Johnny Wong’s Dumpling Bar

Watch out for the staff.
This place is part of a bar that has a one-​size fits all approach to handling the customers. We were harassed and bullied out of the place by both the bouncer and the manager and treated like dead beats with insults thrown to the females in the group during an after work event one Wednesday evening at 9pm. Wont’ be going back.
Greek place up the street was marvelous and friendly though ;-)

First, let me state for the record, Your Honour, that I love dumplings. I don’t just love them, I have loved them, in every sense of the word. Weird? Probably, but there you have it.
So I really wanted to like Johnny Wong’s. On paper it has tonnes going for it: killer location on Taylor Square, sitting pretty between two of my favourite places, Middle Bar and The Standard. Kooky Asian theming, reasonable amount of dumpers on the menu. All enough to get me in all hepped up with anticipation.
Place is pretty small. Probably seats, oh, 20-​ish? 25-​ish? So a group of 5 at 8.30 on a Thursday night was always gonna be a stretch. A table for 3 became available and we said sweet, we’ll all squash on happy days. The dude said no probs, just let me clean it up and I’ll call you. Five minutes later we look around to see 2 dudes had snaked our table. Say whaaaaat. The guy who said he’d seat us had done a ninja and when we said to the waitress that hey, that’s our table she shrugged and replied «Nobody told me anything.» Ehhhhhh. But we got seated within 5 mins so no biggie smalls. The food came out quickly enough but I’ve been spoiled on Chinese Noodle Restaurant dumpers and these bad boys were pretty pedestrian by comparison, and twice as expensive (in that CNR give you twice as many for the same price).
Now, with that said, the aforementioned waitress did a bang-​up job after that, even though she was run off her feet. And the guy who’d done the ninja came around later on and brought us free shots of something alcoholic and wheatgrass-​y, haven’t had anything like them and they were awesome. And the girl at the cash register was happy to laugh and goof around with us, even though she was busy. So the staff here, they’re trying man, and for the most part they look to be doing a good job.
The bit I most enjoyed? The people watching. Johnny Wong’s sits on the landing between the stairway going up and the stairway going down, and watching all the trendy kids file in and out was pretty rad.

Music. DOLLAR Dumplings. Art. Booze.
In theory: Heaven.
In reality: not so hoppin hip-​hop, FROZEN dumplings, street-​art-​like wall paintings?, weak cocktails.
Let me back up a bit … Johnny Wong’s is a welcomed addition to the revamping of Oxford Street and it’s efforts to be siamese twins with trendy next-​door neighbor, Surry Hills. I went on Wednesday, which is DOLLAR DUMPLING NIGHT from 6:00 — 10:00. Up a couple of flights of stairs, the place where you sit to eat only has about eight tables in it, so luckily, we got there early! For a cubicle, it’s quite cute. Old newspapers and some animé kitsche items cover the walls, and the music playing wasn’t half bad!
Unfortunately the eatery isn’t connected to the main bar, which means that you only have four house cocktails and beer to choose from while you’re eating. This is also where the «hip hop DJ» was playing, so it’s kind of a bizarre set-​up.
Anywho, the dumplings they have were chicken, prawn, veggie, and beef, I believe, so we ordered some prawn and veggie to sample …
AND THEN I SAW IT … Behind the gal working the register in front of the kitchen, I caught glimpse of a plastic bag with Chinese characters on it … NO … It couldn’t be, could it? I rubbed my eyes, caught my breath, looked down at my all too standard looking prawn dumplings, and then realized that, in fact, these were NOT Johnny Wong’s dumplings, but your average Asian supermarkets’!
I know, I know … What was I expecting? Johnny Wong’s never tried to pride itself on it’s Asian authenticity, but rather it’s trendy bargain lovers and hip-​hop nation.
Sigh …
Even so, the bar area is fun enough and has a welcoming balcony that overlooks Oxford, so I could be back in the future.
In the meantime, if frozen dumplings are what I’m after, I’d rather have a bag of twenty-​five for $ 5 rather than five of Johnny’s.

My pal Erin told me about this place above Kinselas that does $ 1 dumplings and hip-​hop on Wednesday nights… as a fan of cheap things, dumplings and good music, I was instantly attracted to the idea.
We got there right on 6:00, which I would definitely recommend. The dining area is TINY, and it filled up within about half an hour of our arrival. The venue itself is a bit too self-​consciously kooky hipster for my liking… Johnny Wong’s is one little room in the corner of Lo-​Fi, which is a separate bar altogether. Once you get into Lo-​Fi, the whole place reeks of sawdust (luckily you can’t smell it at all in Johnny Wong’s little section though). The staff were super nice, but the food ordering process was a bit weird… there was a guy and a girl at the counter, the girl seemed to be taking all the orders while the guy was just there to make conversation with people still waiting to be served?
Also, they have several different dumpling varieties which are advertised as being $ 1 each on Wednesdays… we wanted to have a couple of each of them, but we were told when we ordered that you can only get plates of 5 for $ 5, and you can’t mix and match.
I don’t have a problem with this, who’s gonna complain about 5 dumplings for $ 5? It’s really weird that they don’t just advertise it that way though… there was no way between two of us we were gonna get 5 separate serves just so we could have a couple of each flavour, so we decided to go with the prawn gow gee and the chicken & water chestnut sui mei. The chicken wasn’t anything special, but the prawn ones were actually pretty good! Not the best I have ever had, but better than I would expect for that price in Darlinghurst… one of the barmaids told us the pork ones are the best, so I will give that a try next time. A lady sitting near us had a spicy chicken salad, and that looked pretty lush too.
All up, I didn’t LOVE this place… the dumplings were okay but not great, it’s very small and like I said a bit too self-​consciously hipster, but the staff were super friendly and for the price I would definitely be happy to go back there again on a Wednesday night and try some different dishes.
They don’t have their own website, but they are on facebook and from what I’ve seen of their page there, they’re not shy about giving away vouchers for their restaurant to all and sundry! :)