Return to Dumpling Shack, London, England

Posted on October 11, 2026 by rundlea

I first went to Dumpling Shack at Old Spitalfields Market Kitchen in 2019 and really enjoyed it. Dumpling Shack is a small to-go kiosk serving a Chinese street-food menu of dumplings and noodles. Everything is served in small cardboard bowls or clam-shell containers and to eat you have to compete for a seat at the long shared tables around the Kitchen area of the market. Once again I tried their Shen Jian Bao, pan-fried soup dumplings, which are still the best version of this dumpling I have eaten outside of Yang’s Fried Dumplings in Shanghai. Dumpling Shack pan fries these buns knot side down which is a little unusual, but provides more dough surface area to be crispy fried. They make their buns with lots of soup and an exceptionally flavorful and savory pork filling. The first time I ate at Dumpling Shack they served their Shen Jian Bao with lots of black and white sesame seeds and scallion slivers, but this time around there was a lot less of these toppings.

Posted in Bao, Chinese, Pan Fried, Pork, Shanghai, Sheng Jian Bao | Leave a comment

Return to The Tang, Manhattan, New York City

Posted on October 4, 2026 by rundlea

In has been over six years since my first, quite positive, review of The Tang in Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood.  I found myself walking past the restaurant recently and decided to stop in and see if it still held up.  I got the order of four pork soup dumplings, which were over cooked, to the point that two of the dumplings had lost the integrity of their wrappers and leaked all their soup out – disappointing.   I also tried the Zhong Dumplings which the menu describes as “Tender dumplings filled with seasoned pork, served in a savory, spicy broth with chili oil and garlic.”  These dumplings were large wonton wrappers folded over the smallest amount of filling a chef could put in a dumpling and still claim it had filling – also disappointing.  The sauce had a slightly bitter flavor, but overall was pretty good.  The one amazing dish was the Taiwanese sausages, described as “Sweet and savory Taiwanese-style sausages, grilled until juicy and slightly caramelized, served with sliced garlic and spicy seasoning on the side”.  Slight caramelization was probably an over statement for my order, they could have used a little more time on the grill, but they were delicious. Dipping the slices of sausage in the chili powder seasoning and then putting a slice of raw garlic on the sausage, is the way to eat this dish.

Posted in Chinese, Soup Dumpling, Wontons, Xiao Long Bao | Leave a comment

Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles, South Kensington, London

Posted on September 27, 2026 by rundlea

Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles is named for the thick and long hand-pulled noodles found in the city of Xi’an which is the capital of the northwestern China province of Shaanxi.  The restaurant has four locations in London and seems to be related to several other London Chinese restaurants.  I first went into Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles because I was needing some sauteed Chinese greens after spending days feasting on pork pies, sausage rolls, Scotch eggs and bangers and mash during my trip to London.  The sauteed Bok Choy with garlic at Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles was amazing, perfectly cooked baby bok choy with a very light garlicy sauce.

The Dumplings:  Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles serves pork or veggie dumplings in mild “special” spicy sauce, chicken and veggie pot stickers, veggie pot stickers, and pork and veggie wontons in chicken broth.  I tried both the pork dumplings in mild “special” spicy sauce and the veggie version. I am used to a version of this dish at Xi’an Famous Foods in New York City, which has a much spicier flavor, with stronger sour notes. But as advertised the spicy sauce at Xi’an Biang Biang Noodles was quite mild but was very tasty with sour and soy flavors and a little sweetness. The veggie dumpling version of this was better than the pork version, which had a very mild pork filling. The veggie version had bright, fresh vegetable flavors and was a good break from my pub food binge.

The Location:  I went to the Gloucester Road location in South Kensington, which is a short walk from the Gloucester Road tube station.

