Kaya Dumplings.
Our first lunch out of the house in four months, Hana asked for Kaya dumplings.
She meant the soup dumplings in the same building as Kaya, the fitness gym in Emporium.
The owners probably thought it was a cool name ('clean' in Scandinavian, 'wealthy' in Indonesian), but I always wonder what coconut custard jam has anything to do with fitness.
I digress, my daughter wanted Ding Tai Fung dumplings.
And since when, did this *Michelin* world-famous dumpling shop close permanently?
If you have lodged any complaints to Fair Work about your boss not respecting your pronouns, violating your human rights to a full 45-minute break, or not paying super on time, trust me when I say Fair Work had a bigger fish to fry.
4 million dollars fine for systematically exploiting 17 employees $157,025 under the Restaurant Industry Award 2010 and providing false records to Fair Work Inspectors.
That's why Ding Tai Fung Australia closed down.
My question is why didn't the press, press on this?
How come I only found out when we took the elevator and saw what once was a Xiao Long Bao speciality store, replaced by 8 Treasure, a different Chinese restaurant?
How come when a sandwich store, lasagna store, or hotel group abused their staff, it went on for months in the news, but this — a 'convicted' restaurant group — flew under the radar?
Could it be, that the majority of the exploited DTF staff are mostly migrants?
Could it be, that the franchise owners of DTF Australia are migrants?
What I took out of this, is that wage theft is not as newsworthy as ... abuse.
Steal from me, as long as you do it kindly while respecting my mental health.
What business owners took out of this, is if you can't afford to pay the fine after running a dodgy, it’s ok.
Just shut it down.
You've met them, the DTFs, Hawker Chans, Pappa Riches, Calia … the ‘global’ brands. Private investors paid the brands a fee for the rights to use their name to establish the first restaurant in a major city. They claim to have an SOP in place, pay for PR, for long queues, to attract new investors for the franchise. (At its peak, Pappa Rich was asking for $1M. Who are you, Dr. Evil?)
Years later, the original investors had cashed out.
The new owners were left dangling with rising costs, wages and rent.
Most of the time, the solution became cost-cutting, wage theft, and ultimately, foreclosures.
Welcome to the new world, the MLM bag-holding, shit-eating business.
Even restaurants can’t escape PE.
It's a parasitic and I know you can feel it too.
Ding Tai Fung in Emporium hasn't been great for ages.
Apart from the Xiao Long Baos, everything else was below mid.
But now that they are gone, where can we find decent Xiao Long Baos?
The city does not care.
Treasure 8, the new Chinese restaurant still looks like DTF, smells like DTF, and employs the same robot as DTF, but it does not offer Xiao Long Baos. Probably due to some contractual, anti-competing clause in the takeover.
Enter Sheng Jian Baos.
Pop quiz hot shot: what is the difference between Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 and Sheng Jian Bao 生煎包?
Yeast.
XLB is WYSIWYG1, its skin is kneaded as thin as possible, and steamed to trap the juice; whereas SJB is made like the traditional bao with yeast or leaven in the dough. Pan-fried first, then covered to steam until expanded and fluffy. Producing SJBs requires real estate in the kitchen - a full pan, a full hob, and a pan cover to make one serve. Chinese restaurants hate this dish because it is much easier to stack steamers on a cauldron of hot water.
I have no proof but I am 89% sure the Japanese stole gyoza’s cooking technique from the Chinese making Sheng Jian Baos.
And it takes time. I know, because we waited over twenty minutes for the signature SJBs.
But patience is usually rewarded - the skin is crispy, the dough substantial, and meat juice will flow like XLBs when you sink your teeth in.
Two textures in one.
Come here, let me show how much juice they have as I cut through mine - aaand it was raw in the middle.
We sent the baos back.
Let me do it again:
The wife was initially extremely disappointed with the prawn har gows (frozen) and noodles. Then the SJBs came and she was pleased, and the pink dough ruined her day.
“That’s it, we are not coming back.”
But they remade it perfectly the second time2, and told us the SJBs and dessert were on the house, essentially giving us 50% off.
Truth be told, only mine was pink. We already ate four in the first plate.
Suddenly Treasure 8 is my wife’s favourite restaurant.
My review, funnily, is the same as Ding Tai Fung.
Just get the signature XLB SJB, and forget the rest.
Name a restaurant, hot shot, in 2025 Melbourne CBD, where a family of four could dine, a dish for everyone, with table service, minimum queuing, social distance, and air-conditioning, for less than $30 per head.
The reveal was in the first paragraph, when my daughter said ‘Kaya dumplings3’.
She did not care if it was Xiao Long Bao, Sheng Jian Bao, or Justice Bao.
IP, brand loyalty, and even taste, mean nothing to her.
She wants the robot, the elevator ride up, the touchscreen menus.
The comfort of mother on the left, and father across the table making lame jokes.
The city does not care.
What You See Is What You Get.
Probably with low heat and longer time, instead of rushing it with high heat.
Dumpling with kaya - the coconut custard jam, if you can make it custard or lava-like, similar to black sesame 汤圆 glutenous rice balls, is not a bad idea.
I also am intrigued by the idea of Kaya dumplings now and would pay good money just to see what it's like.
Pan-fried, please.