This restaurant is a more Westernised one in Chinatown, and is not really a place Chinese people would gravitate towards. That’s not a bad thing though, I eat my Chinese family’s homecooked food every day and still thought the food here was delicious.
🥟 Pork & prawn wonton in peanut chilli & spice sauce: Wontons are super fresh, tender and tasty. However not spicey at all, the sauce has flavour but needs a kick. Their complementary chilli oil also has zero spice, which is disappointing.
🥟 Signature steamed juicy bao/Xiao long bao: Huge dumplings with lots of filling and so much juice. The wrapper is the perfect thickness. Really fresh. Highly recommended !
🍜 Vegetarian stir fried noodle: Tasty and simple. Sweet-soy in flavour and very moreish, though could use more mushrooms/vegetables. Not greasy at all which I appreciate.
Prices are average but the portion size and quality is there. Will be looking forward to coming back !
One of the best places for pan fried dumplings! I especially love the wontons with the chilli oil on them.
Ordered:
Shanghai Xiao Long Bao $11.8 🥟
Shanghai Pan Fried Juicy Bao $10.8
Shanghai Stir Fried Noodle with Shredded Pork $10.8 🍝
Braised Beef in Hot & Spicy Noodle Soup $12.8 🍲
Definitely one of my fav Chinese restaurant in Chinatown.
A lovely reasonably priced Chinese restaurant. Some of the menu we hadn't seen before. Gorgeous dumplings and salt and pepper squid. Great meal with the kids stuffed ourselves silly with four for under $90. Forgot to take many photos as the food was devoured too quickly. Thumbs up all around.
Juicy Bao is easy to miss walking through China Town, but once inside you will find plenty of seating and not too crammed together. Service was good, the waitress even advised there was prawn in the chilli sauce on the table as I had ordered steamed vegetarian dumplings. Impressive! The dumplings were packed with greens and a great deal at $12.80 for 15.
Super tasty and juicy Bao
Came here on a super busy Friday night with our little toddler, the friendly staff seated us & gave our son his own special bowl & cup. Even though they were completely booked out with lines out the door, ordering & getting our food was really quick, it was all really tasty & plentyful. It was very well priced aswell.
Delicious and Juicy bao & xiao long bao!
They are very generous with the filling!
However I didn’t really like the Lemon Chicken as it was too lemon-y for me.
But overall a great portion for its price!
I will definitely be back for more of those juicy dumplings 😍
The pan fried pork dumplings were so tasty! The XLBs were not bad — quite a bit of gravy in them, and the Jia jiang mian was alright (still kind of prefer shanghai street dumplings JJM), but it wasn’t too oily so that was good. Service was great, and price very reasonable too! would come back xx
My go to dumpling restaurant in the city! Always get the Xiao long bao and wonton in chilli oil! The waiting line can be long but the service is super fast.
The best bao I have ever had.They have a wide selection to choose from.The interesting part is there are a lot of options to choose from for vegetarians and vegans.Tried a lot of options and simply drooled over it.Highly recommend everyone to try it once!!
Big fan of your juicy boas. Love you peeps! I'm a weekend visitor ;) the cold beef coriander is to die for as well. Alongside some nice Tsing tao
There may be a queue to get in but usually it moves fairly quickly. Ambience is cozy but typically noisy in this chinese restaurant and you will be sitting close to others. Definitely do not miss the Xiao Long Baos (soup dumplings) here!! The shanghai noodles and salted egg fried prawns, which were very delicious as well. Service is very quick and efficient so you won't have to wait too long for food.
All time favourite. Their stir fry rice cakes, dumplings and xo sauce fried noodles are the famous ones. Also the braised pork belly is amazing! Super tasty.
Ordered take away lunch from them - pork & prawn wanton in chilli and peanut sauce. The wanton tasted great, however they were soaked in the sauce and it was too much for me. It would be great if they could pack the sauce separately. Other than that everything's great. Would definitely return.
Ordered the Shanghai noodles with spring onion oil and minced meat. I actually really like this dish but the past three shops I've had this dish from, was very bland. This one actually have some taste and it tasted really really good. Wasn't too plain or salty, I loved it. Best version of the dish to date. Surprised I'd get this quality from a place that specialises in baos.
Partner ordered xo fried noodles and it was full of flavour. Really nice and huge portion.
Got it from Uber eats so it was in a plastic container.
