blue swimmer shell was filled with the mud crab flesh and quite plump with a grilled cheese topping. Initially it was the ginger that caught my attention but that was soon replaced with the lovely mud crab. Hints of garlic and turmeric were peppered throughout and accentuated by the cheesy crust.

Out Of My Kitchen

Flower Drum, if it were a band people would be inclined to say it peaked some time ago, released some forgettable records for a good decade and in more recent years has regained it's mojo and while not as influential at the peak of its power is still loved nonetheless as an elder statesmen.

Insatiable Munchies

And by the time we hit the noodles it was kinda downhill. Mostly cause we were full, I think, but also because it’s been hitting hard in the flavour department so far, and the Dan Dan Noodles were just a bit on the bland side. Now I’m no expert on Dan Dan Noodles, but if you’re looking at the banquet as a whole, I think that it might need to match up to the other dishes, just a bit....The food aside, the service was still impeccable.

PiCi And BC

Flower Drum has long been regarded as one of not only Melbourne's but Australia's premier restaurants. It once occupied a position in the list of the world's top 50 restaurants as compiled by the San Pellegrino guide. In the 35 or so years since its opening, it has built a tremendous reputation which is unparalleled in Australia, certainly by reference to time span. However, since the departure of founder Gilbert Lau in 2003, its profile has wavered somewhat. Reviews suggested that it had lost some of its previous lustre. Thankfully, its stock appears to be on the rise again, with a recasting of the menu by executive

Moving

Perfectly executed, but fairly standard Chinese cuisine using the freshest produce? Check.

Angel Khong

My first impression said I was going to love Flower Drum. As soon as we arrived at Flower Drum, we were greeted by their pleasant staff at the entrance, directed upstairs and to the reserved table. Then, I noticed that unlike

Rumbaba

We did not indulge in the entrée serve of Shark fin soup at $160 per person, the sweet birds nest soup at $135.00 or order the whole suckling pig 2 days in advance at $500.00 nor did we choose the degustation option. Instead we ordered dishes to share although its silver service all the way here so every morsel is precisely portioned.

Sarah Cooks

Before this visit, I'd been to Flower Drum once in my life - my family was very graciously taken there by my school friend's Mum (thanks Mrs D!) back in year 8. I was only 13, but I knew it was a Big Deal. Unlike most Chinese restaurants I'd been to befor

I Eat Therefore I Am

It was reported in the papers that due to the financial crisis, stockbrokers were cutting back their expenses and not taking their clients to Flower Drum for lunches. Business at Flower Drum has since dropped dramatically. I guess that was either good for

IsyBitsy

These dumplings were pretty much standard dumplings one would acquire at your standard yum cha place. It wasn't the best, nor was it all that bad.

Nath Mallon

With a reputation and list of awards such as above, I feel completely justified by just how much I was looking forward to eating there

Jobe

Get lots of good wine, get lots of good food and enjoy the place and the awesome service.

Libby Margo

Everyone knows the Flower Drum song. No, I'm not referring to the Rodgers and Hammerstein version; I'm talking about the one that stormed up the Melbourne restaurant charts in the 80s to the tune of 'Greed Is Good' and 'Lunch ain't for wimps.' Unlike Bananarama and Toni Basil, however, this Flower Drum song was not content to remain a one hit wonder. No way. As Australia battled through shoulder pads, a Keating government and a Kiwi invasion by the name of OMC, Flower Drum continued to churn out good ol' Chinese favourites such as Peking duck and A Really Good sweet and sour pork. But then it all changed. Like a teenager outgrowing the Hanson boys, so did Melburnians. They were sick of the tired bling bling decor that once upon a time impressed 80s diners, they were sick of unimaginative (albeit good quality) food and finally, they were sick of traveling up an elevator that took a century to take them

Food Lover

Flower Drum is supposedly the pinnacle of Cantonese food in Melbourne (being a three hatted restaurant and all). A six course banquet (at $185 per head drinks) was arranged prior to the dinner. On arrival, I was impressed by the staff greeting and showing me to our room. The long table was set with flowers and printed menus. Here are our dishes: Sauté(ed) Jade Tiger Farmed Abalone Our first course was the abalone. It was a nice starter served in the shell. Serving the Baked Scallops with Turmeric Sauce Baked Scallops with Turmeric Sauce Scallops are one of my favourite foods. They were cooked well and I thought the sauce was a lovely accompaniment which didn't over power the delicate scallops. Roast Whole Suckling Pig - Presented as a whole Serving the Roast Whole Suckling Pig Roas

Mei

The food is high quality and that’s easily seen from the flawlessly cut vegetables in the stir fries, though I’m not sure that justifies the prices. Not surprisingly, the two stand out dishes were the specialties of the house. First up, the entree of barramundi noodles. The noodles are made from minced barramundi fish and are either extruded or hand rolled as they are wiggly shaped. Delicate but a little bit bouncy, they are cooked in a reduced, light fish stock. The flavour is succinctly fish but with the bouncy texture of noodles. It’s kind of amazing they made noodles from fish! I’d order this again for its uniqueness but its resemblance to fish poo (sorry) was disturbing.

AL

Ok, but just ok. We had Yum Cha yesterday as part of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival. It was supposed to feature dishes from eight different regions of China however there were no explanations as to what was what, nor from where, which was disappointing. Secondly we, a group of six, were seated with three other guests (perfectly nice) which did hinder our celebrating our daughter's birthday. Thirdly, we were not served any food for more than an hour and a quarter after arrival and the food, when it came was was really a bit ho-hum. It was surprising that it was so slow when the restaurant knew the numbers of diners and the dishes it was serving, in advance. Won't be going back unfortunately.

Peter Hugall

Just the best. Back to the flower drum tonight after some years. Just the 2 of us so could not really try too many dishes . After all these years this would have to be the best restaurant in Australia . A bit like coming home . Nothing has changed. Lovely airy ambience fantastic food and faultless service. Worth coming to Melbourne just to have a meal Here. We won't come back to Melbourne without revisiting this gem. Rgds Peter Hugall.

Chica_aus67

Delicious, yet expensive. Amazing food but out of the price range for most people. You can find heaps of great Asian food in Melbourne for a fraction of the price. But for an occasional treat, the food is divine and was served in a timely fashion by pleasant staff.

Neil

Pretentious. Overpriced and very disappointing given its reputation and the hype. Decades ago its reputation was valid. Not anymore given the excellent other Cantonese choices in Melbourne.

New 2 Bwick

Quality food and service...but you pay for it!. I had high expectations given the status that flower drum has. Our meals were of a high quality and the service was attentive. Great place to celebrate a special occasion with a group.

Kushlani

Won't be going back. For the high priced items on the menu we expecte some exquisite food. What was seved fell well short of it. The lobster was terribly over cooked. A couple of the dishes had interesting flavours but nothing to write home about.

Stewie

Don't bother. Cons: Staid, uninventive food. There was simply no Wow factor on anything we ate in the six-course signature. It certainly doesn't leave you hungry but I would always prefer quality over quantity. Various lovely meats were doused in ordinary sauces that ruined the flavour. The lobster lacked the texture you pay for, whether through overcooking or age, I don't know. You can get equally good food at virtually any suburban Chinese joint, for a tenth of the bill. This, coming from someone more than willing to spend good money on good food... Flower Drum was a major disappointment. Pros: nice wine, hot towels (especially in a cold room), and generally very decent service (although hard to hear at times, if you struggle with background noise). The decor, only because it can be called ironic by now.

Darren Borg

Old fashioned boring food. My experience was really disappointing. the food was really ordinary and there was little choice. lamb brisket was chewy although the duck pancakes were ok. I definitely will not be coming back

Roy Burrows

Great food but over-attentive service. Wonderful location - large dining room and tables set well apart allowing for privacy and ambience. The summer testing menu was excellent value - scallops, Peking duck, wok stirred fish and pork were wonderful. Desserts of fried icecream and toffee apple rather old fashioned and too rich. But, overall - an excellent experience. There seemed to be far too many waiters in attendance and this was a bit disconcerting. Will certainly go back for lunch.

Sandyclark841

Brings lots of cash. Expensive dining experience but "old school" service which is wonderful. Food magnificent. Worth every precious penny.

Theresehall

Blast from the past. Twenty years since visiting this, what used to be known as the best restaurant in China town. Well ! I don't care what anyone is saying, we dined here at least once a month for years, in the old building which is now the Paramount and the currant restaurant and It was the best the very best but now I can safely say I for one won't be back. Give me the Tea House and the Bamboo anytime, at least I know I am not getting ripped off . And since when does the Flower Drum have two sittings, we had to be out of there by 7.45 after spending over $500 for 4 on a special birthday. By the way, the decor is in needs of an urgent upgrade.

Food 2 Run

I liked it, heard so much about this place.. Thought it would be a little better all in all a group of 5... Pretty $$ but good food and service...

Mark Chalker

Excellent Dining Venue.. It has been a few years since I enjoyed the fare at Flower Drum. This time I was with friends & a delightful gastronomic afternoon started at the front door with an enthusiastic greeting at reception. We were guided to our requested table at the back of the restaurant. We ordered a four course meal which was delicious. The wine list is extensive & worldly as one expects these days in Melbourne. The Gloria Ferrer Champagne (USA) was a nice start & recommended. The service as usual was impeccable & understated. I can't wait to my next visit.

Jennifer

Beautiful classic chinese. We had the six course menu - beautiful flavours - very classic. Whiting crunchy and beautiful. Sauté seafood amazing quality of seafood very fresh. Wagu beef yummy. Loved it - only downfall the price! $400+ for 2

Cmrickards

Well worth it. Excellent food and service. Duck and crab were top notch. Some say it's a bit too expensive but for a special occasion I recommend a banquet over a few hours with drinks. It's well worth it.

