Secret Kitchen
Melbourne CBD · $$$ · Chinese
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#3 in Melbourne Chinese ranking
How ratings workFork & Flag Score
73.0/100
Authenticity
1/1
Taste
1/1
Vibe
1/1
Value for Money
1/1
Recommend
8.0/10
About Secret Kitchen
Secret Kitchen Chinatown is a large-format Cantonese restaurant on Exhibition Street at the corner of Little Bourke Street, opposite Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne's East End. Founded in 2007 under the China Bar Group, the venue pairs daily lunch yum cha with a separate dinner menu spanning handmade dim sum, roast meats, double-boiled soups, and one of Victoria's largest live seafood tanks visible from the street. Official copy cites Time Out Melbourne top-yum-cha recognition and a four-star Age Good Food Guide rating; What's On Melbourne and Broadsheet highlight peking duck, crispy pork belly, XO seafood, and weekend cart service across roughly 200 seats on two levels. Lunch runs weekdays from 11am with timed weekend yum cha sessions; dinner is served seven nights from 5:30pm. Doncaster and Burwood East are sibling locations — this slug is the CBD Chinatown row only.
From diners
- BI
We had a traditional Yum Cha Sunday lunch and every dish was amazing. The beef noodles with runny egg (can’t remember the traditional name sorry) and the chives dumplings were my pick. Another absolute highlight was the bottle of French white we had which was seamless and crisp to drink. I also have to mention the great service but particularly the beautiful host Christine.
Rated 9 July 2026