Also got the custard buns but that was so so.
Came here with my friends to try the xiao long bao and wontons with peanut and chilli sauce. Xlb was the best! The wontons were nice too but would've preferred the sauce to be less sour and more chilli. Service here was great. It was very busy but the staff were attentive and responded fast. Food came out pretty quickly too.
So delicious!! The pork buns are to die for and the Shanghai noodles are great too. Cute little restaurant has a nice vibe too! Easily accessible in the heart of china town and friendly staff
Juicy bao by name... juicy bao by nature.
The xiao long bao was a beautiful flavour explosion of sweet broth mixed with black vinegar.. to die for.
#dumplinglife #alwaysyestodumplings.
Cheap, cheerful and delicious!!
The front of the venue there is a dumpling theatre with ladies making dumplings with their bare hands.
The broth inside the xiao long bao is the nector from the gods.
Beautiful place and very affordable.
Highly recommended for a BYO dumpling restaurant amongst the abundance of choices in Chinatown. Less intense than Shanghai Village further down the road, has a very clean and bright interior, expect a line outside in the nighttime.
The spicy dumplings are the perfect amount of saltiness and spice, stir fried noodles a great portion. Staff are diligent and friendly!
I'm always wary of colleague recommendations for dumplings in the CBD so I've held out on going here for many years. Now I'm really kicking myself for waiting so long to try this place out!
Pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness and presentation in comparison to other Asian restaurants in the CBD.. and even happier to find that they have nice big tables that can fit more than 3 dishes without hanging off the side.
The xlbs are large and juicy, with a sweet broth you just can't get enough of. The braised beef in spicy noodle soup had just enough heat to numb the lips and allow the rich beefy broth to come through. The beef itself was very tender. The pork and prawn wontons in chili and peanut sauce were bite-sized delights.
Last but not least, staff were noticeably friendly and not pushy - an uncommon but very welcome change to the norm. A super enjoyable experience from start to finish.
I sometimes overwork restaurant and menu selection so was glad to just go with the flow for the night. Caught up with former work colleagues for a quick dumpling feast after drinks and this busy venue delivered surprisingly good flavour. There are staff members rolling dumplings in the window so can be no disputing the freshness. We enjoyed fried pork, fried beef, steamed pork and chilli wantons in a peanut chilli sauce and who could say no to soup filled pork XLB. Favourites were the XLB’s and the chilling soaked wantons but all are recommended. I often go to the giants of Chinatown but will now take my dumplings from here before the future.
This is definitely my favourite Chinese restaurant in China Town. Food is always amazing, there is hardly a wait and the prices are ultimately very reasonable for the portion sizes. I highly recommend their braised pork belly - it’s superb.
I happened to try this place because Shanghai Street Dumpling was closed. To my surprise, this place had some amazing dumplings which were worth the 10 minutes wait. They were also rather cheap which makes it better. The restaurant could improve on their customer services though.
They are as described. Juicy! The Xiao Long Bao are really good, delicate thin pastry, sweet juicy soup parcels.
The place usually has a line out the door. I went for lunch today on a public holiday Monday, and there were a few groups waiting. I thought I’d give it a go and it was well worth waiting for.
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One of the most popular establishments down Chinatown, Juicy Bao serves Shanghai-style baos along with a list of other Chinese dishes. There’s often lines out the door during dinner time, so it’s best to come in early!
We came at around 3pm and were seated right away. The menu has a nice variety of Dim Sum and other Stir-Fry dishes. We were here mainly for the dumplings so we decided to get the Xiao Long Bao, Pan Fried Juicy Bao, Wonton in Peanut & Chilli, Pan Fried Pork Dumplings, and the Stir Fried Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce.
The XLB were huge in size - filled to the brim with delicious soup and pork meat. Despite its size, the skin is still quite thin.
The Pan Fried Juicy Bao are always a must at a dumpling restaurant for us. The crispy bottom and the thick fluffy dough make a great combo. It’s just as juicy as the XLB inside.
The Wonton dish was lovely. Although the wontons weren’t anything special, the chilli sauce was divine! Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, nutty - the flavours were complex and definitely made the dish.
The Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce were quite possibly our favourite dish of the night. The noodles are nice, thick and chewy, and are stir fried with a variety of veggies and seafood. The XO Sauce is really quite amazing, and all the flavours meddled perfectly together. Would definitely recommend trying this over the regular Shanghai Stir-fried Noodles.