CR

This is the grande old dame of Melbourne restaurants, and it's sticking to its tried and true recipes. Don't expect new, daring creations here. It's high quality food, perfectly prepared, but very safe, both in the way that the food is guaranteed top notch but also that it doesn't take risks. We had the 5 course menu and it was tasty but there wasn't anything creative or novel about it. However, for dessert, which you choose from the main menu, the toffee apple was excellent. Service was attentive and professional, and the space is large, quiet and classy but a bit old-fashioned. I can't comment on value as kind friends treated us to lunch. Overall, very good for what it is, a gracefully ageing old dame...

Ronnielui2003

FL gem among Chinese restaurants in Australia. I feel compelled to write this review after I read some critics of 'Over rated' on this restaurant. Flower Drum is one of my a must visit restaurant whenever I was travelling to Melbourne. She gave me a very impressive and satisfied dining experience whenever I dined in. Food, service and dining environment are superb. Setting of tables provides the privacy for all the diners. Wait staff are friendly, attentive and sincere. Food qualities are fresh and full of passion. I have been dining in a lot of Chinese restaurants, indeed, I had over 10 years working experience in Chinese restaurant and even owned Chinese restaurant before. Comments of over-rated are definitely not fair to the only three chef hatted Chinese restaurant like Flower Drum. Try to think about how much do you pay to dine in Vue De Monte, Cutler's & Co. or even Rockpool, I don't think what they served me was worse than the food I had in those restaurants, not to mention the services.

Foodie1

Over rated!. Have been many times over the years for celebration purposes only (birthdays etc)..otherwise wouldn't waste my $$$$$$$ or time....Don't like it...OVER PRICED... OVER RATED OVER SIZED (but very small helpings though) Won't go if someone has another birthday or celebration here!! Let the pretentious people that need a "status thing" waste their money needed to say they have dined there! we will laugh "at you" don't worry. so many great restaurants in Melbourne worth more $$$$ than this one....OUT with the OLD and in with NEW!

Manmar

Excellent, as always. This is our go-to "Special Occasion" restaurant. This occasion was our 30th Wedding Anniversary. Superb service, plush interior, amazing food, good wine list.........need I go on?

Miss C

Dined here with friends on Saturday night and I must say although the food was nice and the service was impeccable, it is quite possibly the most overrated restaurant I've ever eaten at. I really wanted to love this place but just didn't. If you are after fine dining Cantonese in melbourne bokchoy tang and silks both run circles around flower drum.

Christina Triantafyllou

Loved it!!. Went for a Friday night dinner and from the moment we stepped into the restaurant the service was warm, friendly and very efficient. We had the Chef's signature banquet which comprised of 6 courses and then a selection from the dessert menu. The food was amazing and I could not fault any of it. We had the baked crab, fried whiting fillet, spicy salted quality, mixed seafood platter, Peking duck, the wagyu fillet steak and fried ice cream for dessert. Every single course was exceptional. Flower Drum is one of the best dining experiences I have had to date.

Mal Chandrasekara

Quality not quantity. A group of seven guys were allowed a booking at this upmarket restaurant on a Friday night. The service was attentive, the food was very tasty asian cuisine and the decor a cut above other restaurants of this variety. My only concern was that for $75/head a la carte (including a couple of beers each, entrees and mains) we weren't quite filled up! Still worth a visit though!

Foodie1985

Fabulous. I honestly cannot fault a single part of our dining experience! The service was the best we have ever had at a restaurant. So friendly, informative, courteous, helpful. Food delicious, fresh, inventive. Sat for over 3.5 hours & enjoyed every second. Would dine every week if we could afford :)

Marvelous Mark

Loved it! Especially when my brother paid! Good food and service.

Mariano

Overrated. Good food, good service but overall overrated.

AL87

Impeccable Service, great Sommelier. First time patron to the Flower Drum and all i can say is that i felt compelled to write a review, which i've never done before. From the moment we walked in the staff treated us like royalty. Friendly, old-world charm waiters that made us feel comfortable. I have never seen such a high "waiter-to-patron" ratio as the Flower Drum. The sommelier was on the money in recommending a fantastic chardonnay for entree and a pinot for mains. I told him i was from Perth and used to big cabernet's but would like to expand my horizons with a pinot, yet one that doesn't taste like nothing! Out came a pinot from the Central Otago region and bang - spot on. Food was full of flavour and presented well. My partner is Sri Lankan and the maître d' picked up on the fact she loves chilli, bringing out a range of chilli's to complement the meal. Whilst the flower drum may not be as trendy as some of the newer restaurants going round, it is worth the visit for the nostalgic and theatrical service alone.

Lunchalot

The best. Can't believe people can knock this establishment. Been here a few times - usually for special occasions and always walk away thinking that each dish was the best i had ever eaten and the service remarkable. Would love to come here more often but the prices are quite expensive which one would expect given the experience.

Melbournian

Not Impressed. I booked this restaurant for my partners birthday last week, we were joined by his family, who had been to Flower Drum in the past and spoke highly of the establishment. Unfortunately, on comparison to other 3 Michelin Star restaurants, the food was simply awful for Michelin standard and the reflecting "Michelin" price tag. The service was on par with a typical, down in the local arcade, Chinese restauarant. The food at times unedible due to the watered down taste. We had the $190 pp 6 course degustation and ordered 3 bottles of wine. The bill totalled $1,060 for the four of us, which would be a reasonable price had the experience been on par with an establishment like Vue de Monde, The Italian, Rockpool, etc. Whilst I am sure this restauarant was excellent two decades ago, when you come to an establishment such as this, you expect an unforgetable dinning experience - this was not the case with Flower Drum. I would much prefer Shanghai Dumpling House for a 15th of price, please do not waste your time and money.

Jessica Dinh

Not just your ordinary Chinese Cuisine. Now, at first - I thought this restaurant may be a glorified typical Chinese restaurant... However it is far from and genuinely delicious! The service is impeccable. Your dishes are removed very shortly after you have finished, your drink is filled as soon as it seems empty... The friendly service we received is 10/10. I have never been at a Chinese restaurant which had this great of a service. We opted for the 6 course banquet without the wine (190pp).. We advised the waiter that we had a show to catch around the corner at 8pm, so we'd like to leave at about 7.50pm. Every dish that came out but amazing! I have NEVER ever had angus beef so tender and cooked to perfection (medium rare). The lobster noodles are to die for. Normally when I order lobster noodles, the lobster comes out quite chewy from being overcooked. The lobster we both received was delicately cooked and the noodles was soaked in the lobster juices. I would highly recommend to book the earliest session as I believe this is when the kitchen is not so busy and will be able to carefully prepare your meal to perfection. We received our last dish (dessert) at 7.40pm - TALK ABOUT PERFECT TIMING! Needless to say, we finished up on time and tipped very generously! One tip for everyone - do not rush your dinner, if I came back here again, which is most likely - I will take my time without being rush with anything to do afterwards. Very impressed with Flower Dum!

Csebarber

Love this place!. Can only afford it once a year, but it always gets better!

Professor Pig

People! All I am reading is "value for money" or "for the price" forget that, if you want value for money by a pre packed luv a duck from Coles and put it in the oven at home!. Truth be told ( and taking value for money away from this review) this is a quality restaurant, great service and even better food, as good a Peking duck as you will find in the world ( I have tried alot) and the dishes like eye fillet, and noddle with cray fish are divine, finished off with signature desserts, this is a world class Michelin awarded establishment, hence the cost. Great restaurant have been going for years and still has all the class as it did in the early 90's

Lou

Finally dined at this Melbourne institution, only to be underwhelmed. Service and food were good, but nothing exceptional. While the wine list is one of the best I've seen, the overall experience was not of the standard of other top Melbourne restaurants. Have they become complacent ?

Scott.a.wales

Far too expensive. Above average cantonese but the price is absurd. If you ate this food at a mid level chinese restaurant in Sydney or Melbourne you'd be more than happy and wouldve paid at most 500 dollars for 6 including wine. $1200 for us and that was without ordering any live seafood. Entree dim sum was $18 for three small pieces ...Mr Wong in Sydney will charge you 9 dollars for three pieces and they are far more creative with what they do with the usual suspects of pork, prawn and vegetables. How about 10 dollars for peking duck pancakes. Sounds cheap until you realise thats PER piece. This was for a long time one of Australia's iconic restaurants, which is why we wanted to go. Those days are clearly long gone ...

Cantstopsmilingatyou

Underwhelming. In days gone by I had heard about long waiting lists to get into this restaurant. So I was curious to see what all the fuss was about. The food wasn't bad, it just wasn't amazing and I couldn't justify the price when you can get a nice Chinese meal at Springvale or Box Hill. The food was nicely presented, and the service was indeed very attentive, but if it's purely for taste then going local will satisy, and save you money.

Bomber Boy

EXACTLY WHAT WE EXPECTED. We celebrated My Mum's Birthday here, and were not wanting for anything. Food (We ordered the banquet and one meal off the a la carte menu), delicious, service spot on, and most importantly Mum loved it!! Yes its not cheap, but I was expecting to pay more and walked away "full as an egg" (Probably should not have had the extra course!) and very happy. Will come back again

Facebook User

Really poor. For the price we paid ($230 per person for the banquet + half cheap bottle of wine) we were expecting something special. In reality you could get better food and have a more enjoyable evening at the supper Inn. Stuffy, overpriced and a relic or old dining etiquette. Get with the times flower drum.

Shehanie Wevita

Overpriced and mediocre. H.... Overpriced and mediocre. Had the $190 set menu and it was no better than my local Chinese takeaway. The service was not what I expected for that amount of money. One saving grace: the Pinot noir!

