🟠 Handmade yum cha in the east?

Also: The highlights of Whitehorse Council's latest four-hour marathon meeting.

Author

Matthew Sims
April 24, 2026

⏱️ The 131st edition of our newsletter is a seven-minute read.

Hi there 👋 

Matthew Sims here, your reporter at the Eastern Melburnian.

👀 As a journalist, the council meeting is your bread and butter. You scan the agenda as it’s released to the public a week prior, but there’s no denying that most council meetings are very dull affairs. I’m sure even councillors would agree.

⏳ I decided to take a quick look at one of the most recent meetings in the east — Whitehorse — and pick out the best bits of what residents needed to know. Little did I know the latest Whitehorse meeting went for about 4 hours, a little bit longer than the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers!

🔎 If you’d like me to look into your council, what the latest big decisions have been and how a meeting there usually runs — or want me to look deeper into a specific council issue — let me know by reaching out via [email protected].

Today we’re covering:

  • How renters and apartment owners across Melbourne’s eastern suburbs are working together to deliver solar networks for their neighbours;

  • A local yum cha business holding on to its legacy despite modernisation pressures; and

  • Chadstone TAFE receiving $10 million for training upgrades to fast-track a clean energy workforce push.

“Our approach has not changed – same recipes, same ingredients, same prep methods for the last 25 years.”

Hong Kong Dim Sum owner Andrew Leung said his business aimed to maintain its traditional methods, including cooking from the same recipes his dad wrote down in 2001, using a bamboo steamer imported from China and making everything by hand.

WHAT’S ON COMING UP 🎟️

📰 THIS WEEK’S HEADLINES

Kew apartment owners Lou and Vicki Gualano originally thought solar panels couldn’t be installed on their apartment building because they lived with nine other residents. They were wrong.

Their low-rise block, in Kew, now has about 40 rooftop solar panels powering 10 dwellings and shared facilities, with the couple’s average monthly power bill $50 to $60 less than before.

Around 2 million Australians live in low to medium-rise apartments.

In Boroondara alone, about 83,400 people live in medium-density housing, nearly half of the area’s housing stock.

But people living in apartments have historically faced complex and expensive barriers to accessing solar, with owners often having to secure a 75 percent consensus within the owners corporation.

Smart Energy Council chief strategy officer Nigel Morris said renters were more vulnerable to living with wasteful energy systems, as landlords often rejected requests for even small or portable systems.

“As a tenant, you are more exposed to energy inefficiencies than an owner,” Morris said. “When I move into a home, I don't get to decide what type of hot water system or air conditioner I have. These decisions are made for me by the owner of the property.”

To address these issues, Abbotsford-based company Allume Energy developed a shared solar system in 2019 called SolShare.

The system allows electricity generated from rooftop solar panels to be distributed across multiple apartments based on demand, responding in real time to usage patterns so households get a share of solar power when they need it most.

More than 10,000 apartments are now connected to SolShare across the globe, including about 2,800 in Victoria, with nearly half in rental properties.

Allume’s chief executive Cameron Knox said Allume’s goal was to scale rapidly, with the aim to service 50,000 apartments within the next three years.

“The key way that we can close the gap is providing more benefits to owners corporations,” said Knox. “Apartments are the last bastion.”

For the Gualano family, the system has already delivered strong results after only about 18 months.

“It’s a good feeling knowing that you're utilising solar energy and making the best use of the sun,” said Vicki. “In the heat of the day, we can use air conditioning with minimal cost.”

Lou said the total cost of the solar panels and the SolShare network was relatively low for all residents, with the couple paying about $1,000 at the higher end down to about $400 for smaller apartments.

“It wasn't terribly expensive for us,” Lou told the Eastern Melburnian.

However, not all residents have the same access opportunities to solar.

Malvern East renter Paula has rented a unit built in the 1930s for 11 years, but says the building is poorly insulated and becomes extremely hot in summer.

Paula said while she believes a solar system could significantly reduce her bills, renters who are struggling financially have limited options.

“To be totally sustainable with an electric car and solar, you really need to be well off,” Paula told the Eastern Melburnian.

One solution to this cost issue is extra incentives for owners corporations to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses on a system.

The State Government has extended applications for its Solar for Apartments program – which offers rebates of up to $2,800 per apartment or $140,000 per property – to June 30, 2027.

New rental energy standards will also be phased in from March 2027, requiring inefficient hot water systems to be replaced with electric alternatives when they reach the end of their life and mandating insulation if a property has none at the start of a lease.

Hong Kong Dim Sum owner Andrew Leung and members of his family spend hours every morning hand-folding hundreds of dim sum, using techniques his father brought from Hong Kong in 1982.

With competitors switching to frozen and machine-made alternatives, the business is one of a handful of eastern Melbourne restaurants passing down time-honoured skills.