Posted in Chinese, Potsticker, Veggie Dumplings, Wontons | Leave a comment

Soba Noodle Azuma, New York, NY

Posted on September 2, 2026 by rundlea

For years now I have slept on Soba Noodle Azuma, not realizing that, in addition to its wide selection of soba noodle dishes, it has a solid Izakaya style menu too. I have been to its next-door neighbor, Donburiya, several times for Izakaya style food.   Soba Noodle Azuma, is a narrow restaurant that goes back quite far, with a front dining area and back dining area with a bar in between.   The tomago at Azuma was fabulous, the best I have had since the amazing Kokage by Kajitsu closed and we lost its mind blowing tomago.  Azuma’s grilled mackerel was also excellent, but the okonomiyaki was a disappointment.  The okonomiyaki was largely comprised of batter, with very little cabbage and no discernable seafood.

The dumplings: I got the hand made pork gyoza and the spicy gyoza, but they also sell veggie gyoza and Takoyaki. The pork gyoza are depicted on the menu as being golden pan-fried, but my order looked more like the dumplings had been seared and blackened on a griddle.  They were very tasty, with a slightly smokey and tangy char flavor, but just a little different from what I was expecting based on the menu.  The spicy dumplings appeared to be the same dumplings as used in the pan seared dumplings, but were served steamed and sitting on a drizzle of Sriracha looking sauce, with a dollop of chili crisp on top of each dumpling.   These dumplings were fabulous!  The chili crisp had a strong smokey, spicy flavor with the slight numbing of peppercorns and the Sriracha-like drizzle had a slightly sweet, tangy, medium intensity heat.  So good, I will be returning to Azuma for the chili dumplings and the tomago.

The Location:  Soba Noodle Azuma is on 55th street between Broadway and 8th avenue.  It is next to two other Japanese restaurants, Donburiya next to it and Yakitori Totto above it, and just down the street from The Original Soup Kitchen of Seinfeld “Soup Nazi” fame.

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, New York City, Pan Fried, Pork, Potsticker | Leave a comment

Meet Harbin, Philadelphia, PA

Posted on August 26, 2026 by rundlea

In 2024 Cheng Du Center City opened in the old location of the much loved Kosher vegan Chinese restaurant Su Xing House. While focusing on Sichuan dishes Cheng Du kept many of the vegan dishes from Su Xing.  In 2026 Cheng Du gave way to Meet Harbin, another Chinese restaurant, this one focused on Northeastern Chinese cuisine.  However, the Meet Harbin menu retains the vegan dishes that Cheng Du kept from Su Xing and also some of the dishes form Cheng Du.  To further complicate this lineage, the web site for  Cheng Du Center City still exists using the SuXinghouserestaurant.com domain.

The Dumplings:  Meet Harbin’s menu features a fine selection of dumplings: steamed or pan-fried vegan vegetable dumplings, Chili oil pork dumplings, pork wontons in soup, pork wonton with chili oil, golden cheese wontons, and sauerkraut and pork dumplings.

As expected they use the same dumpling, which appears to be a frozen dumpling, for the steam or pan-fried vegan vegetable dumplings.  The preparations of this dumpling were mediocre, the flavor was fine but the filling was just mush, so there was a textural issue with this dumpling.  However, the sauerkraut and pork dumplings, which come 12 to an order, were excellent.    These dumplings are made in house and have tangy, slightly sour flavor from the sauerkraut that hits right up front and then a savory pork flavor that plays out as you chew.  There is an optional side of white or brown rice that can be included in your order. 

Location:  Meet Harbin is located in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood on Sansom street between 15th and 16th streets.  This is a great block with a lot of other excellent dining options.

Posted in Chinese, Pan Fried, Philadelphia, Pork, Potsticker, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings | Leave a comment

Tompopo, Philadelphia, PA

Posted on July 30, 2026 by rundlea

Tompopo is a small restaurant in West Philly that has been serving home-style Korean and Japanese food of the past 20 years.  The menu includes Banchan, rice bowls, bento boxes, dumplings, bib-bim-bob, noodle dishes, and soups.  Food is ordered at the counter and the menu is a combination of traditional laminated menus, signs sitting on the counter and signs on the wall behind the counter.  Although this is not clear on the menu, there are a couple of vegan options on the menu and several other dishes can be prepared vegan.