Darius Zeinali

Extremely overpriced. Was expecting a lot and ended up disappointed

Tom Rodley

Poor service. Average food. Mediocre by Melbourne standards. Avoid

PerthfectBreakfast

Big thumbs down. During a recent trip to Melbourne, we decided to visit Flower Drum. For the prices Flower Drum charge, I was expecting to have my mind blown away. The food was underwhelming and below average. The service was perfect, couldnt fault it. The decor was kind of tacky. We ordered from the a la carte menu and was advised that the meals are individual servings opposed to your usual shared/communal dining and most chinese restaurants. I ordered the egg white omellette with crayfish, peking duck pancakes, vegetarian e-foo noodles and crispy eggplant and finished with toffee apple fritters and organic icecream. The crayfish egg white omellete was stir fried with cream and came in a small rice bowl and was $35. Whilst I wasn't expecting a lobster tail, I didnt get any sizeable chunks of cray. The eggs themselves were very creamy but bland. I've had a similar dish many times with steamed egg white, crab meat, scallps, raw egg yolk sitting on top which you stir through and red vinegar on the side to cut through the richness. This cray omellette could have definitely used a bit more seasoning and some vinegar. I was looking forward to the 2nd course of peking duck pancakes as I remember Neil Perry raving about them on one of his shows. The peking duck pancake im familiar with is crispy skin wrapped up with hoisin sauce, spring onion and cucumber, Flower Drum's version had so much duck meat attached to it and the skin wasnt that crisp at all. Silver service though, the waiter carted out a tray with a bamboo steamer and wrapped the pancake up for me table side and then carted it off to the side and creepily watched me eat the first one before he made up the second one and put it on my plate. 3rd course I chose vegetarian e-foo noodles with chinese mushroom which was side-dish sized and had no flavour and a few piddly slices of chinese mushroom. The eggplant was nicely fried, crisp and coated with lots of garlic and five spice and chilli. It was pretty good but not amazing. Maybe I am used to cheap thrill chinese food laden with MSG to give it flavour? or maybe Flower Drum just sucks? The highlight of the meal was the toffee apple fritters with organic vanilla ice cream at a whopping $17. My dad actually called me an idiot for paying that kind of money for a dessert I could've gotten down the road in china town for $5. haha It was super tasty though. At least I can say Flower Drum, been there, done that.

Beenaroundatableortwo

Awful experience with Mimi.. I called to enquire about the private dining room and associated menus for a birthday. It does say on their website call to discuss and understand how a menu can be 'tailor' to your event...unfortunately I was on the receiving end of Mimi who clearly was not AT ALL interested in helping me understand what the process was around room hire, menu, etc., She did tell me all the information was on the website (rude) however when pressed, Mimi did tell me it was either $190 or $195 per head for the set menu - after the foul attitude and clipped tone, I told her it was rather expensive considering how poor the service on the phone was. I guess I'll have to take my 12 guests elsewhere to wine and dine them - somewhere with excellent service. Not an economic climate for bad service Mimi...

Stvar1

Best Chinese Restaurant. We went to The Flower Drum for our anniversary, and decided to go with the 6 course tasting menu with matching wines. All in all, great, without being exceptional, and somewhere I would come to with a larger group. Having never had abalone before, that was a lovely experience, and the highlight was the crayfish with ginger noodles - a very generous serve, and delicious!!! One of my favourite dishes in the world is Peking Duck, and I was looking forward to that during our experience - and the sauce was amazing! Rich, intense, deep flavour that I continue to dream about...the duck was a lovely flavour, but there was a touch too much meat, and not enough skin, for such a fine establishment. Don't get me wrong, it was delicious, but not perfect. We were VERY full after dinner, and could have easily had half the quantity and still been satisfied - that's how generous the servings are!! Finally, just to mention all the staff - so friendly, funny, helpful, who made us feel immensely comfortable, that I needed to be reminded by my husband that we were in a fine restaurant and not at home, and no matter how comfortable I was, I still needed to show some manners!!

Emeritus Professor

Exquisite Chinese Epicurism. My wife dined here for the first time, and it was the third for me, the first being over 50 years ago. We now live in Perth, so do not have the opportunity to dine like this over there. This has to be one of the best Chinese Restaurants in the world - on par with Gaddi's at The Peninsula in Hong Kong. The food is an epicurean's delight, and the service is just divine. The price is relative to the quality of the food and the excellent service. Ideal for that special occasion.

Cathprentice24

Loved it. Fabulous service, including geuridon. Food was lovely, glad I had this dining experience..

ARR

4 of us dined at Flower Drum last night. As a visitor from Sydney, I have great memories of its former incarnation and looked forward to a similar experience. Nothing like it, I'm afraid. Food was bland (ie duck wontons, sang choy bow, pork in Sechuan sauce- that was the way it was described, although it lacked any hint of heat). Mud crab was fine. The restaurant- at 8pm- was already out off coral trout, one of only two whole fish on the menu. Service was fine, indeed somewhat over the top, with an extraordinary number of waiters, servitors providing endless supplies of clean plates, napkins, hand washes etc. As we walked in, we were struck by the lack of Chinese diners; all the tables were occupied by non-Chinese on a big night out. If that's what you're after, you will have a good time. If you are looking for good and substantial Cantonese dishes, go elsewhere.

Bear Pollard

Was a fantastic night! Great restaurant, great service, extremely attentive staff without being pushy! Food was delicious!

Mwalters

Very disappointed. It is rare for me to write a negative review. My normal philosophy is, if I don't have anything nice to say, I won't say anything at all. The exception I would make in this instance is that I paid top dollar for something that disappointed in a number of ways. There were some positives, the service was very good, the Sang Choi Bao was okay and the Peking duck was excellent but for me it ends there. My wife and I went here for my birthday and we chose the 4 course banquet menu. With the exception of the duck the food was generally very bland. The pepper steak main course in particular was a disappointment, the meat was very tender but the sauce had almost zero flavour. I would have expected the meal to peak at that stage but it had already flat lined. To top it off we were charged for wine that we didn't order. Potentially we made a rookie mistake of ordering the banquet rather than a la carte or by asking the waiter for recommendations but for $350 for two and we weren't really drinking it was very poor. When I compare Flower Drum to somewhere in the same price range like Nobu I just do not see the value.

Sarah

Nice enough. We dined at Flower drum last night and I have to say that it was not a three hat experience. It was good, service was excellent and I enjoyed it. But not for what we paid for our dinner. It was obvious that every ingredient was top quality. but it lacked a certain wow factor that I was hoping for. although there was wow factor in the Peking duck pancake, or does one now say Beijing duck pancake? Can't recommend for the money.

Garryharris

Monica Harris. My husband and I dined at the FD on Tuesday evening and was so impressed I cant wait to go back. Food was exceptional, service amazing(thanks to Fong, our waiter)and atmosphere great. I have dined at some pretty good places around the country and this one is up there with the best of them. My husband and I will drive the three hours need to go here again...Thankyou

Jammit

Past use-by-date. Returned to flower drum for a 50th birthday after nearly 10 years. Was expecting a really special night but this restaurant is starting to get past its use-by-date. The service was generally v good, although things didn't get off to a good start when they forgot my beer order, and we had two waiters ask us for drink orders and two (different waiters) decide they both needed to explain the menu to us. A table of 6 next to us arrived - took one look at the menu (and presumably the prices), then left within 5 minutes... The food ingredients are high quality but overall taste is nothing special. This is the most disappointing aspect to flowerdrum. A 3 choice dessert menu - really? Although the best dish all night was the mango dessert. Everything else underwhelmed. Goodbye flowerdrum :(

Nick T

Unimpressed. For this kind of money I expect a mind-blowing food experience; presentation and flavour; and this was far from. Fortunately, I wasn't footing the bill. The Sang Choi Bao was nice enough, but I can get better on Victoria St for a fraction of the price. The king prawn in XO sauce on steamed lotus leaf was very nice. I had wonton soup that was bland as all get out. Our Peking duck was ok, but my pancake was floury and the duck a little stringy. $20 for two little pancakes? Yer havin' a larf! For a "signature dish" I don't see what the fuss is about. If you want amazing Peking duck at a similarly amazing price, I can recommend a place in Box Hill. The Szechuan diced pork was a *massive* disappointment. What a boring dish. Finally, the fried ice cream was delicious. So, now I've experienced the heralded Flower Drum and I won't be coming back. PS The Amaretto Sours genuinely are amazing. Yum.

Rossydavids

Good Service, Average Food. Excellent service, chinese service at it's best. Food is so so average nothing special. I'll go again on special occasion when you need to impress someone.

K C G

I wasn't blown away by most of the food. The service was excellent except for the older waiter. He seemed to have a bit of an elitist attitude and I didn't like it. We had lunch and decided on the spring tasting banquet. We had the Peking duck and quail San choi bow for entree. Duck was cooked brilliantly and while this was tasty I was disappointed with the overbearing hoisin sauce flavour. San choi bow was messy but tasty. Mains we had eye fillet with pepper sauce and crispy skin chicken with lemon sauce and spicy salt. The eye fillet was cooked perfectly but was cold when served. The pepper sauce had no flavour and was a big let down. The crispy skinned chicken was the dish of the day. Yum. Fried rice was decent and the stir fried vegetables well prepared and crunchy. Cocktails were a bit disappointing. My Tom Collins was served in a boring glass and had a cheap straw. The lychee martini was nice and served in a martini glass but had a cheap blue sword toothpick in the lychee. I have some of those at home that I got from a $2 shop. I found it a bit unimpressive. The decor is tired and I think they're stuck in the 80's and need refreshing desperately. Overall the food ranged from bland to amazing. We probably wouldn't go back unless we hear they've updated.