Service was very fast and staff were pretty friendly. It’s cheap but (very) good food. I can understand now why there’s always such a long line outside!
Busy restaurant with lines outside the door. Quick service and tasty dumplings! Xiao long bao is a winner. Their food is very tasty and with decent pricing.
My boyfriend and I eat here once a week because we love it so much! The quality of the dishes, especially the xiao long bao, is to die for! It also doesn’t hurt that it’s affordable to eat here. Lines can get long, but that’s because it’s so damn good. I wish there was a loyalty card because we LOVE Juicy Bao.
Known for their great Shanghai Dumplings and they don’t dissapoint, however beware after about 8pm they run out of Pan Fried Dumplings which was disappointing as we made the journey specifically for those. However their other dishes were quite nice.
The dumplings were very well made, fresh and bigger than a normal xiao long bap dumplings. Quiet cheap for what you get. Very fast speed service.
Amazing.
It does not look like much and the queue outside the door is not really something I am normally into, but it is so worth it.
Best bao and dumplings I’ve had in a long time. We went back twice in the same weekend.
I understand why everyone lines up now! Was very happy with the vegan options here, the dumplings are delicious and so are the gluten puffs.
Great dumpling place and other stuffs! My safe choice was the chicken and prawn dumplings, be it xiao long bao, steamed or pan fried. Other favorites were wontons in peanut sauce and crispy duck.
One of the best xiao long bao in CBD Melbourne.
xiao long bao is my favorite and this restaurant has got delicious one that I’ve ever tried.
Highly recommended
It was very crowded. The food was good. Staff were very cocky but maybe cause it was too crowded. Dumplings very good. Quick service as well.
Fantastic dumplings, there was a small line outside but as we only needed table for a 2 we were seated right away. Once seated we were served and had our food really quickly.
Was out wondering Chinatown and came across this place, we chose it because it was one of the only places that was really busy. We ordered off the Rice and Noodles part of the menu and both meals were absolutely delicious. I personally loved the salted fish that was in the Rice dish, amazing. Also ordered dumplings (forgot to take a photo), they were nice however they were mostly pastry rather than filling. Friendly and prompt service. Only down side was it is pretty squishy for space when it gets busy but otherwise highly recommend! (See pictures for more information of what we ordered).
Food : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I ordered The traditional steamed Juicy Bao - Juicy... Great
Price : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Good value
Service : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Quick service / Smiling staff
Ambience : ⭐️⭐️ Quite small but alright
Amazing food.
Everything was absolutely perfect from entrees to mains. Without a doubt some of the best food I’ve ever had.
Service was good. Nothing spectacular, but enough not to ruin any experience.
Came here a few times a while back. Love the fried dumplings with soup inside which is so juicy. The chilli dumplings were okay. Also enjoyed the Shanghai pork dumplings that you can’t go wrong with! Would love to come back again
Most juiciest little labours of love in this place. Other dishes were also just as tasty. Little wait to get a table but worth every minute!! Highly recommended.
Excuse the messy noodle picture..it was too tempting to resist! the friend pork shreaded noodles was very flavorful so were their signature xiao lung baos.. they were abit light on the soup (delicious liquid) inside the xiao lung bao..but it was packed with flavors.
The pan fried pork buns was also very juicy and moist on the inside but I felt the outer skin to be abit too thick (*personal preference ) the staff were friendly and the wait want too long either.
Definite recommendation decently priced
for flavorful food. No reservations though and they do sometimes get busy so keep your fingers crossed if your considering 🤞
The best dumplings ever! We visited Melbourne in January for our honeymoon, a quick search on google advised this was THE place to eat. We went there for dinner and the food was so good we came back the next day for lunch! Yum!
Chose this place on a whim while in Chinatown recently, waited 15 mins for a table. Took out order in the queue, and food started arriving as soon as we sat down. Had chilli oil dumplings (yum) and prawn kung po (also delicious) with a cold beer. Great place for a quick, tasty, inexpensive meal. Would recommend!
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Juicy Bao is one of my favourite choices when I am after a cheap quality dumpling fix in the city. Their chilli oil wontons are spot on with their spice level, their Xiao Long Baos are full of soup and flavour and their pan-fried pork buns have that lovely crispy bottom on the outside and a very juicy filling on the inside (beware of burning your mouth as they are deceptively hot on the inside!).
