When David Zhou is half asleep, he can sometimes hear what used to be the sounds of Shanghai’s Nanjing Road: the clinking of wooden-soled shoes, the salesmen hawking their red-bean ice-pops and the friends playing cards in the street. He’s been calling Melbourne home for more than 30 years, but Shanghai is still a big part of who he is.
In my family, we always talked about food, restaurants and tea. It’s the way I grew up.
Zhou grew up in the heart of the Chinese metropolis, just off Nanjing Road, one of the busiest shopping streets in the world, and Yunnan Road, known for its street food, like dumplings and three yellow chicken. His mother was an opera actress, and his father worked in the hospitality business before becoming a herbalist. “In my family, we always talked about food, restaurants and tea. It’s the way I grew up,” Zhou tells SBS Food.
When he moved to Melbourne in the 1990s, it was natural for Zhou to open up a herbal tea shop, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps, but it didn’t take long for the shop to turn into a restaurant, .
David’s first customers will remember that the original menu was all about tea and herbal cuisine, with dishes like the double-boiled duck tonic soup with date and wolfberries. The menu has since evolved to include different fare from Shanghai and its countryside (where Zhou’s mother is from), but you can still find traces of David’s’ beginnings in dishes like the Iron Buddha Beef, where the crispy fried beef is served on a nest of Iron Buddha tea leaves.
Zhou’s absolute favourite is the sticky pork belly, a reinvented Shanghai classic he serves with chat potatoes instead of boiled eggs, to make it extra comforting. He also recommends the crowd-pleasing Peking duck wraps, the bamboo shoots with a native spinach sauce (for a hit of veggies) and a scrambled egg and seafood dish that tastes like hairy carb. “You mix the egg with scallops and it feels like crab meat. When people can’t have crab, when it’s not in season, they’ll make this,” he explains.
There are plenty of dumplings and wontons to choose from, even for dessert. Keep some space for the molten white chocolate and cranberry dumplings with sesame ice cream.
David Zhou first opened a tea shop in Melbourne, more than 20 years ago. Source: Supplied
When David’s started 20 years ago, it served this double-boiled duck tonic soup with date and wolfberries. Source: Supplied/Griffin Simm
The Iron Buddha Beef is a nod to David's roots, with crispy fried meat served on Iron Buddha tea leaves. Source: Supplied/Griffin Simm
David Zhou's favourite dish is the sticky pork belly with chat potatoes. Source: Supplied/Griffin Simm
If you like ordering off-menu items, know that you can always ask for a wonton soup, even if it’s not listed.
David’s has also made a name for itself with its . Sui mai, vegetarian san choi bao, chilli wagyu wontons and prawn spring rolls are a few of the many dishes that keep rolling for two hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Celebrating two decades of David’s
Operating a successful restaurant in Melbourne for 20 years is no mean feat so the team at David’s will be celebrating with two events in the coming weeks.
The first one, on 12 September, is . The second one, on 17 October, is . It’s the occasion to taste successful dishes that have left the menu like the Longjing green tea sautéed prawns and the 8-treasure duck wrapped in sticky rice. “It’s got such a nice aroma because of the shrimp, scallop, dried mushrooms, sticky rice and soy sauce,” recalls Zhou.
Some of the most popular past and current dishes at David’s, as well as dishes that will soon be added to the menu. Source: Supplied/Griffin Simm
David’s’ menu and décor may have been updated a few times during the last 20 years, but there’s one constant and it’s Zhou himself. “Hospitality is so challenging but, after 20 years, I still feel quite fresh. I don’t feel rundown,” he says, smiling.
4 Cecil Place, Prahran
Mon – Tue 6 – 10 pm
Wed – Thu 12 – 3 pm and 6 - 10 pm
Fri 12 – 3 pm and 6 – 11 pm
Sat 11:30 am – 3 pm and 6 – 11 pm
Sun 11:30 am – 3 pm and 6 – 10 pm
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