Gong De Lin

About Us

Since 2013, Gong De Lin has been one of Melbourne’s longest-running vegetarian Chinese rooms — a quiet upstairs sanctuary on Swanston Street (take the lift beside Machi Machi to level three) where Buddhist-style plant cooking meets mock-meat classics across nearly 100 dishes. Level one is an all-you-can-eat hot-pot buffet: pick tom yum, mushroom or tomato broth, load fresh vegetables, and dip through sesame to roasted-chilli sauces. Level two is the lantern-lit à la carte dining room The Age Good Food Guide highlights for boiled vegetable dumplings stuffed with vivid greens, soy-based sweet-and-sour “pork” with pineapple, and Jiangxi-style claypot soup with tofu, snow peas and radish. The menu spans dumplings, sizzling plates, noodles and mock meats; most dishes are vegan with only a few honey-based items that can be made vegan on request. Book by phone (no online reservations on the official site). The brand also runs a Preston venue on High Street — this Fork & Flag row is the original CBD restaurant only.