Their pan-fried and steamed pork dumplings are not quite up to scratch with their rather thick skins but Juicy Bao more than makes up for this with their very affordable pricing - I've definitely come away all filled up without spending more than $20.
And the best part? They are BYO so you can totally have a boozy dumplings dinner.
The downsides? Service is brisk and unfriendly and somewhat lacking in attentiveness. There is also usually a line for dinner by 6 but it moves rather quickly as the staff tend to get you to browse the menu and order while in queue. Juicy Bao is definitely not your sit down and have a nice chat kind of restaurant but the prices and quality keep me coming back.
best bao in town. Spicy wontons are also really tasty. As usual, you have to be prepared for the whole China Town experience, which includes quick and rather pushy (borderline rude) service.
I'll keep this short and sweet. The dumplings are fantastic, especially the Xiao Long Bao (perfect soup/skin) (some of the best in Melbourne, surely) and the chilli wontons (they are not too spicy). The price is on point. I ate with a group, and we stuffed our faces for $18 each. The service is effective, attentive, and I may have spotted a smile here and there. The lines outside don't lie, so make sure you get in early so you're not watching others dive into these delicious dumplings.
Had craving for xiao loong bau so decided to give Juicy Bao a try. Was pleasantly surprised the XLB was pretty good. I particularly liked the thin skin and flavorful broth in the dumplings. Only downside was charging me $1 for slithered ginger. This place gets really packed at dinner time so it's best to go early.
Really like this place. My family and i used to go here quite a bit, we had a big obsession with dumplings for a while! Tasty, fast. Staff were often friendly. Quite squishy and loud sometimes when restaurant is full, but i guess that shows how good the dumplings & food is?? Can’t wait to go back.
Great big juicy quality dumplings at great prices. This restaurant was full of customers when we came in. The staffs were efficient and hardworking. I am already craving for their shanghai noodles and xiaolongbao!
Seeking out for best juicy dumplings in town? Looking for a place to go for a date?Looking out for place with swift service?You got it covered? Visited the place with one of my friends few days back. I am been Wowed by the service and quality of food. The food is served within 10-12 mins post your order and the staff is very polite. The only concern here ought to be is that they do not split bills.
Cheap, quick and tasty no fuss dumpling. Service was attentive as they move you through quickly but it was done with a smile.
The menu was extensive and offered a host of dishes for little cost such as a plate of 15 vegetable dumplings for $12 !!! The vegetable dumplings could have possibly done with more mushroom but they were certainly delicious. The bao were also incredibly soft. The fried rice satisfied my craving for it but probably wasn’t the best I’ve had, it did benefit greatly though from the addition of soy sauce and chilli which are provided on the table.
Overall, a good, quick and cheap eat. The tables are much larger than other dumpling places which was I appreciated. If you go at a busy time, expect a wait but on a Friday night it was only around a 20 minute one and by the time you’ve looked at the menu and decided what to order the food is at your table when you’re seated.
You know its a great place to eat in Chinatown when there is a queue, everyone inside is eating the same thing- dumplings and tables are packed with sharing foods. We ordered the shanghai noodles with shredded pork- great flavor combination lots of pork and veggies , signature steamed juicy bao - pork, steamed chicken and pork dumplings, good but lacked a bit of taste, shanghai pan fried dumplings which was crispy on the bottom and jasmine tea. Service is fast, easier to order saying and pointing to the numbers on the menu.
Juicy Bao as the name would suggest has some of the soupiest XLB in Melbourne, delicious pork broth in a well crafted package. Their pan fried dumplings and wontons in chilli sauce are standard staples which always deliver. Shanghai fried noodles were average however, felt the balance of flavours wasn't there (too salty). To finish off we got a few custard bao which were fluffy pockets of sweet custard.
My go-to xiao long bao place. It provides quick, no-fuss service with affordable tasty food- it's not really a place to go to for ambience. There is always a line in front of the restaurant but the turnover is quick. I found that the pork xiao long baos were juicier than the chicken ones.
UPDATE
Back for more ... improvement, still value for money and the queue has grown longer too.
