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). As of June 2026 Google Maps lists the venue OPERATIONAL with daily lunch and dinner service; HappyCow and Menufyy show active listings and recent diner reviews. The brand also runs a Preston venue on High Street — this Fork & Flag row is the original CBD restaurant only.