RuYi in the Media

21 May 2014

Clean, contemporary, refined — words that are rarely front-of-mind when thinking of a Chinese dining experience in Australia. On a laneway off Chinatown’s main strip in Melbourne, however, a new venue has set out to change our perception of Chinese cuisine, dining, service and decor for the better…

"Not your typical Chinese. Clean, healthy, great service!

So glorious! Beautiful environment, food is great and they take pride in what they do."

06 December 2013

In Chinese culture a ruyi (which translates to “as you wish”) is a spiritual object or talisman symbolising good fortune. Sheng Fang’s family had their own ruyi, an heirloom passed down the generations until it was looted by the red guards during the Cultural Revolution. Fang made it his mission to find his own personal ruyi, incorporating his beliefs of what a ruyi is, thus Ruyi Dumpling & Wine Bar came to be; a collaboration with wife, Qian Qian Luo-Fang…

2017

Filled with greenery and resplendent in its modern Scandi-Asian design, RuYi is one of the prettiest restaurants in town. Add a sharp wine list that devotes equal attention to Australia and Europe and you might be surprised by the number of cliches this Chinese restaurant dodges.

Crockery,water jugs, tumblers and light shades are all hand made ceramic and carefully sourced organic ingredients are named on the menu. Greenvale pork, for example, appears in a highly commendable crab and xiao long bao, wontons in chilli sauce, or as spicy, sticky cumin ribs.

Sups include a clean, light duck and tofu number and a classic glutinous hot-and-sour, while the dessert list features creme caramel with mint and coconut ice-cream.

Eggplant fries, salt and pepper crab and master stock-marinated chicken wings are cleverly nuanced fast food, but service is at the other end of the spectrum - ever-attentive and hospitable.

24 November 2015

Farewell the dragons and lanterns; it's a brand new day for Chinese restaurants

Perhaps it's reflective of the drastic cultural shift that China has undergone in the past decade, but Chinese restaurants in Melbourne are coming to the table with a more sophisticated aesthetic and offering than ever before, and from where we’re sitting, that’s only a good thing…

"I'm very ordinary," is pretty much the first thing Margaret Pomeranz says to me as we sit down to lunch at Ruyi, a modern Chinese restaurant off Little Bourke Street that favours light sauces and subtle flavourings – lots of fresh ginger, the house's own delicious tofu – rather than those you might normally find in this part of Chinatown.

Designer: HECKER GUTHRIE
Photography: Shannon Mcgrath

19 January 2015

Sometimes one word overwhelms all others when seeking a descriptor. In the case of year-old Chinese restaurant Ruyi, that word is "gracious" and it applies to the decor, the food and the service. The dining room is elegant and calm with a refined sensibility that leaves little doubt this is a Chinese restaurant, while making it quite clear we're not in a Chinatown dumpling factory…

01 May 2014

Perhaps when you hear the words ‘Chinese restaurant’, you think of rich food, antique vases decorated in red, green and gold, carved wooden ornaments, and crowds of people. If so, Ruyi is a modern Chinese restaurant that will shake this image. Its cleanly designed interior features beautiful wood-grain tables and chairs, vintage tiles, dark shades of red and green used as accent colours, and tableware lined up on shelves. The space looks straight out of an interior design magazine. Every corner is decorated to the exacting tastes of the owner Sheng, an admirer of architecture and interior design…

15 April 2014

Mark my words, trendspotters: Chinese is going to be one of the food stories of the year. Just like last year. And the year before that. In fact, mark it down in your diary for the next millennium. A big subject is only getting bigger, 1.35 billion people would agree, although if last year was all about regionalism (hello, Dongbei!), this year the spotlight is shining back on Cantonese, its gastronomic apex…

19 March 2014

Forget all your preconceptions about inner-city dumpling houses and cheap, fast Chinese restaurants. Ruyi is a new breed of Chinese restaurant, one that inhabits a space somewhere between the Chinatown stalwarts and the high-end likes of Chin Chin…

10 December 2013

Sheng Fang and his wife, Qian Qian, are the brains behind Old Town Noodlery, which has been supplying some of Melbourne's best restaurants with top-notch dumplings. Well, now it's their turn to claim all the glory for themselves!

Last week, the couple opened the doors to their own restaurant, Ruyi Dumpling & Wine Bar, on Liverpool Street, across the road from cocktail joint, Double Happiness.

Something of an architecture and interior design fanatic, Sheng engaged Paul Hecker of award-wining, multi-disciplinary practice Hecker Guthrie. Sheng also project managed the build himself, with a view to subverting expectations in Chinatown…

SHOP pick: Wagyu Beef

Clear your schedule and make room in your belly because you’ll want to try everything on this menu. Start with juicy pork and crab sham long boa dumplings (the soupy kind), then move on to a lettuce cup filled with delicious seafood and stir-fried with XO sauce. Finish with the grade-7 Wagyu Beef with mixed mushrooms, truffle paste and asparagus - the best steak you’ll ever eat.