Igiveupitstoohard

Great for special occasions. We've been going there about once a year for the past five years. I am always impressed by the food and the service. I like how the table spacing means you get lots of room, you don't feel cramped or rushed.

Angela

Excellent service and food. We had the 5 course banquet and all the food was exceptional and well presented. Could not fault anything. The Grain Fed Eye Fillet with Szechuan Sauce was probably the highlight, it was perfectly cooked and tender. My partner especially enjoyed the fresh mango crepes as well, and the peking duck is always a must! The service there is unmatched, as soon as we came in we were given some hot towels because they could see we had been caught in the rain.

Mark

Incredible fine dining. The food is exceptional although fractionally larger portions would make it so much better. Service is second to none. Be prepared to pay but it is the type of dining experience you'd expect for this price... just...

Donm

What a fantastic night From.... What a fantastic night From the moment you walk into the door it is perfect service and magnificent food. Could not fault anything, was a wonderful special night. Will be back again, thank you

Brunchisbest

Food fantastic of course although unfortunately sexism at an all time high. Only male employees serving the tables while the women clean up and it's hard to ignore the fact that every waiter automatically addresses only the man whenever serving the table. Needs a bit of cultural shake up.

Serrin

Cantonese Fine Dining. This place has a reputation and, for better or worse, it's certainly well earned. It's certainly not cheap, but then again, fine dining Cantonese cuisine is pretty hard to find outside of Hong Kong Island. One can easily see the British influence has had on certain aspects of Hong Kong's culture and the Flower Drum is a perfect example of that. It delivers accurate Cantonese food with impeccable table service and if that's what you're looking for then the Flower Drum is probably the only place in Australia to go.

CC

Excellent Services. Live in Melbourne for many years and finally decided to try Flower Drum.. It was a Saturday lunch, food overall is good but a bit salty for me. To be honest, average to worst customer services is a norm for Chinese restaurants, and that’s why I don’t normally dine in at Chinese Restaurant, but this place is different, the services is excellent and excellent. Are they overpriced? May be, but the services you have at this place well worth it. I like to eat good food, but services is also important to me, I don’t mind paying a bit more to have a quiet and enjoyable meal. After the Saturday lunch, I went back today and order takeaway lunch, only a $13.5 stir fried noodles, but this is what I have got: - not only a stir fried noodles, but also a pack of chilli and 2 different types of dipping sauces. The manager even open the door for me to walk in and out, and keep saying thank you with smile many times till I lost count, please tell me where I can get this types of food and services in a Chinese Restaurant in Melbourne? Definitely I will be back

Foodie

Very nice Asian fine dining experience staff were extra friendly and always attentive. Food was incredible obviously you can find cheaper Asian cuisine elsewhere but you would goto this establishment if you are looking for a dining experience in one of Melbourne's iconic resturaunt. Would highly recommend for those who can appreciate good food.

Dhruv Chawla

Great place hidden in the alley. Service was amazing and the food too was delectable though the quantities were minimal. The toffee desert is a must try and the barbecue pork appetiser can be avoided. Service and the atmosphere earn this 3 hat canton restaurant a 4/5 rating.

Nadi

Very average. Not worth the money - especially when there's so many other amazing Asian restaurants nearby!

Jackson Fletcher-Coon

Wow ...

Justin

Very average. Had very high expectations of this restaurant and after our dining experience would NEVER return. Service however is excellent but the food average, overpriced and not seasoned well. We did the 6 course devastation with wines, so not cheap. There are better Chinese restaurants in china town. We walked away very disappointed. Save your money.

Elsie The Cow

Two things - everything old is new again and everything you remember is somehow better now. There are many restaurants in Melbourne where you could spend this sort of money but very few where you can walk out as happy with the food and dining experience.

Woofman

This place deservedly belong in the top 50 restaurants in the world. The service tonight was topnotch, and not just because our orders were nearly perfect, but also because every time we needed anything, they were there right away! Our roast duck was impeccable and the vegetable pocket was a delight. Their facilities were very clean and the ambience took me to China. I will want to go back to try the suckling and the nest soup. And nary a sight of shark fin soup - very good!

JoeyKMB

As always fabulous. Thank you.

Peeran Billimoria

Overpriced, over rated and an average meal. Surely someone needs to think twice before Rating them one of the best restaurants in Melbourne.

Vivien

OMG! Just like I never had a dinner before, long wait with only a little food, overpriced with average taste. I don't mind spending money on food but this one, I was really disappointed, I think it was just a waste of time and money, with the money I spent I deserve better

Con D

Outstanding. Been meaning to add a review about this Melbourne icon for a while now (having eaten there some weeks ago). Where to start? First, the service. Just impeccable. Friendly attitude, first class attention to detail (drinks, ice, etc.) without being obsequious or pretentious. Second, the ambience. Classy, yet welcoming. Opulent décor and a large area, but somehow cosy with the screens and layout just perfectly positioned. Third, the food. Utterly delicious. Textures and tastes blending and unexpected highlights. Presented with flair and absolute expertise - most dishes completed and plated at the table. Finally, value. Well, this is such a subjective thing; but, having eaten at thousands of restaurants in many locations I would say that, relative to quality, the value at Flower Drum is outstanding. There is still a long wait if you want to book a meal (though I would prefer to call it an uplifting dining experience) at Flower Drum. But it is very much worth the wait.

Goodfoodseeker

Good service, average food. I have to say Flower Drum has impeccable service. The staff is very attentive and polite. The place is not noisy like many other Chinese restaurants. It is a good place to eat slowly and enjoy the ambience. However, the food is just average. You are definitely paying for the service here.

Foodie13

Went here on Sunday night. Nice place. Excellent, friendly service and staff were very attentive. Food was nice, serves were quite small for the price. It was a pleasant experience but not somewhere I would rave about.

Martin M

Chinese Love. Duck Duck Duck. all i can say is order the duck . so delicious. partner is vegetarian and the vego dishes are great!!!

Sam Shue

Go for the service, not the food! Booked on a whim a table for 1. Awful view of the kitchen back room straight ahead from my table which ruined my entire experience. 4 course winter tasting menu $110. Waiters well presented, knowledgeable & very attentive. Food was at best overall acceptable, was expecting Alot more. My highlights: the aged grain fed angus which was delicious, & the service of the staff - easily the best service ive received anywhere in melbourne, &the flair and theatre used in presentation. Low lights: the horrible view from my table (my fault for not booking but at this price range I expect Every table to be good. Dessert of Toffee apple was a let down: masterfully presented but the flavour of the apple itself was not to my taste & ice cream was difficult to scoop. Overall 6.5/10 - good ambience & Phenomenal service but if the food is your 1st priority go elsewhere

Xiao Long Bao

The Best!. Have been dining at Flower Drum for many years now and it is always a pleasure. Perfectly executed food showcasing the highest quality ingredients, exemplary service from knowledgeable and charming waiters and a comfortable and clubby restaurant atmosphere. Still the best in Melbourne (by a long shot) and one of the best in the world. Hope to have the pleasure of dining here for many years to come.

Jessica Freeman

Much better Chinese food in Melb. A little disappointed after everyone said this place was so fantastic. Food was OK but not fantastic. I've had much better Chinese food in Melbourne.

Megsmoo

OMG!!! The best chinese ever, the service and all staff fantastic, worth every cent.

Mel

Nothing to fault. Best chinese food i've ever had, best service i've ever had. Was really good value for money too ... thought the serves were very generous. Yum!

Melb Foodie

Best service in Melbourne, terrific food. What can I say? It is simply a fantastic dining experience for a special occasion.

Marianna Di Gregorio

Amazing way to finish off our weekend in Melbourne. The shark fin soup was amazing. Actually all the food, was to die for.service was great, atmosphere was nice. Thanku for an amazing experience

John M

Over priced Cantonese food. .... Over priced Cantonese food. Service ok but Asian staff that don't speak great english so things requests get missed. No wine service so we paid far too much and didn't enjoy the wines. Very boring and living off reputation.

SuzieQ

Loved this place. Had the 6 course banquet paired with wine. Great service, wonderful night

Steph

Fantastic service and food! Have dined at the flower drum twice now and it is amazing. The staff happily cater for me, being a vegetarian and even make the banquet cheaper for me as it didn't contain meat. It is the perfect place for a special meal as you do need to book in a couple of months ahead for dinner. Will go back again and again!

Ryan

Standard maintained and still being followed. Didn't feel comfortable at first with their over the top service, but get used to it very soon. Their dishes were as good as before (few years back). Their peaking duck, their steak, baked crab shell, and even the dessert were great. I noticed many other Melbourne Chinese restaurants are having their menu and servicing model similar to flower drum, but they aren't as good. Yes, flower drum is a bit pricey, but it s not the most expensive.

Apexed

Disappointing. We tried the 6 course banquet with matched wine. Their Peking Duck dish was superb. Everything else was ho hum. Filling meal and friendly and attentive wait staff but just not at all consistent with their pricing or reputation. The dirty wine glasses, worn out crockery and cutlery, poor presentation of several of the dishes, and rush between courses (plate whipped away as soon as I rested my chopsticks) were not what I expected.

Zebedee

Disappointing. Didn't give the Flower Drum a thumbs up or down. the food was OK, the service was OK. all in all, the experience just didn't live up to the price point. Sorry Flower Drum.

Jodes And Mike

Soft Shell Crab. Always great - i could literally live entirely off the soft shell crab and Tsingtao. Service is legendary.

