South Melbourne Market Dim Sims

There’s a rustling in old shanty South Melbourne markets. An eerie calm before the storm. A customary hay bale pushed along the deserted footpaths by a whistling wind. The two duellers emerge, dim sims and spring rolls in holsters. On one side, the South Melbourne Market Dim Sims (SMMDS), the elder statesman in the business and town favourite. The challenger Mama Tran, also offering typical food court Chinese, hoping to muscle in on SMMDS’s territory. They stare intensely into each other’s eyes waiting for the clock to tick over to 11:30. The crowd collectively gasps as the fists of meat and deep fried rolls hurtle in opposite directions. Taste the fame, the SMMDS’s dimmers are more flavoursome, their mince made tastier by packing it with more spring onion and chives. Preferring the steamed over the deep fried’s crispy golden encasing that has that pizza crust chewiness, which is typical and what you’d normally expect. Though Mama Tran’s beef mince spring rolls, with a much thinner pastry, are infinitely better than SMMDS’s chiko roll that has too much veggies. The winner after the dust has settled? It’s too close to call, make up your own ending.

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Where? South Melbourne Markets, Corner Cecil and Coventry Streets, South Melbourne, VIC

What? Average Dim Sim - $1.30, Spring Roll, $2.30