Sanhe Congee

185 Victoria St
West Melbourne, VIC 3003

Sanhe Congee does the best congee in town, I’m calling it. They have so many amazing-sounding options – Pork! Chicken! Seafood! Vegetarian! Sweet! – it’s almost impossible to decide. And it’s not just me; I could see the other tables dithering over their order for at least as long as I did. And just to muddy the picture even more, they also have a selection of nourishing soups, not to mention solid food (snacks) to go with your liquid food (congee and soup). It may have been a stinking hot and humid day when we visited, but I still loved every last spoonful. I can’t even begin to imagine how good this would be on a cold winter’s day.

Rating: 14/20 – congee king.
Must order: century egg and chinese sausage congee. and probably all the other congees too.
Good to know: if you’re really indecisive, you can also build your own congee from a list of ingredients.

The first thing that hit me about the Preserved Egg with Chinese Sausage Congee ($15.5) was just how absolutely packed it was with the good stuff. Every spoonful was overflowing with creamy century egg and fatty sausage, and was oh-so decadent and flavoursome. The texture of the rice was also perfectly on point, cooked down to smooth silkiness, but with enough texture for it to still feel like a meal. This was truly a phenomenal bowl of congee.

If you’re after something lighter, the Scallop Pork Rib Congee ($17.8) will fit the bill. Though the scallop was dried (fair enough, for the price), there was enough in there to infuse the porridge with a deep umami, complemented by the fat and collagen from the slow-cooked pork ribs, which were so tender that the bones were breaking down. It’s also a thinner consistency, and together with a generous amount of white pepper, makes for a more nourishing, soup-like experience.

The usual accompaniment to congee is Chinese doughnuts, but I skipped those in favour of trying some of the snack offerings. Though I don’t think the Salted Egg Custard Buns ($6.8, 2pcs) were made in-house, they’ve clearly got a decent supplier, because these were light and fluffy, and had a gorgeously golden centre that struck an effortless balance between sweet, salty, and eggy.

The Steamed Shrimp Dumplings ($8.5, 4pcs) were also pretty decent; nothing on what you get at yum cha, but the filling is generous, and the fresh, bouncy texture of the prawn remained intact.