Kick off your weekend in just about the best way possible, at a white-tablecloth-clad table surrounded by good friends, pots of tea, and yum cha trolleys ducking and weaving around the restaurant, piled high with delicious dim sum. From budget to blow-out, choose your own dining adventure at 11 of these yum cha favourites.

Chef Wong

This tiny family-run restaurant in Huntingdale punches far above its weight, with traditional yum cha on par with the big guys. With 40 years’ experience under his belt, Chef Wong prepares everything fresh – the pork siu mai, fried beancurd prawn roll and har gow are most popular. The best part is you can order individual serves of everything instead of having to order groups of three and you can get frozen dumplings to go. The decor is no-frills, but prices are commensurate.

Must-try dish: The golden brown fried beancurd prawn roll.

284A Huntingdale Road, Huntingdale, chefwong.com.au

Crystal Jade

What Crystal Jade lacks in hand-pushed trolleys it makes up for with excellent customer service, elegant surroundings and high-quality yum cha (albeit at slightly premium prices). The cheung fun (steamed rice noodle rolls), har gow (translucent shrimp dumplings) and egg tarts are particularly worth ordering. Set seating times are eschewed in favour of a one-hour dining limit from entry, which also means all your dishes come out at once. Make a booking to skip the queue.

Must-try dish: Steamed Chinese doughnut and veg rice noodles roll for that textural contrast.

154 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, crystaljademelbourne.com.au

Favourite Kitchen

Let the friendly trilingual trolley aunties guide you on how best to navigate the yum cha at Wantirna’s Favourite Kitchen. As a seafood restaurant, any steamed dumpling of the prawn variety is a must-try – as are the pork ribs, char siu bao (steamed barbecue pork buns), braised beef tendon, egg tarts and salted egg-yolk buns. Prices are more reasonable than the fancier spots on this list, which makes it a popular destination during weekends.

Must-try dish: Woo kok – fried taro puff with flaky, lace-like exteriors.

Golden Pebble Hotel, 500 Boronia Road, Wantirna, favouritekitchen.com.au

Flower Drum

Melbourne’s Cantonese fine diner Flower Drum doesn’t technically do yum cha, but it does have a selection of dim sum on its menu and they’re well worth a try. Similarly to Secret Kitchen – but even more so – everything is dialled up to 10: one of the varieties of siu mai boasts scallops, while the pork in the xiao long bao is sourced from free-range Berkshire pigs. Try saying no to the duck wonton with tangerine peel in a roast duck reduction.

Must-try dish: Seafood soup dumpling for the most premium ingredients you’ll find in a xiao long bao – think handpicked mud crab, scallop, prawns and wood ear mushroom.

17 Market Lane, Melbourne, flowerdrum.melbourne

Golden Dragon Palace

Templestowe’s Golden Dragon Palace is largely acknowledged as having some of the best yum cha in Melbourne. Mounted wooden carvings of dragons and humongous porcelain vases are the opulent backdrop to push-cart trollies wheeling around a wide selection of yum cha, with staff only too happy to explain dishes. Highlights are the steamed prawn and chive dumplings, fried squid, tripe, egg tarts, and ginger douhua (tofu pudding). There are two 90-minute seatings, at 11.30am and 1.30pm.

Must-try dish: The fragrant lotus leaf rice, parcels of umami goodness.

363 Manningham Road, Templestowe, goldendragonpalace.com.au

Gold Leaf Sunshine

Gold Leaf has five outposts in Melbourne – Docklands, Preston and Springvale among them – but not all Gold Leafs were created equal. Make a beeline for the perennially packed Sunshine restaurant for the best yum cha experience. There are push-cart trolleys with piping hot saucers of all your favourite yum cha dishes, standouts of which include the har gow, pork ribs, fried taro puffs and salted egg-yolk custard buns (order them directly from the waiter).

Must-try dish: Beef tendon slow-braised until soft and tender.

491 Ballarat Road, Sunshine, goldleafrestaurant.com.au

Lee Ho Fook

Hatted Chinese fine diner Lee Ho Fook is fantastic any time of the week, but at weekends it really ramps things up with a special yum cha brunch for $80 per head (add another $60 for the wine pairing). Feast on the classics – prawn toast, har gow, siu mai and char siu bao – executed with extra care and flair. Since this is Le Ho Fook, you can also look forward to more creative takes on yum cha, like char siu-laminated beef puffs and jasmine tea custard for dessert. The house-made condiments, from an aged black vinegar and chilli oil to a yuzu and plum sauce, are standouts.

Must-try dish: The elegant jasmine tea custard with a burnt caramel sauce.

11-15 Duckboard Place, Melbourne, leehofook.com.au

Shark Fin Inn

Shark Fin House was a devastating early casualty of COVID, but sister restaurant Shark Fin Inn isn’t going anywhere. Expect a wide selection of traditional Hong Kong yum cha – the prawn toast is especially popular, as are the chicken feet, barbecue pork buns, and stuffed eggplant with black bean sauce. There are typically two seatings, with tightly packed tables split across two floors and push-cart aunties roaming around – though the conventional wisdom is to ask for whatever you don’t see on the trollies.

Must-try dish: The saucy, flavour-filled morsels of chicken feet.

50 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, sharkfin.com.au

Secret Kitchen Chinatown

Secret Kitchen Chinatown is akin to dim sum on steroids. Steamed rice noodle rolls and prawn dumplings come with black truffle. The siu mai has abalone. The custard buns are adorned to look like mini piglets. Service is attentive and efficient despite the hordes of people queueing on any given weekend, and you’ll find your favourite push-cart trolleys here. There are seatings at 10.30am, 12pm and 1.30pm – we strongly recommend booking. Prices are comparatively steep, but portions are generous.

Must-try dish: Steamed golden cheese lava bun – a decadent twist on your traditional custard bun, with squid ink giving the bun its black colouring.

222 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, secret-kitchen.com.au

Treasure Bowl Chinese Restaurant

Treasure Bowl hasn’t been around long in comparison to some of the heavyweights on this list, but it’s already garnered a devoted following for its yum cha. A common complaint is that yum cha can be elusive in price, but Treasure Bowl’s dishes are clearly signposted – the fried dim sum, steamed dim sum, and ‘other’ section of the menu (ranging from peking duck to roast pork belly) fall into one of four categories: standard, special, deluxe and super.

Must-try dish: Ham sui gok – crisp yet pleasantly chewy fried glutinous rice dumplings (colloquially known as football dumplings).

Shops 1 & 2, 10-14 High Street, Bayswater, facebook.com/treasurebowlbayswater

West Lake

Nestled right in the middle of Chinatown, West Lake is an oldie but a goodie. Trolleys service two floors of packed-in tables of hungry diners, but know that you can also ask a waiter (if you manage to flag one down) for a particular dish. The selection is generous and traditional, with most diners making a beeline for classics like siu mai, har gow, congee, fried squid and cheung fun stuffed with prawns. Get there by midday or risk waiting.

Must-try dish: The flaky, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth egg tarts

189 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, via Facebook