After a movie night that a good friend of mine regularly organises, I managed to convince some folks to come and dine with me at the Supper Inn, in Chinatown. It’s cheap, and cheerful (read: no-frills, which suits me just fine), and also open till 2am or so.
It was a bit of a shame having headed out here because I confess that it was a little disappointing on this particular occasion. I remember it being a good deal cheaper and the food being fantastic. A friend from Sydney was with us, and I felt I’d let him down a bit by not taking him to somewhere better.
E got crispy chicken, and D got beef with vegetables. Both serves were large and big enough to share (though on this occasion we chose not to). T and I got hotpots – I chose one with chicken, Chinese sausage and mushrooms, T with salted fish and tofu. I had to wait a good deal longer for mine and everyone else was tucking in to their dishes while I still waited.
I did very much enjoy my steaming hotpot. The shittake mushrooms soaked up the sauce nicely but the chicken was very bony and had a lot of skin. The sauce was lovely to eat with plain steamed rice. T remarked that my hotpot was better than his, though his was less of an ordeal to eat.
Even though it was late at night and not at all crowded, the service was erratic and the staff seemed very distracted. Getting the attention of anyone to take our order or give us the bill was arduous. Amusingly enough, thanks to a wait staff error, we were given extra change. I won’t be going back in a hurry, sadly. Shame to see a cheap Melbourne staple take a bit of a dive – I’m hoping it was just the time we went.
(Gem)
yep, the last time i went there (about six weeks ago) a mate found a ROCK in his mushroom dumpling, after almost breaking a tooth on it. the waiter was very unsympathetic. disappointing.
On par with my experience last time I visited. The sheen is definitely off this once lauded eatery. Shame.
Hey guys, thanks for the comments.@Luke – on Urbanspoon.com someone’s posted about how they found a worm in their vegetables, which is pretty woeful. Sorry to hear your friend had such a negative experience. Not on!@Ryan – I had so much love for the Supper Inn – not this occasion, but last time I went it was fantastic – cheap, food was delicious, service was rushed but efficient. That was only over a year ago. Glad to see it’s not just me but hope it comes back to old form!
I went here a few weeks ago and left feeling the same way. What I liked about Supper Inn was it was cheap, decent food and open late.The service hasn’t changed much, it was always a bit off, but it’s no longer cheap, you can definitely get better food in a nicer environment for the same price these days, even later at night.It’d be like Camy Shanghai Dumpling charging the same prices as Hu Tong Dumpling, which one would you choose to go to?
Hi Paul, yeah, I haven’t been to Hu Tong, but you’re absolutely right – if you can afford to go to the more expensive (given that the food will be better) then one would indeed go there. I definitely agree that if I could avoid it, I wouldn’t pay so much for food of Supper Inn quality, as it stands now. I guess for now its main drawcard will be that it’s open late, till something better comes along?