Bc4774

Look, it's good Chinese but really expensive. I come from an Asian background so I know pretty much what Chinese food should taste like. The food here is really authentic and very good. The service is nice (especially when making our young child feel very welcome too). We started with duck wonton. Pretty good! Moved onto dim sims. Chili mud crab. Mixed veggies. Braised honey ribs. Can't fault any of the food as it was really good, but it is soooooo expensive. 3 dim sims for $19???? The decor is a little outdated. I was expecting glamorous black lacquer and plush red velvet and brocade gold. Nothing like this really. Maybe my imagination got ahead of me. Great selection of wines!! Would I come back? Only if someone was picking up the tab.

Julie T

$40 for 2 Course Lunch - YUM!. Yes, you can enjoy the Flower Drum for only $40 for a 2 course lunch or $55 for 3 courses. There are 3 entrees to choose from including their famous Peking Duck and a lamb jiaozi (dumpling) The Peking duck was excellent but the lamb dumpling was wrong because dumplings don't come with lamb in them - it's just not right. For mains, the black Angus eye fillet beef was outstanding and melted in our mouths. The barramundi fillet was nice and light but it would have been better if they had kept to the original Cantonese style of cooking (i.e. not battered) The mains came with a bowl of tasty fried rice (complete with thinly chopped asparagus) and another rice bowl of lightly stir fried fresh greens (snow peas and Chinese broccoli - cooked to perfection) Plus we were given little almond biscuits for sweets. I think that this restaurant is trying to hard to modernise their dishes but this means compromising on the correct way of cooking which thereby affects the taste. Overall all, it was a lovely dining experience with excellent and attentive service throughout and good food all round. For $40, I would highly recommend the experience!

Paulweb

Not as good as I was told. I found the food bland and without the full flavour I expected, especially given the price and reputation (I was told that Flower Drum was highly recommended). The calamari was overcooked and the 'five spice' was an add on - not cooked with it. The whiting was of the same calabre and was a small serving. Lamb spring roll was OK but the 'gravy' was poor. Service was extremely attentive and the surroundings and facilities nicely furnished, lots of room and comfortable.

Richard

Long for the old days. There is no doubt in my mind that there are a group of restaurants in Melbourne that enjoy sacred cow status with the food media in this town. The Flower Drum is one of them. How this place continues to receive multiple chefs hats is beyond me because my experience is of a restaurant that has been in terminal decline for about 10 years. I first went to this place in around 1985/86 and pretty consistently throughout the 90s. No doubt, this was a great restaurant. Also no doubt that the Flower Drum today is not what it was in 80s and 90s (and I don't mean that in a good way). I visited this place again just recently and again left feeling I had just paid 3 times above the odds for pretty run of the mill cantonese food. There is really nothing exciting about this place anymore. It has been overtaken. The problem is, it is just about the only chinese restaurant the food media in this town visit so they still rate it at the summit of cantonese cooking in Australia. The service is still very attentive and professional (again not quite at the level it was) and there is still a sense of a fine dining room but the food just does not measure up nowadays. There are a number of restaurants in Melbourne that trade on reputation more than what they actually deliver. I think the Flower Drum is one of those and I think it would be appropriate if this place started being reviewed and recommended for what it actually delivers today than what it delivered in 1990.

Bridgethopkins

Yep still the best cantonese in australia

Paul

I am shocked and confused as to how any person with 1/2 an idea what good food tastes like would even recommend this place. I could not find one thing I liked. Silver service but over compulsive and the food was a disgrace. I thought I would ignore negative reviews and judge for myself (stupid!) do not waste your money on this overpriced crud.

Samantha

Chinatown. Had dinner here on thursday night, the food and service are amazing. Best peking duck and chicken sweet corn soup. Fried ice cream is to die for

Yummy Mummy

All class. The Flower Drum is classic, old school fine dining and is the perfect place for a BIG event meal. Yes, there are trendier, hipper restaurants in Melbourne but if you are looking for exemplary service, excellent and delicate Cantonese food and a memorable meal then this is the place. My husband and I had the 6 course chef's menu but made some substitutions based on some of the maitre d's suggestions. We had the most amazing meal of baked crab shell, amazingly fresh garfish and a modern dessert tasting plate including a lychee sorbet encased in white chocolate and a mini chestnut pie. For those who say there are cheaper Chinese meals to be had in Melbourne, it is a bit like saying you can get Italian food at La Porchetta. The Flower Drum is not cheap, it is refined, classic Cantonese food for a very special occasion.

FoodBean

Over-rated.. A bit like André Rieu: mostly show, not much substance! Food was ok but a bit bland and nothing special. For example, the Szechuan Chili Pork had hardly any chili in it and not much flavour. Szechuan food is supposed to be spicy and tasty. Presentation was good. Wine list over-priced. Service OTT (every time you take a sip of wine the waiter is there topping it up immediately - same with water). Overall we were disappointed.

Bianca R.

Old school chinese experience. I flew over from adelaide for the day to shop and lunch. when i arrived at flower drum i was pleasantly surprised from the word go. the door was opened for me upon arriving and then i was escorted into the lift...hoo ha! walked into the foyer and greeted again by big smiles and helpful staff . i was then escorted to a corner table at the far end of the restaurant. i sat down and was amusingly surprised by the dark, seedy, yet glamorous old school chinese gangster vibe of the place. i loved it! the money you spend at FD is in the service, ambience and wine list. the duck wontons for entree were perfection, but i was a little disappointed in the main - pork stir fry - given the price i paid, i found it of average value, but fresh. the fried ice cream for dessert is an oldie but a goldie from my childhood, very special. all in all it was a delightful experience and i was shown nothing more than the best, friendliest and attentive service. one fine day i will return and i will be trying the roast duck with tangy plum sauce - no doubt a 10/10 dish!

Baby Bee

Argh!. Overpriced for average food. Never again!

Me-want-food

If you got money to throw away come here. There is lots of Chinese that serve the same food but half the price of this place. Unbelievable. I prefer man mo at docklands or tai pan and golden dragon palace in Doncaster. Flower drum bill = $110 + per person. Tai pan = $ 40-50 per person with the same quality food

Morganjwilliams

Out of sync. We took my inlaws to the FD last night and despite expecting a $900 bill for the six of us (banquet plus two bottles of wine) I almost swore when the cheque came. Lets start with the experience itself...the location, the building reminds me of old Tintin books where intrepid explorers find themselves in grand old opium dens of the far east...its dark wood, muted tones and smartly dressed, demure (ish) staff who do that whole moving very quickly but not looking hurried thing...on arrival I noted that we were joining the anglo 90% of the clientele who dwarfed anyone from anywhere in asia...at the next table was a famous chinese Tennis Player, replete with entourage, eating and drinking heartily before the open...there seemed to be several couples on first or first (ish) dates, the males of which attempted a few nervous kisses, some of which were about as warmly received as our food.... ...in Melbourne paying $150 a head for food buys you a stellar choice of chef's establishments and experience and nearly always a story worth telling about amazing food...not so at the flower drum...it was refined but dull on all counts...I can easily and cheerfully say that the A1 Cafe, just left of the entry pagoda to China town trumps this place for $9.50....sure the A1 is run by the chinese equivalent of the Soup Nazi but the food there brings you back wanting to again lick your lips and salivate in anticipation of the duck or roast pork....back to the FD and on my taste in food...I appreciate two things in food...great flavour and great texture and feel....at the FD most things were a 5/10 or 6/10 on taste but textures rarely above 4/10. I would go someone else except if you are interested in experiencing the 'far east' tintin style and have $900 to buy the experience.

Machiz

Crazy not to enjoy. Words can not describe how much I enjoyed this place, from the service to the food it was all outstanding. If you plan on going don't forget to get a bank loan before hand.

Candice

I really wanted to like it.... I sat on this review for a couple of days, but in the end went with a thumbs down vote. Whilst there is nothing wrong with the food, you are paying a lot for what you are getting. I didn't find the food to have any wow factor (except for the quail san choy bao which was amazing). The service is amazing but for me I think it is too over the top. I felt like the waiters were standing at our table listening in to our conversation which made both me and my partner feel uncomfortable. The food is average for asian foor but has a five star price attached to it. I think the food at Chin Chin or Gingerboy is more exciting and is not as expensive. I don't think I will be returning (unless someone else is paying!)

Food Lover

Amazing! 5 stars for their service, it was like we were the only people in the restaurant. Food was full of flavour and the toffee bananas for dessert was the perfect way to end the meal. Defiantly going back again.

Jack Shaw

I have never had a Chinese experience quite like Flower Drum. Everything from the service to the food was quite literally perfect. No complaints from me. 10/10

FC

Way overpriced for average food you could get at any other chinese restaurant. I am still figuring out how this restaurant is being rated as one of the melbourne top. we had the 185$ dollar menu, the «Classic» menu... Not classic, but rather old fashioned and stuck in the past.

Katiza

Lovely. We popped down for a la carte lunch today at the Flower Drum and ordered various dishes, all to which were artistically presented and full of flavour. The peking duck was just beautiful and the king prawns enormous. The red roast pork was tender and the crayfish omelette was subtle yet rich in flavour. Staff were more than attentive, and we left feeling very satisfied. A pleasure to dine.

Jonathon Moore

What Chopstix said. Way past its prime. Charging like the heydays for food that has definitely descended rapidly toward average.

Kim Black

Fantastic dinner we had the 6 course menu , everything was perfect , amazing service the place was very busy as it was oaks day . I will def be going again . yum

Chopstix

Holy crap that was crap!. We've dined at a lot of Melbourne's great restaurants, but our meal at The Flower Drum last night was truly our worst. The Flower Drum is well past its use by date, both in terms of decor and, more importantly, its food. There is very little here that you couldn't get at a reasonable quality Chinese restaurant at a quarter of the price. When Melbourne's restaurants have moved to the full flavours you see at Chin Chin, Coda and innumerable others, The Flower Drum keeps serving the same gelatinous sauces it was dishing up two decades ago. By our observation, it appears Melbourne's love affair with this restaurant rests solely on it's past reputation and not on it's position in todays crop of dining options. Even El Bulli closes to reinvent itself - Flower Drum, it's time you do the same.