“With the aging population and retirement of many of the master chefs, the art is a dying art in Melbourne,” said Leung. “We already know of many businesses who buy frozen dim sum from overseas.”

Literally meaning “drink tea”, yum cha is the Cantonese tradition of brunch of Chinese tea and small plates of food known as dim sum.

In Melbourne, the social-first approach to dining became popular in the early 80s, taking hold of the Chinatown district. 

Kong Choi Leung, Andrew’s father, has been making dim sum since 1964, learning the craft across a number of Hong Kong tea houses.

Kong travelled to Melbourne in 1982 as part of a skilled migration program and has jumped from job to job within the area’s food industry over the decades, before opening up his own shop in Box Hill in 2000.

“I wanted to bring my culture to my community,” Kong told the Eastern Melburnian.

There are currently two Hong Kong Dim Sum locations in Glen Waverley and Doncaster, with their Box Hill store closing in 2024.

Kong has handed over the reins of the business to Andrew, who grew up surrounded by dim sum and yum cha.

“Yum Cha is certainly a multigenerational family affair where three generations or more would eat at the same table,” Andrew told the Eastern Melburnian. “I do find with modern lifestyles, this is becoming a rarity and fitting big family lunches into the calendar is less of a priority which is sad.”

This yum cha master has spent 62 years making handmade dim sum. Now, his son is fighting to keep the tradition alive.

High labour costs and a shortage of skilled chefs are driving many food businesses to move away from the usual methods.

The Federal and State governments have announced a $10 million upgrade to an existing training centre at Holmesglen’s Chadstone TAFE campus, part of a $50 million boost to the state’s clean energy workforce.

Holmesglen Institute of TAFE’s Chadstone campus will receive a $10 million boost towards its existing Electricity Supply Industry Training Centre.

The aim is to enhance the facilities, equipment and technology to provide more modern training practices in line with the country’s renewable energy future.

Chadstone’s ESI Training Centre will train the next generation of power line workers on both overhead and underground distribution methods.

The students will then work across a number of infrastructure projects across the state, including constructing new lines – both overhead and underground – to new renewable energy projects, including offshore wind projects planned in the Bass Strait off Gippsland and off the Warrnambool and Port Fairy coast.

Federal Skills and Training Minister, Andrew Giles, and State Skills and TAFE Minister, Colin Brooks, visited the TAFE Gippsland Morwell campus on Thursday morning to officially launch the funding alongside a new training facility called the Renewable Energy TAFE Centre of Excellence.

$25 million of the funding will be shared between the Chadstone and Morwell facilities for staffing and equipment.

🪰 FLY ON THE WALL

Duck crossings, glass bins and high-rise housing: What to take away from Whitehorse Council’s marathon four-hour April meeting

Whitehorse Council’s latest meeting exceeded four hours, marked by flashes of disagreement and lengthy procedural delays.

But beyond the formality, what actually mattered for residents?

During the Requests to Speak section, Blackburn residents raised traffic safety concerns on Naughton Grove, backing a petition calling for traffic-calming measures, including reinstating a 40 km/h speed limit.

Council also received a 2,377-signature petition urging changes to the Walker Park Draft Master Plan to protect the Mitcham Tennis Club, after plans suggested repurposing its courts.

At the smaller end, a 15-signature petition on duck crossing signage was also accepted.

The central issue of the night was a proposed redevelopment of Mount Scopus Memorial College in Burwood: up to 45 storeys and 3,258 dwellings. This would far exceed the 20-storey limit tied to the Suburban Rail Loop.

Councillor Andrew Davenport called it “probably one of the biggest developments” he had seen in 13 years, while councillor Prue Cutts labelled it “massive over-development.”

Councillors unanimously agreed to write to the Planning Minister, calling for more community consultation and transparency before any further progress.

On waste, Whitehorse joined 30 other councils in pushing back on the state’s planned rollout of a separate glass recycling bin. Currently, all councils are required to have the purple-lidded bin out by mid-2027.

Councillor Blair Barker described the policy as “performative,” and council voted to seek a delay.

Late in the meeting, attention turned to a draft Pavilion Development Policy, outlining how the council would continue to manage its 31 sporting pavilions.

After more than 30 minutes of debate, amendments and a procedural motion to end discussion, it was endorsed for community consultation.

However, with the meeting edging past 11pm, energy had dipped. Councillors rushed through final reports, with the mayor skipping preambles to move things along.

Overall, while councillors often agreed on outcomes, the night was shaped by concerns over process, transparency, and the growing influence of the state government on local decisions.

Glass bins and high-rise housing: What to take away from Whitehorse Council’s marathon four-hour April meeting

Big developments, local petitions and a controversial glass bin rollout were among the items.

I’m looking into some of the food courts — and the businesses — that have been left behind in local development. Do you have any memories of local food courts or do you think these sites need a lick of paint or is there a charming nostalgia still to be found?

Cheers,

Matthew