Highlights were; Stir Fried Rice Cake with Spinach & Mushrooms, Signature Juicy Bao (Pork Xiao Long Bao) 8 pcs $11.80, Chicken & Prawns 8 pcs $12.80, Wonton Pork & Prawns in Peanut Chili sauce 15 pcs $10.80
Good; Pan Fried Pork dumplings 15 pcs $11.80 and steamed Chicken & Prawn dumpling 10 pcs $10.80
Not so; vegetable Oyster sauce was overcooked.
A concern, food safety handling ... dumpling masters making those dumplings without gloves on??? JT-15/03/2018.
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Dumpling on ....
Convenient location, Chinatown central .... They serves other stuff to, but Dumplings are what we are here for.
You know what you are going to get; good food, generous serving and value for money.
Spacious, above average setup, can be cleaner .... definitely quick, efficient and no-nonsense service .... without failure.
This place does great dumplings, I would highly recommend. The shanghai pork buns are tasty too, crispy on the bottom with a tasty pork filling. A comfortable restaurant with efficient service.
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Came here today with a friend just to have a quick lunch. I was expecting this place to be packed since we came at 12, but nope we were the first ones there. After about 10mins the room started to fill up with a lot of people but there were still a!lot of tables left once we left! Service was very nice as our waiter was very polite and attentive.
Pork and prawn wonton with peanut, chilli and spice sauce 15 pieces 10.80: Since this dish was highly rated, decided to give this a try. Omg the sauce was so flavourful and had the right amount of spice to warm your stomach but the chilli wasn't much of a kick. Skin of the wonton was thin and filling was juicy! Delicious. Favourite dish out of the 3 we ordered.
Fried rice with salted fish and diced chicken 13.80: Salted fish fried rice is one of my absolute favourite type of fried rices. This place did it well but they lack bits of salted fish and the quantity of chicken was more than the salted fish bits. I have tasted bits of salted fish here and there but it didn't flavour the whole dish. Overall yeh fried rice wasn't too greasy which made it very easy to eat as it didn't get too sickening.
Pork Xiao Long Bao $11.80: Had this at Din Tai Fung once but never again since it was too pricey. But this place seems to have a reasonable price for it. The bao's itself was really big and wasn't a one bite piece. The broth inside was very nice, it has so much depth to it the pork flavour was very dominate. Delicious! Skin of the dumplings were not that thin but it's not considered thick. But the dish came our piping hot so be careful.
The over all experience: the food was great but nothing stood out except for the peanut chilli wontons. The Xiao Long Bao's were great but not better than Din Tai Fung in emporium, although cheaper. Fried rice was nice but I had better in other restaurants I visited. Just mediocre tasting food. But I would return just for the mapo tofu. Service was great thank you and smiles once we arrived and left. I really don't understand why people are complaining about the servicing this restaurant
Juicy Bao doesn’t fail in satisfying some dumpling cravings. Though I’ve never tried out of their dumpling menu, I see many locals coming here to grab their Asian fix. That says a lot! Definitely drop by here if you’re in Chinatown. :)
Can’t believe we live in the city and have not eaten here! Now at the top of the list for dumplings! Big, fresh, juicy and full of flavour. Chilli oil was also delicious
I was longing for mabo tofu and this place did not disappoint. Giving you 5 star for delicious food and great ambience. If I can only suggest for improvement is the interaction to customers.
Definitely recommended.
Came here with high expectations, especially with all the positive reviews, and they delivered! Their signature xiao long bao is one of the best I’ve ever had. The fried rice with salted fish and chicken, and the pork in the sizzling pot were also amazing, one of the people I ate with was shocked at how tender the pork was and how much flavour was in it. If you’re in the city and looking for a filling and delicious meal, definitely check this place out.
Good dumplings, service okay, reasonably priced. Decor nice. Got the pan fried pork and wombok dumplings, they give 3 dipping sauces - soya sauce, chilli and Chinese black vinegar. Other meals a bit pricey
Awsome super flavours of Juicy Bao.
Hands down best crab and pork dumplings ever... lives upto its name. Small queue on a thu night tells the story. The double cooked chilli pork was delicious. Very authentic flavours. Decent seating and friendly staff.
Must go !!!
Vegetarian steamed dumplings 🥟 🥦
Pork Xiao long bao 🐖🥟
Okay quantity for the price but was expecting better dumplings from the reviews. The pastry was very thick. Different fillings in the vegetable dumplings would also be good.
Highly recommend if you are looking for delicious Bao.
Over all, I like all food but Shanghai Pan fried juicy bao was my favourite.
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