Fair But Honest

In the know. Best way to experience Flower Drum is to get to know a waiter - eg: Barney - we never see the menu, he suggests, (we always have the baked crab in shell - to die for) and we are yet to be disappointed. You don't go there for atmosphere but if you want GREAT Chinese and a top end wine list then there's none better

Leonie Green

Peking duck to die for, exceptional, attentive service, fabulous menu, worth every additional sent!

Lauren

The service here is the best I've ever seen, and the Peking duck was to die for. Highly recommend

Tammy Neilson

Some of the best service I've ever experienced and the food was great. Waiters were so attentive and had exactly the right balance

Kate

Nice. Fantastic service. All waiters were attentive and friendly. Meals were tasty although nothing wow! Portions were small although we still left quite full as meals came out throughout the night rather than all at once. Enjoyable but will try another asian restaurant next time.

Noomer

Never should ve, never will. Went there for a friends birthday. was hesitating till the last minute. didn't like the price, menu or the fame. the boss kept saying it's his favourite chinese restaurant. i didnt trust him and it turned out i was right. to start, we had some poached/hard boiled shrimps with dipping sauce. the shrimps were fresh. bit rudimentary, but, it 's fine. then we had some cheese bake crab meat - i mean, seriously? it was bland, cheesy, creamy, but not crabby! i feel sorry for the crabs which sacrificed their lives for this dish. i i think it was about $40 per serve. then we had some fish noodles and some soup, some vegetables etc., which were all just i don't know, things you can get for $10 elsewhere. waiters are in abundance, really, no need. decor is tiring. it's such a cliche, looks like its straight out of the set of jackie chan chris rock movie, whats its name again? all in all, the meal was no good. for the price they charged us, i d choose silk at crown or some other chinese restaurants in the eastern suburbs any time of the day, easy! don't go. actually even not for the price i d go somewhere else.

Rob

Enjoyable Chinese but can be found elsewhere. The dishes didn't stand out for us, which we were expecting.. But they were still good and we left full. Pricier than most chinese restaurants in the city but the service here is SO much more professional and friendly than the other cheap places nearby. We had the Grain Fed Eye Fillet and Peking Duck which were great. Desserts were okay, enjoyed the mango crepe. Again not very original..

Alano

Things done right.. Have been there for lunch a few times and its been consistently good. Nice decor and very attentive service without being pretentious. Plenty of veg options and all tasty. Singapore noodle dish is a must to try, stuffed eggplant not too bad either,so delicate. They don't mind you sharing, which I thought such places would. Having filled up on food once, we didn't have enough room for desert so just ordered one. They confirmed if its to share and split it in the kitchen in two plates with separate garnishing etc. Very nice of them.

Sweet&Sour

This is a hard one, because I can't say at all that I had a negative experience or that the food was in any way bad, it's just that nothing was great. Food had clean flavours but have tasted similar but better dishes in other restaurants. It is not the cheapest place in Melbourne but for the amount of service and food you get it is actually quite good value for money. The dessert was huge!!!

Food Critics Wife

One of the best dining experiences ever. Amazing, fresh, interesting food..... Fantastic service, we had great wines matched for us...... Certainly not in the cheap eats catagorey, but recommend- do it! Book!

Berbatov

Best Chinese restaurant in Australia.. To people who don't like this restaurant what's wrong with you? I have been going for close to ten years.. And I have never had a bad meal never. Yes it expensive but your getting something you can't get anywhere else.. For goodness sake they put quail meat inside a spring roll (could you imagine how pain stakeing that would be) best thing to eat Peking duck.10/10

Jono C

Cheap and ordinary. I don't know if there's more than one Flower Drum in Melb CBD but I really couldn't understand the fuss - same quality, recipes and service as your average Chinese suburban restaurant. really very average

Talychka

Great service, lovely food, painful on the wallet. My boyfriend and I had planned to go to Hauf Brau Haus (sp?) in China Town but when we got there the main restaurant was closed and we didn't think the bar next door was the experience we wanted. So we decided to splurge on Flower Drum across the road, as I had never been before and he said it was great. I had the 4 dish set menu for around $100 and it was all absolutely superb. He had a slow cooked lamb dish that he wasn't crazy about, as it was a just a tiny bit grisly. The wine was amazing - a Harvey Mountain californian zinfandel red (or something like that), we loved it so much we had a few glasses, despite it being around $20 a glass! The silver service was really lovely - my boyfriend said that's what makes it worth the money, although personally I must admit that although it was amazing, I found it a little disconcerting too because I 'm not used to that sort of thing (I'm just a pleb really). I was struck by how there were so few people dressed up given the prices, it's a shame that people don't go in for that sort of thing anymore. There was even a girl there wearing ugg boots?? Anyway, we don't eat out much so I am willing to believe that Flower Drum has been superseded by better places, but we loved it. Expect to pay a fortune and to feel that you somewhat got your money's worth in fine service and lovely food.

Annie

Food and service don't match the price. Such a disappointment with the food at this restaurant, we ordered a steamed fish, which is a pretty common Chinese dish, and it came out still raw! ( For such a basic error, they should close their doors and send their chefs back to a Chinese cooking school) With the raw fish, the staff then took it back to the kitchen and re-steamed the same fish, so it came back out over-cooked! And throughout the whole meal, we had several staff just standing around watching, very uncomfortable... There are so many good Chinese restaurants in the city, don't know how they can have such poor standard of food and charge such high prices and survive. Definitely won't be going back.

Love Food

Uncomfortable experience. Although the staff ( who looks like a management or some sort ) might seem to be experienced, however was rude in a way that felt pushy, and inpatient. sort of we should just eat what they arranged, and one of the dish comes short in pieces, the staffs actually blamed us for ordering the wrong amount. Was just uncomfortable Maybe because they know they are well known, but as compared to all the places we have been to in Asia, this doesn't even match up , no comparison. Dont understand the hype, maybe in the 90's it was good.for sure needs some renovations

Byte

Mixed Bag. OK, after many visits to Flower Drum. I've decided to say something. Most of the food is still sensational, the service is outstanding, but it's beginning to feel a little overpriced compared to some other Chinese restaurants. I still recommend it if you are dating a mainland Chinese girl, as it still impresses, but obviously not for a first date (too expensive for that).

Adam Buchta

When you walk into this restaurant you are greeted by an army of waiters. The atmosphere and the ambience are excellent and the tables are well spaced. Food was great. Good size of all servings. The mains took about an hour to come out after we had entrees but we didn't mind as I was in good company. It was worth the wait. Another good thing is my glass was never empty. Was always able to drink without pouring myself and this is what you would expect from a restaurant like this. Would highly recommend for special occasions

A Team

Service is impeccable! The food delicious, everything was spot on. However, really your paying for the service. The only dish that really stood out was the Peking duck. Everything else you could get from other high quality Chinese restaurants for a fraction of te price, to the same great tasting quality. This was nice for an experience, I highly enjoyed it but won't come rushing back. Nice place for a celebration.

Uroldoc

Disappointing. After several gradually declining dining experiences, I have finally worked out my problem with this place.The food and service is always good BUT many suburban restaurants have caught up. Bottom line is the price doesnt justify the quality. Better value at Omahs, Teahouse on Bourke and Chois

The Reviewer

Mmmm - Disappointed. Well, I took my partner here for a special birthday and I have to say it... I was dissappointed! Many times I have wanted to come to visit this restaurant to see what the hype was about. Well I did and I probably won't again! The decorator needs to spend some time here and get this restaurant looking fabulous! It has the grand open space and the reputation (maybe in the 90's it was great) but for todays standards it lacked something. The food was great and we ended up having a banquet to get a real taste of the menu. The food was lovely but by no means enough, nor anything special that I couldn't get down the road for half the price! Sorry... not a fan!

Tasting Notes Melbourne

Mixed feelings. Was quite excited to come here for the first time, was expecting the quality of two hat type cuisine, yet even though the food was good, it very much seemed like the sort of cuisine you could find at a number of places on little burke, i think if i had ordered differently and gone in with a more neutral mindset on the place i may have enjoyed it more..

Will K

Speechless. Was phenominal!! Service matched the food.

Louise

Fine night out with the family. It was my mother-in-law's 80th birthday on the weekend, and we'd planned well in advance to go to Flower Drum with the whole family. The food was mostly beautiful, although there were a few items which were just nice. The service was, as usual, exceptional. There were nine of us there altogether and it cost us $925 including just two bottles of wine, but for such a special occasion it was worth it. On the other hand when we got home my husband immediately ate some fruit, so it wasn't really filling. A few of the dishes were a little small, such as the drunken squab (which I later found out is pigeon, so it's not surprising it's small). For entree I had a crab mornay dish which is normally a part of one of the banquets, and it was divine. We had their signature dish Peking duck, which was up to its usual delicious standard. One of the main meals we had was a beef steak dish, and after the first plate of it we ordered two more, it was so good. On the more ordinary side, for dessert I had the deep-fried ice cream, but it came out cold (I'm used to the crust being hot), and it was just nice, not fabulous. Their coffee is excellent. Oh, and by the way, their wine list is really remarkable.

TF

Fantastic. Beautiful food, delicate and delicious..wonderful quiet wait staff, excellent, if expensive, wine. This is a great place for a special meal. My partner and I had a meal somewhere else in China Town after a comedy show and it was so truly appalling I felt like going for a colon cleanse to get rid of the grease.. The flower drum resurrected my faith. a nearby table, sadly , had a very loud man whose own ego threatened to bore everyone to death. What can you do.. Some people will go just to show off.

