Melbourne: Restaurant Review: Post Mao Cafe

Walking down Little Bourke Street in Melbourne is quite an experience. We were greeted by a hostess from the Post Mao Cafe, aka Chairman Mao's Unique Chinese Cuisine. Specialising in Hunan cuisine, their chef's master chef is 93 years old and used to cook for Chairman Mao Zedong. The waitress showed us the menu, pointing out the Three Cup Duck meal on the menu (simmering in crucible with a cup each of wine, vinegar and chilli oil) - a sign that this was the perfect place for us to dine. We love duck, and chilli duck sounded wonderful.

Who would have known that Chairman Mao had his own unique, delicious recipes and that there was a little restaurant in the middle of Melbourne's Chinatown that was devoted to the man who wrote 'The Red Book' that creates such wonderful meals.

I loved the decor. If you tried hard enough you could imagine yourself transported to China. The sights, smells and sounds were authentic enough. We waited patiently for our meal, enjoying the ambience.



The menu was extensive and I wish we had more time to explore it and the delicacies contained within. Alas, we had but 24 hours in the wonderful city of Melbourne so we settled on two Hunan meals and daydreamed about coming back again soon.

Hunan Three Cup Duck in Claypot $24

The first meal served contained capsicum despite the fact we clearly communicated to our waiter that there should be no capscium in the dish due to a very strong allergy to it. We were left with a bowl of rice whilst they re-made the dish. The wait was worth it. The chilli duck was very flavoursome and definitely something I would try again. It reminded me of a sczechwan dish I had many years ago.

Next we decided to try the chilli dumplings, also delicious. We would definitely be back again, despite the mixup with the ordering.

Chilli Dumplings - $5

113 Little Bourke St
Melbourne 3000 VIC Phone: (03) 9663 6003