Boxing Dumplings @ Auntie's Dumplings

Boxing Day - notwithstanding the online shopping epidemic, we thought it best to avoid Chadstone on the 26th of December this year.  We had planned a nice venture out to Windsor to see what bargains we could track down and support the Occupy Christmas movement (i.e. the movement asking shoppers to support independent local retailers). Even though the Boxing Day cricket test was warming up, we had been sitting around eating since Xmas morning and thought it best to get out of the house.  But in true Melbourne fashion, the rains came and our plans were dashed.  What to do? Where to go?  Boxing Day - what's open?  Hmm....With a movie booked for that afternoon, we decided that the best way to kill an hour would be dumplings. 

My last blog about dumplings was from Yokohama near Tokyo where I experienced some incredible Xiao Long Bao dumplings. Since then, I have gone through countless plates of the delectable morsels throughout Melbourne.  There was a professional work lunch at Hutong's off-shoot China Red, there was a mid-week catch-up of old friends at Flinders Lane dumpling strong-hold North East China Family and of course a late evening snack at Hutong itself.  Dumplings are now, and have been for a long time, an integral part of the Melbourne culinary experience.  

What about non-Melbourne CBD dumplings?  My experience so far has been limited.  But I was recommended Auntie's in Koornang Road, Carnegie and was told to prepare to queue.  Fortunately this Boxing Day, the rush for dumplings was not as manic as the Myer's rush for discounted underwear.  We walked straight to a table.  

In typical dumpling house tradition, the place was squalid with all the atmosphere of an opium den (if you were in China, and the place was empty, you would walk past) - dirty plates strewn everywhere, waiters run off their feet and service demanded not offerred.  But that's what you expect so you don't complain about it.  The junkies in an opium den don't care about the decor - they are there for the goods, and at Auntie's the dragon being chased is ingested, rather than inhaled (although sometimes you may think otherwise).

We shared steamed beef dumplings, steamed chicken & prawn (perfectly cooked, light pastry, reasonably good quality stuffing) and Shanghai mini fried pork buns (lightly fried, very generously proportioned, and overall excellent).  

Auntie's rates highly on the dumpling scale, probably behind Hutong but definitely well in front of North East China Family, Shanghai Village and China Red.  Do you have any other dumpling suggestions, particularly non-CBD? Happy to hear them!