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Nihao Kitchen

A display of pride and prowess, with no pretence.

Classic Chinese rice and noodle dishes are on the menu.
1 / 7Classic Chinese rice and noodle dishes are on the menu.Peter Dillon
Inside Nihao Kitchen.
2 / 7Inside Nihao Kitchen.Pete Dillon
Peking duck is treated with reverence.
3 / 7Peking duck is treated with reverence.Pete Dillon
Traditional Chinese fare.
4 / 7Traditional Chinese fare.Pete Dillon
Winter changzhen.
5 / 7Winter changzhen.Pete Dillon
Cantonese-style wraps.
6 / 7Cantonese-style wraps.Pete Dillon
Whole duck.
7 / 7Whole duck.Pete Dillon
Good Food hat15/20

Chinese$$

Groups chatter happily, fight each other to pay the bill, and linger over the precious seafood fished out of tanks and cooked with a deft touch. Parrot fish, snow crab, morwong and more are wok-tossed, served in soup or steamed with ginger and spring onion before arriving at the table flanked by egg noodles, sticky rice or other sauce-mopping sides.

The voluminous menu necessitates tough decisions. Will it be beef fillet in mandarin sauce, or egg tofu with mushrooms? Prawns stir-fried with XO, or peeking out of wiggly claypot noodles?

Some choices must be made in advance: call ahead to order pipa duck, the five-spiced butterflied bird with toffee-like skin. From the first pour of tea to the carefully wrapped package of leftovers to take home, a visit to Nihao is a delight.

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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/vic-good-food-guide/nihao-kitchen-20240404-p5fhds.html