Socialite

Flower Drum, worth it. Had seafood and peking Duck, delicious. Staff excellent.

Julian Shambles

Saturday lunch is the go. If you want to avoid: - A second mortgage - Lots of snobby w**kers - Being seen in a future series of Underbelly - Busy busy busy I really enjoy this fine dining icon when it's a relaxed Saturday lunch. The place is not too full and the set menu options were great.

Foodie_j

Will always have a soft spot for this place. Food is spectacular and the spacious interior takes me back to when I was a child and thought that place was paradise. Never dissapointed, just glad I'm not paying the bill.

Sir Lunchalot

Timed to Dine. Recently whilst working in Melbourne, four colleagues and I were left to last after a hectic week. Someone suggested a quick lunch at the 'Drum rather than a stale cracker in the Qantas lounge, so we thought we'd give it a spin with no booking and about an hour an a half to get in and out. We arrived before 12 (their scheduled opening time) and within 10 minutes we were in with the whole 1st Floor to ourselves with the exception of the plethora of waiting staff (for which they are renowned) and what appeared to be relatives left over from breakfast. We gave precise instructions to the principal waiter assigned to us (there were three or four others to assist him) to ensure that one of our number (me) could escape by 1 pm to catch my flight. That gave me just on 1 hour and the timing was spot on. In these unusal circumstances, we threw the choice of menu over to our hosts. They determined on a slight variance to one of their luncheon selections, but I don't think we suffered from the change. We statrted with 4 dumplings. Very fresh dough and herbs wich brought out the different flavours of the scallop, the prawn, the dim sim, etcetera. Then we moved to a traditional Seng Choi Bao. I thought this need a bit of spicing-up, but others weren't fussed, so I put it down to my palette. I thought a bit of soy sparked it up. This was followed by a pallette clenser before moving to what I thought to be the highlight of the meal, battered barramundi. It sounds plain, however it was anything but. The batter was very light, not at all oily, the fish was perfectly cooked. Each bite was like taking a snap out of a perfectly cooked chip; there was a literal crunch and the the softness and taste of the fish really hit you like the moist centre of a chip. It was all about the taste and the texture. Finally we had a Grain Fed Eye Fillet with Black Pepper Sauce. Again, perfectly cooked to my taste (on the rare side) with delicate, not over-powering pepper flavours. It was served with an excellent fried rice. Each person received individual serves and each was delivered by an human assembly line of demure, but pleasant staff under the obvious lead of our host. We washed the meal down with a few bottles of mineral water and a bottle of Shaw & Smith Sav' Blanc (c.$48). I had to leave, but I'm told that the food stopped with my departure and, for my part, am happy to say that I had more than enough in good company and not once did I feel rushed or anxious that I would miss my flight (until I got onto the freeway). I have to say that I have a sopt spot for theDrum, but I have lately avoided it because of all the hype about bookings, cost and the like. However, our meal was beautifully paced and controlled by the staff who hovered without getting in the way of our conversation, making it a memorable meal amidst a memorable week. All up the damage (including the wine) was $440, so say $80 a head plus the wine. Some may say thats's steep for Chinese, but (soy apart) it was pretty faultless. The

Gin

Faultless. My companion had flown in from Canberra the night before, spotting a review of a Flower Drum dish in the in-flight magazine. Mud crabs with ginger and shallots, on a bed of noodles. I was prepared to have to break the disappointing news that getting a table at Flower Drum was not possible, but Melbourne's summer languidness worked in our favour and we were greeted with smiles and hands at the ready to relieve us of bags of bargains. It's like stepping into another age. How can a roomful of bustling waiters possibly generate a tranquil atmosphere? Our menu did not feature the desired dish. My companion whipped out the page she had ripped from the magazine, two waiters conferred with the maitre'd, a message was relayed to the kitchen, a message returned and a young apprentice was set to work on a whole mud crab. Half an hour later, one of the most extraordinary taste sensations I have experienced. Oustanding.

Herring

Dont go if you are hungry. Amazing service, but only quite good food in very small portions.

Narelle Grant

Very good food, but not the finesse & wow factor I was expecting. Hard to see value for money. Also hard to see how they get two hats. Impeccable service.

Dee

So brilliant, what a night! Lovely service and yummy food. Well worth it

Boccadellaveritas

Not if I'm paying. Great spacing of tables. Some of the dishes world class, like the abalone. BUT it is tired and a parody of classy chinese restaurant. It is for 1980's business people to impress their golfing partners. I am not saying don't go there, but make sure someone else pays and tick it off your bucket list.

DB4SB

Flower drum was yum yum yum!!! Went there for special occasion and it just added to our amazing evening! Fong our waiter was so sweet and was very conscientious about giving us our privacy- yes meals are on the pricey end but quality is wonderful and I left stuffed!!!

Rcnt Ulysss

Poor serivce not that great food for price and reputation. I booked a table of 10 and was excited about eating here a its always been on my list of restos to try. i ended up paying over $800 for the meal and sad to say that it didn't meet my expectations. for all the dishes, we ordered, duck, crab, crispy skin chicken, the tasting menu... all of them ive had better in footscray. the crab was particularly disappointing - not much flavour! found the service stuffy and not all that polite and slightly rude. the food was not terrible, still quite good overall but there are many restos which are just as good and half the price. sadly this is a resto that has past its prime. it seriously needs and update. i wont be going back.

2 Little Pigs

Paying for nothing more then the name. Score: Ambiance: 6 Service: 8 Value: 2 Food: 11 Total 27/50 What a massive disappointment. Most people know that Flower Drum is very expensive for a chinese restaurant, but you at least expect good quality food for your money. The service is the only good thing about the place. Other then that the food was below average, completely lacking in flavour of any sort. You would be much better off going to any of the numerous other restaurants around in chinatown and paying about 1/3 the price to get better quality food. The only reason to go here would be to show off to your friends/clients how much money you have to waste on dining with an impressive reputation that is completely undeserved.

In Good Taste

Scallop Dumpling~!. This place still has the best service. They work on a 10:1 ratio of staff to customers

The Hungry Scorpio

Have been visiting FD for the past ten years and have always been happy with the exceptional service from the tentative staff and the amazing food with good sized portions. We have vehemently defended the FD to critics and naysayers alike for a while now. However, on this last occasion we left feeling disappointed and defeated. The service had dropped considerably. There seemed to be lots of wait staff but no one actually waiting on us. Our teacups remained empty, as well as our glasses and our hot towels arrived with hair entwined in them. The portion sizes had shrunk and the biggest disappointment came when we ordered the crispy skinned chicken. It arrived crispy skinned but still red in a lot of parts, not pink, but red as in raw which is just not acceptable in ANY restaurant. Not only is the decor in need of a re vamp, i think the whole place needs to go on a holiday and come back refreshed and excited to be doing what they do. At this point I could not honestly recommend this place to anyone for that special occasion as i once did. They have been riding the wave of their previous glory for too long and been allowed to slip into this mediocre existence because they are THE Flower Drum. Shame Shame Shame

Anthony

Overrated. Whilst it was once famous, Flower Drum's standard has dropped considerably in the past decade. Service remains impeccable, and waiters are there at a little nod of the head, but the quality of food just doesn't blow you away for the price you pay.

Tina Stojkovska

The BEST customer service I have ever experienced. Oh and the foods mighty good too.

Terry O'Hanlon

Highlights? The service, the pace and of course, the food. Steak to die for, Peking Duck that was just mmmm! Moment to treasure: they overheard my companion say he didn't like seafood and didn't even give him prawn crackers with his Crispy Chicken like the rest of us.

Peter White

Outstanding appetisers - Delightful calamari with spicy salt, good duck wontons, and great Szechuan eggplant. Then the wheels came off with the mains - no free range pig used, worst Singapore noodles (tasteless vermicelli, overcooked) and frozen king prawns used in the chilli prawn stir fry. Decor is tired. Waitstaff very attentive, but no real atmosphere. For dessert, awesome mango crepes, and lovely Peking apple toffee, compiled at the table. Just missed the mark, which might explain how we were able to obtain a Friday lunch booking, at short notice, in a mostly empty restaurant. Time to rebuild - your competition has caught up, and surpassed you in what was your halcyon era.

Jono

Don't do it. The above average service does in no way justify the cost of the pedestrian food offered here. The 6 course banquet at $250 a head with "matched" wine was a complete let down. The same dining experience could be had anywhere in China town for a lot less than the asking price at Flower drum.

Christie Cathcart

Amazing service and amazing food, went for my birthday dinner with my boyfriend and our waiter made my night even more delightful, peaking duck is unbelievable!!

U4128308

Good food but over priced. Enjoyed the food but I wouldn't go if I was paying.

Hungry Princess

Expensive but a must try (for a very special occasion). Flower Drum is most definitely fine dining - both in terms of price and service. Their service was very attentive and polite, after each round of dishes they would replace dishes and cutlery and also give hot towels. According to a friend they also had a very reasonably priced wine list (im not a big drinker). I was not much of a fan of their yum cha which seemed to have a slight twist from the regular run of the mill yum cha dishes, but the other dishes are amazing. What I had (highlights): > Lobster noodles - not too oily, great flavour, lobster meat all shelled for you - including the little parts of the legs! > Peking duck - reputation for great Peking duck - wrapped warm next to your table - crispy skin and tender meat, not too much fat > Drunken Chicken - great balance of flavours, the right amount of subtleness (though you must like the slight alcohol taste to appreciate it) Its worth a visit at least as an experience, just take a look at their menu to gauge how much you will be forking out so there are no unwanted surprises.

