Drumplings has to be the wildest asian fusion fixture yet

Drumplings 227 Bourke St /  The Restaurant.

Cheeseburgers and dumplings. They’re two Melbourne-mastered foodie entities that have always innately existed in worlds far, far apart. That is until Drumplings came along and said a triumphant f*ck it to the unpenned rules of the dumps game.

If you haven’t come to a standstill and performed a doubletake on Insta yet after stumbling upon these mad dumplings scientists, let me fill you in swiftly. Drumplings is a cushion-laden, pink-hued Asian fusion fix, off-the-beaten-track of Bourke Street’s main shopping district. They’ve taken a Frankenstein approach in conjuring up a menu of dumplings unrivalled in WTF-ness. You’ve got flavours like fish & chips, beef rendang, truffle mushroom (my hands-down favourite that I shovelled into my face with great speed) and chilli con carne. Yep, a total taste bud enigma. But think about how incredibly clever of a convo starter this would be for a First Date city dins spot. Genius.

Don’t be scared. The traditional dumpling is still lauded in the Drumplings arena, with a menu of your failsafe classics spanning from prawn & ginger to smokey Szechuan chicken. I’m sitting at my kitchen bench sipping on an Irish Breakfast Tea, wholeheartedly fighting the urge to Uber Eats a whole slab of dumplings just thinking about my degustation the other eve.

It’s also not really a dumplings sesh done right without transcending into a night of DRUNKlings. There’s a chalkboard scribbled with all of your go-to cocktails, and a drinks menu ready to absolutely annihilated. One mocha espresso martini down and I was floating on a velvety, caffeinated cloud of utter inebriated bliss. The lychee sangria is also a must-sip for those suffering from Barcelona Summer withdrawals. *Raises hand.

You’ll almost definitely order an Uber upon realising that you’re too full to walk 200m to the tram, but your dessert stomach MUST be activated. No excuses. Not even if you’ve eaten a 3-digit number of dumplings. While I didn’t make it to the Nutella dumplings, I can vouch for the downright deliciousness of the pineapple spring rolls. What I first reacted to with intense incredulity and an ‘I think I’m alright’ attitude, ended up being my favourite dessert in a very, very long time. And I’ve just returned from Europe, so that has to be saying something. Crispy spring roll decadence is bathed in a dollop of coconut ice cream, with fresh pineapple biting through the saccharine punch. Good lord, they were good.

I’ve come away from Drumplings still impervious to the successful use of chopsticks, but about 100x more inclined to order outside of my stubborn gastronome comfort zone. If you’re craving a beastly spread, an aesthetic backdrop and an inner-city locus, all with a zany twist, Drumplings is your guy.

TROVE XX