Red Door Yum Cha

Red Door Yum Cha is far from your traditional, family Chinese restaurant. Firstly, you won't see a yum cha trolley wheeling around. Rather, diners order off a menu, and the food comes directly from the kitchen without doing the rounds.

Secondly, Red Door actually doubles up as an antiques and furniture store. You may find yourself sitting on a black lacquered dining table, among traditional red wardrobes and dressing tables, that are all for sale (and you can run on home with).

The menu is a construct of old and reinvented Chinese food. You'll find traditional prawn har gow ($9.50 for four). The scallop dumplings are pretty smashing, too ($9.50 for three). If you want the best of the land and the sea, go the pork, prawn and corn dumplings ($9.50 for three). Coeliacs, you'll be happy to know that two thirds of the dumpling menu is gluten free.

Moving on from dumplings (even though you may not want to) are the more substantial dishes. The Chairman Mao hong shao rou is a must ($24). Braised pork belly is paired with Chinese wine, star anise and ginger, freshened up with bok choy to create a knockout dish. The braised beef hotpot is also hard to pass up, slow cooked in a black bean stock and served with rice and vegetables ($21).

To drink is an abundance of teas, spanning from oolong to herbal iced teas ($7 a pot). There's no such thing as a cocktail jug here — instead, drinks like the Elderflower Collins are hidden in traditional Chinese teapots ($15 a pot).

Shielded by the calmness of white lanterns, Red Door is a calm and enjoyable dining space — where tradition and modernity fuse.