Hung Lo

Great service great food a great business still going strong

Krishna Brannigan

Anniversary. Thanks to my partner for a great 1st anniversary. It was off to a slow start as the service wasn't that quick, but once we had ordered the service seemed to be more attentive and the meal was paced just right. Great to go to a Melbourne icon.

Gracefully Grazing...

As time goes by..... Been going for a long time...never disappoints.....the pearl meat is always a winner for me. But I can see in today's market and the level of decor and theatre that we have come to expect that the Flower Drum does not standout as it once did. But a Melbourne institution it is and worth a least one dinning experience there.

Albo

High expectations...dashed. As a Melbourne institution that resonates class and quality, I find myself wondering if their reputation really does precede them, and leaving their food somewhat lacking. I miss the traditional, Chinese way of communal dining, shared plates, flowing rice, and self-service tea from ceramic pot. But maybe I find the thought of fine-dining stifling in its own straight-jacket. The food was good, but lacked that punch that I expected from a restaurant with more awards than I've had birthdays. Menu: Karuma Prawns Steamed Oysters Baked Jade Tiger Abalone Peking Duck Braised Beef Cheek Almond Soup with Glutinous Rice Balls

SweetMangoPuree

Amazing service, food, everything can't believe that ever waiter knew what we were having. 10 out of 10 :)

Georgia

For all the hype it was an anticlimax. The long waits in between dishes did not reflect the taste of the food. I can honestly say that my Cantonese grandfather could create all of these dishes at a higher standard. It was over priced and over rated.

GidgetShare

Let down. I would never go back. What a let down. The Flower Drum needs to reinvent themselves. Boring, very boring - no atmosphere, daggy decor, predictable food, standard service. Why did I pay all that money to get the equivalent of local Chinese food?

Tastybits

Set menu sets my canto instincts on edge but the drum pulls it off. However going phantom menu is the best way to order. Service consistent. For some reason dinner service on certain weekdays far outstrips the rest ?chef utilization in the kitchen

Melbourne Guide

Over rated and over price. Service is excellent food is ok . Eating at flower drum is like owing a LV handbag cost a lot but just a hand bag with hype and brand name. Yes if you own an LV bag then we properly go there or like it there.

Anonymous

Peaking duck!. Yes its pricey - but it is easily the best chinese in Melbourne if not Australia. You will not find better staff anywhere in Australia. And you have to order the peaking duck. Its a must have!

Richie Hunt

Great food & service. well worth the experience.

Foodaholic

Overrated. I was expecting a lot - I got a HUGE amount of service! Every 2 seconds, someone came over to ask the same question, the WHOLE night! No doubt the food was exquisite and the setting was beautiful. Was it worth the big bill? NO! But I'm really glad I went - at least I now know to ignore the hype about this place...

Richard

Just outstanding. Having been going to the Flower Drum since I was young, it just never disappoints. The service - it just doesnt get any better. Unobtrusive but extremely efficient. I have had many instances where an empty glass dissappeared while I was at a table for two and I didnt even notice! The food is simply sublime. Many simply dont get it. The simplicity, honesty and detail in the food, the texture, the quality of ingredients, even the temperature of individual components of a dish is what its all about. At the Flower Drum nothing is left to chance. Its all by design. If you thought it wasnt impressive, chances are you just dont understand what they were trying to achieve.

Kong

One of the few chinese restaurant you get good service

Chunky Monkey

We had an ordinary duck pancake experience a long while ago, but more recently at a charity event where the chef was cooking, I had most amazing home made tofu with prawns & crab. Not too sure if it on the menu? Would really want to be, fabulous!

Tiff

Simply the best restaurant service I've ever experienced.

Dani Lindsay

Amazing. This is a beautiful restaurant with the most amazing service I have experienced. I enjoyed the pearl, dim sum and peking duck. Beautiful food, the whole experience is something I will never forget. Highly recommend Flower Drum, it is relatively expensive but it is worth it.

Matthew Jackson

Exceptional....... You have'nt had a great meal with great service until you have been to the "Flower Drum"........ I can't say much more except try it........ Exceptional value and the most mouth watering menu that will not dissapoint!!!!!!!

Paul Tomkins

Always a great meal, go the duck!

Stacey

Best service in the world.. After a bit of saving I took my partner to the FD for the banquet. Whilst the food was great and the 'cheesy crab' will go down in our gastronomic folklore, what really set this apart was the service. It was seamless. The tea was hot and constantly replenished, the courses flowed around us. Whilst I have had food that good for half the price the service made you feel like royalty and I would happily hand over my wad of cash again for that kind of service.

Fat_kid

How do you say perfect in cantonese?. FINALLY i got to try the ever so famous Flower Drum thanks to my beautiful boyfriend. We did the $165 banquet and upgraded the beef to wagu for an extra $20 or so....let me tell you, i was not disappointed! Every single dish that came out was perfect....we sat there and raved about each element of every single dish and could not fault one thing. Service was impeccable....ambiance of the resteraunt was bustling....there was not one empty table on this tuesday night. Its not often that i dont find something wrong....but i cant say one bad word about this place. They even kept refilling my fresh chilli without me having to ask >.< To all those wishing to try it out...DO IT! Your tastebuds will love you for it!

Racy_jacy

Excellent food, superior service. Nuff said!

Jack Curtain

Shocking restaurant need to improve

MummyCino

I would never pay that much for Chinese food again. Yes, the flavors and textures were all amazing, but they are also amazing at other places where it costs a fraction of the price. Not worth the exorbitant pricing.

Stephen Sander

A real flower .... We were treated to a degustation menu by the chef at his pleasure and consequently ours as every item was a taste sensation! Often we were almost hesitant to get started on a dish because they way it was presented looked like a piece of art. The service was warm and professional and we ended up having a close to 3-hours culinary safari of epic proportions ...

Verena Wimmer

Disappointing.... Very expensive food (we had the banquet), definitely good quality but in some dishes subtle flavors of crab or quail were overwhelmed by unsophisticated sauces and other dishes were bland. The eye fillet had the consitency of liver - tenderizer? Service was friendly.

Steamrollersam

Friendly service. Flower Drum's lost its lustre recently with the entry of new pretenders into Melbourne's dining scene. The food on its menu can be had elsewhere at much cheaper prices, bigger proportions, and may I say, better quality? However what still sets it apart, and why I think every last cent you pay is worth it, is the fantastic service that is attentive but does not overwhelm, from suggestions on what and how much to order (i do tend to overorder), and from the fact that they're JUST THERE when you need them. Unlike its other Cantonese counterparts your querying gaze doesn't have to turn into and evil stare before you get any attention. And mind you, they're not just hanging about waiting for you to get on with your meal and pay the bill. Wine glasses get filled, condiments get replaced, empty plates get replenished without one asking. Excellent service - best in melbourne.

Jrgnsn_tjf

Yes it is stuffy, yes it is expensive, but the food is delicious. Do not eat shark fin soup as it is a barbaric practice. Tell everyone.

James

The overcharging is a mouthful

Eranwa

Very nice. I had i supreme shark find soup which was exceptional... they charged me for a full bottle of champagne even though i ordered a half (but lets not hold that against them since it could have just been a mistake). my partner didn't think her food was all that great and we (especially here) did not think the price of the dining matched the quality of food. there were also other problems, like 15 asian wait staff staring at you constantly and waiting besides your table, this made us VERY uncomfortable, they really need to distribute them bettr, but the service was exceptional!

Heracles

Our first visit to Flower Drum in the "post-Lau" era. We went because our 9 year old has become something of a Peking Duck tragic. So, we went really only to sample the legendary Peking Duck. What of it? "completely perfect" was our 9 year old's assessment. He was right. Light, delicious pancakes with beautiful duck and delightful sauce, all served with perfect precision. Worth the visit on its own. However, we did eat other things too: prawns, scallops etc. All light, fresh and flavoursome. Of course, great wine too (though not for our 9 year old - he prefers apple juice). Oh, the Flower Drum. Mustn't wait so long til next time. Melbourne SO needs you. Well done.

Paulo The Hungry One

Consistently excellent food. I dine here every 4-6 weeks. Conservative spacious surroundings with very attentive staff. The lunch menu special is good value at $60 per head for 2 entrees and 2 mains with fried rice and green tea. Seafood here is always good, with a wink and a nudge, ask what's not on the menu that they recommend.( Barney and Tommy know there stuff). It can be dear, but there is value to be had with the lunch menu. My favorite dish has to be the roast duck. One of the delights of this place is the constant discovery of tasty non menu dishes, even though my family has been coming here for over 25 years.

DanielB

Just go.... ...and don't order from the menu. The waiter will tailor the banquet to your palate. Best enjoyed with a group of friends, a wad of cash and not a care in the world. This is the place to take visitors to Melbourne!

NK

Amazing. Not cheap but brilliant food and service. The banquet is awesome

Neil

Fantastic.... Try the Chef's Tasting Special. Authentic food, different from the run of the mill Chinese. The Duck is awesome.

Tony Parisi

Big deal!. Probably is the best but for me it felt pretentious and I did not feel relaxed because the wait staff made me feel this way. So when you dine you must feel satisfied not only through the taste but from the feeling in the air. Thanks for letting me in, I appreciate them wanting my business. Next time I will go to Jackie's Restaurant in Essendon and get the same quality and feel like a king! (Tope)

Mike B

I have long been a fan and used to believe the food here was better than eating on Hong Kong where we lived for 5 years. But last time, I felt it had slipped a notch, although still very good. Seemed an expensive meal for what we had and I missed the old Lobster potstickers. But subsequently, I have had overseas visitors rave over their meals there

Review Flower Drum - Melbourne