Located right in the middle of the Melbourne CBD, New Taipei is one of the newer Asian restaurants in the city. Calling one of the busier intersections in the city it's home, means that it is quite difficult to miss this restaurant, which is how I ended up dining here after a night out.
Zhajiang noodle $10.80
The zhajiang noodle, or zhajiangmian is a popular dish served in many Chinese restaurants. The dish is usually made with a combination of thick noodles, a sauce comprising of ground pork and soybean paste as well as some other elements. Compared to some of my favourite Asian restaurants, the meat sauce on the noodles was a lot milder than I was used to and could also have done with a little more seasoning.
Pan-fried pork dumpling $6.80
Even though I was quite full at the point, I had to try a serve of their dumplings, as that is one of their main dishes. While they weren't terrible, the dumplings were a bit of a disappointment. The texture of the skin, as well as the filling was a bit different from what I was used to, and there was also a lack of seasoning in the filling, which made the dumpling quite bland. For the price point, there are definitely other restaurants in the CBD with better dumplings for cheaper.
Unfortunately I was quite disappointed by New Taipei. Not only did the food let us down, but the service was also quite slow and the staff were not attentive. With the wealth of Asian restaurants that serve food similar to New Taipei in the city, they will really need to pick up the slack.
Unfortunately I was quite disappointed by New Taipei. Not only did the food let us down, but the service was also quite slow and the staff were not attentive. With the wealth of Asian restaurants that serve food similar to New Taipei in the city, they will really need to pick up the slack.
Food Rating 6/10
Overall Rating 5.5/10