Mietta's Review
People have been walking up the stairs of the Supper Inn since 1976. The Lau Family have fed more late night diners than they can count. Laminate panelling, laminex tables, a solitary fish tank, fast impersonal service and the well cooked traditional Cantonese dishes that arrive hot and quickly to the tables, make this an ideal spot for dinner before or after a film or work. Everybody, Chinese restaurateurs, their children, rock stars, actors and the rest of us, all eating and talking. For a real taste of what's on offer here, bypass the usual Chinese-Australian offerings and order from the specials list, don't be frightened of fungus, sea cucumber or Chinese doughnuts, because they are wonderful. The Supper Inn is a Melbourne institution and with good reason. Recommended.
Other Published Opinions
The Age Cheap Eats 2012 February 28, 2012 "
Read full review ...
The Age Good Food Guide 2013
The Age 5-2-2013 Score: 13/20
Read full review ...
Hardie Grant, 29 November, 2011 "p>
Read full review ...
Age Good Food Guide 2012 Score: 12.5/20
Age Good Food Guide 2011 Score: 13/20
Age Cheap Eats 2010 Score: ** "For over 30Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 13/20 "For a moment in 2009
Age, Top Five after Midnight 29-08-09
Herald Sun " Clearly, they don't come for the decor - all faux-wood panelling, vertical blinds and unflattering lights. What they're after is the fast and authentic Cantonese food that's served until 230am."
Herald Sun Melbourne. Call 9663 4759, "Psst! Want to know where Melbourne's chefs go for a feed after a long, hard night at the stoves? They head down a dank alleyway, past a row of rubbish bins and up a rickety staircase to Supper Inn"
Age Cheap Eats 2009
Age Good Food Guide 2009
Age Cheap Eats 2008
Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13/20
Age Cheap Eats 2007
Age Cheap Eats 2006
Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 13/20
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "Nobody comes to Supper Inn for the decor - even though the wood-veneered dining room with its pink vertical-blinds and tables dressed with plastic chopsticks and red paper napkins has a signature charm. Perhaps it's the fast, unfaltering service that has people queuing on the dingy staircase into the small hours, but, more likely, it's the robustly flavoured, wellcooked Cantonese food"
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide Best Chinese "For a more authentic taste of Kowloon nightlife, Supper Inn is a no-nonsense Melbourne institution, perfect for late-night sessions of great value Cantonese eating, with hordes eating quail, flounder and the house special, congee. It's also very popular with chefs."
Age Good Food Guide 2005
Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "Up a nondescript dead-end laneway, punters are queuing on the stairs at Supper Inn. As usual. There is something so delightfully unpretentious - and authentic - about this barebones Chinese restaurant, that Melburnians line up for tables, year in, year out. It's like a cheap holiday in Hong Kong. Chinese groups, middle-aged veterans and Melbourne's artschool crowd all cram the place."
Age Cheap Eats 2005
Age A3 Melbourne for night owls Tim Richards 12/1/05
Age Cheap Eats 2004
AGFG 2004, score 14/20, wide selection of vegetarian dishes, two courses for $25 or less
Age, Agenda, 4/4/04,Roslyn Grundy
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, Good vegetarian options,'one of Chinatown's originals and has been serving good, home-style Cantonese food...It's build up a solid reputation as a pit stop for people seeking an inexpensive meal or a pick-me-up after a bit of clubbing.The extensive menu features all the regulars...The wine list, like the decor, is basic and unpretentious.'
Vogue Entertaining & Traveller, March April 2003
Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, John Lethlean, 9/2/03
Herald Sun, sunday magazine, 2003, Sally Fisher'