A hot contender for the crown of Australia’s best Cantonese restaurant, Flower Drum is an oasis of red carpeted refinement tucked along Market Lane. Take the elevator to the first floor (there’s an attendant to push the button if you can’t be bothered) where an army of suited waiters plate the signature Peking duck table tableside and pour wine from a splash-out-worthy list. The father-son combo of chef Anthony Lui and maitre d’ Jason Lui has ushered this august favourite dating back to 1975 into the modern era with dishes such as stuffed garish in shiitake sauce, backed by whip-smart service. 17 Market Lane, Melbourne, flowerdrum.melbourne

It didn’t exactly introduce Melbourne to xiao long bao, Shanghai’s famous pork soup buns, but HuTong certainly propelled them to the top of the popularity stakes. The OG venue (there’s another in Prahran) has a ground floor dominated by a band of toque-clad chefs industriously pleating the soggy-bottomed dumplings behind glass; the always buzzing multi-tiered venue is also the home of alternative dumpling excellence (the delicate steamed prawn and crab versions float our boat) and Sichuan food getting friendly with numbing chilli fire, including a standout ma po tofu and a silken eggplant and scallop claypot. 14-16 Market Lane, Melbourne, hutong.com.au

The Southbank stalwart has recently opened a sibling in the heart of Chinatown with a blingy crystal-flaunting fit-out, tables decked out in white linen and lazy Susans, and is equally a place to embrace the high-end delights of lobster from the tank with ginger and shallot noodles and the certainties of an excellent daily yum cha. An all you can eat $70 (they also do a la carte) means your pick of roving trolleys laden with glossy beef tendon, crunchy fried calamari, fiery siu mai dumplings and glutinous rice ham sui gok. 131 Little Bourke St, Melbourne, redemperor.com.au

Fight for a table at this regional hero tucked inside the MidCity arcade. The fast and furious canteen is famous for the cloud-like beauty of its whipped mackerel dumplings laced with ginger, garlic chives and coriander; a specialty of the ocean-hugging Shandong province, they deserve anyone’s celebratory lion dance. While you’re here it would also be wise to get stuck into the vegan-friendly dumplings bursting with zucchini, black mushroom and rice noodles or the chicken mince versions stuffed inside squid ink-stained wrappers – like the rest of the dumpling pantheon here, you have the choice of boiled or pan-fried. Shop 7-8 Mid City Arcade, 200 Bourke St, Melbourne, facebook.com/shandongmama

For a more modern taste of Chinese, head to this sleek Hecker Guthrie-designed haunt on Liverpool Street where the menu gives fan favourites a contemporary twist. San choi bao and Peking duck are served canape-size to let you taste widely across the menu, while battered soft-shell crab in citrus sauce and Sichuan eggplant reimagined as eggplant fries make a compelling case for a reimagining of the classics. Dumplings, you ask? The produce-driven focus of free-range pork and organic flour lift them to the next level. Cocktails keep the pace – try the Old Fashioned jazzed up with five spice. 16 Liverpool Street, Melbourne, ruyi.com.au

If it’s the retro ideal of yum cha you’re after – lazy Susans, charging trolleys, families going gangbusters on the steamer baskets – then head directly to this old timer of the Chinatown dining scene. The excellence of the daily yum cha is evidenced by the steady queues of diners, while the lengthy a la carte menu features Aussie-Chinese classics such as lemon chicken and all the abalone, duck feet and sea cucumber the aficionado could dream of. 50 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, sharkfin.com.au

The Chinatown standard-bearer for the influential Dainty Sichuan restaurant group is all about the fashionable fun of DIY barbecue. Grab the tongs, fire up the in-table grill and get to work on a dizzying range of ingredients, from nine-score Kobe beef to beef stripes covered in pickled chilli and lamb skewers heavy on the cumin. Seafood your thing? Scallops on the shell with thin noodles and minced garlic pack an incredible flavour punch, while the food pyramid is kept in check with orders of wok-tossed greens coming from the kitchen. 139 Little Bourke Street, @daintysichuan

There’s nothing glamorous about this late-night haunt that attracts the chefs and hospo workers of Melbourne (unless you’re really into 50 shades of brown) but the food will erase any memory of design shortcomings. Perched on top of up a dingy staircase, this 46-year-old night owl has a bunch of must-order dishes including XO pipis, steamed oysters with ginger and soy and spicy fried quail. And the barbecued suckling pig is nothing short of swoon-worthy. In even better news, the BYO policy extends to beer. 15-17 Celestial Avenue Melbourne, supperinn.cafeleader.com