Given it's situated between two universities and its expanding overseas student population Bundoora has always been surprising light on for good, cheap eateries. While nothing particularly special Maney's Dumpling is a welcome addition, a little slice of Chinatown out in the sticks.
From the outside Maney's looks like a generic suburban Chinese restaurant, but on the inside it's a bit nicer than this. It's well lit from its large windows, with mainly neutral colours but a few wall decorations and red lanterns to add a dash of colour. While hardly full even at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon there was a small but steady stream of customers, with three or four tables always in use.
A number of different types of dumplings are available and our choices were the fried beef and Peking pork dumplings. The better of these were the Peking pork dumplings, well cooked with tasty, well balanced fillings. Good dumplings and good value at $8.50 for 15. The beef dumplings were also flavoursome and looked good but were too oily, with a disconcertingly large puddle left after the dumplings were finished.
For mains style dishes we went for the chicken ribs with spicy salt and pork chop with spicy salt. I thought the better of these were the chicken ribs, which were meaty and moist. I thought the pork was slightly dry, not horribly so but just enough as to be noticeable. However on the whole I thought both of these dishes were fairly average. Not good, not bad, fairly typical of what I'd expect when eating at a randomly selected cheap CBD Chinese restaurant.
Better were the fried rice cakes. I found out afterwards that we had specially asked that they be less oily and they were, with a pleasant texture and well balanced amount of vegetables. A dish I generally like and a well made version.
Overall
If located in Chinatown Maney's would be just another Dumpling house, somewhere to visit once and probably walk out thinking it was ok but you wouldn't hurry back. However, by being located in Bundoora it stands out, offering an acceptable option if you want a decent dumpling or noodle meal without travelling to Box Hill or the City. Service wise its obviously a family run restaurant, not as efficient as it could be but friendly and quick enough, and the prices are reasonable. A welcome addition to the area.
Verdict
Food - 6.5
Ambience - 6.5
Service - 6.5
Price - 7
Address
Shop 7, 16 Macleans Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Tel: (03) 9470 8883 Liked it and cheap eats
From the outside Maney's looks like a generic suburban Chinese restaurant, but on the inside it's a bit nicer than this. It's well lit from its large windows, with mainly neutral colours but a few wall decorations and red lanterns to add a dash of colour. While hardly full even at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon there was a small but steady stream of customers, with three or four tables always in use.
A number of different types of dumplings are available and our choices were the fried beef and Peking pork dumplings. The better of these were the Peking pork dumplings, well cooked with tasty, well balanced fillings. Good dumplings and good value at $8.50 for 15. The beef dumplings were also flavoursome and looked good but were too oily, with a disconcertingly large puddle left after the dumplings were finished.
For mains style dishes we went for the chicken ribs with spicy salt and pork chop with spicy salt. I thought the better of these were the chicken ribs, which were meaty and moist. I thought the pork was slightly dry, not horribly so but just enough as to be noticeable. However on the whole I thought both of these dishes were fairly average. Not good, not bad, fairly typical of what I'd expect when eating at a randomly selected cheap CBD Chinese restaurant.
Better were the fried rice cakes. I found out afterwards that we had specially asked that they be less oily and they were, with a pleasant texture and well balanced amount of vegetables. A dish I generally like and a well made version.
Overall
If located in Chinatown Maney's would be just another Dumpling house, somewhere to visit once and probably walk out thinking it was ok but you wouldn't hurry back. However, by being located in Bundoora it stands out, offering an acceptable option if you want a decent dumpling or noodle meal without travelling to Box Hill or the City. Service wise its obviously a family run restaurant, not as efficient as it could be but friendly and quick enough, and the prices are reasonable. A welcome addition to the area.
Verdict
Food - 6.5
Ambience - 6.5
Service - 6.5
Price - 7
Address
Shop 7, 16 Macleans Road
Bundoora VIC 3083
Tel: (03) 9470 8883 Liked it and cheap eats
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