Dumplings:  Tompopo serves: steamed, pan-fried and deep-fried gyoza stuffed with your choice of pork, shrimp, chicken or vegetables; steamed spicy seafood gyoza; and steamed or deep-fried shrimp shumai.  I tried the steamed and deep fried versions of the pork gyoza and the steamed spicy seafood gyoza, all of which appeared to have been made in house.  Both styles of pork dumplings were flavorful and juicy, with the deep fired ones being my favorite of the two – deep frying usually makes things even better. The filling of the spicy seafood gyoza included glass noodles and kimchi, but it was unclear to me what seafood was in these dumplings, maybe shrimp.  These were the best of the three styles of dumpling I tried, really spicy, almost painful for me, with a great kimchi sour, funk, salty flavor.

The Location: Tampopo is located in West Philly on the western edge of the University City neighborhood.  It is on South 44th Street between Spruce and Locust.

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, Kimchi, Korean, Philadelphia, Pork, Shumai, Steamed | Leave a comment

Ling Long Soup Dumplings, New York, NY

Posted on June 22, 2026 by rundlea

Ling Long Soup Dumplings is a kiosk sized vendor in a shared space with a coffee shop and a choose your own ingredient mala hotpot place.  The space felt like an Asian version of KFC/Taco Bell combo restaurant – but with more interesting food. The Ling Long kiosk has a plexiglass enclosed food prep area, and you can watch the dumplings being hand-made in real time.    

The Dumplings:  Ling Long has an extensive menu of dumplings, although some of them were sold-out the evening I was there.   I tried the classic pork and crab xiao long bao, the Serrano ham xiao long bao and steamed pork dumplings in spicy and sour sauce.   All of the soup dumplings, which are 4 per order, arrived with their wrappers intact and were not leaking any soup. But I think part of their success in maintaining the integrity of the dumplings was that the wrappers were thicker than those typically served at restaurants in NYC.  The xiao long bao fillings were very tasty and each dumpling had a full soup spoon worth of soup.  The filling of the Serrano ham dumplings looked like pork and appeared identical to the filling of pork and crab dumplings.  But I definitely tasted ham in these dumplings, so I think there were pieces of ham mixed into the pork filling. The steamed pork dumplings in spicy and sour sauce were less successful than the soup dumplings, but only because they did not come with enough sauce.  The sauce was delicious but there was not enough of it to dunk the dumplings in.

The Location: Ling Long is located at213 West 35th between 7th and 8th Avenue, on the north side of the street. The location has big neon signs that say Yanggoufu and Malatang, but has minimal signage for Ling Long, so it was a little difficult to spot the restaurant.  

Posted in Dim Sum, New York City, Pork, Soup Dumpling, Xiao Long Bao | Leave a comment

Tina’s Café, Philadelphia, PA

Posted on May 31, 2026 by rundlea

Tina’s Café is a small café, with half a dozen tables, that opened in Oct 2025, in Philadelphia’s Queen Village neighborhood.  I can’t really find any background information on the place and outside of Yelp, which only has three reviews, no one seems to have reviewed it yet.  Tina’s caught my eye because they serve empanadas.  They also make a really good flat white coffee.

The Empanadas:  Tina’s empanadas are deep fried, but not greasy, and super crispy and crunchy.  I have not fully got a handle on the range of empanada styles Tina’s sells, and the selection seems to vary day-to-day.  On most days they have empanadas with beef or chicken filling (neither of which I eat), and I have tried a breakfast one filled with ham, egg and cheddar cheese, and a ham and mozzarella one.  Both styles were really good and I loved the crunch of the fried pastry.  The breakfast one was the more flavorful of the two, but last time I stopped by I was told they had stopped making it.  Tina’s bring back the breakfast empanada!!

The Location:  Tina’s Café is on East Passyunk Ave between Monroe and Bainbridge Streets.  Passyunk is one of two streets that run diagonally through the otherwise fairly regular, gridded streets of South Philadelphia.

Posted in Beef, Empanadas | Leave a comment

Mokban Korean Bistro, Providence RI

Posted on May 21, 2026 by rundlea

Immediately upon walking into Mokban, I was skeptical about whether this restaurant was serving the traditional home-style Korean food it advertised. There was just no smell of cooking sesame oil, which I associate with great traditional Korean restaurants in NYC and Korea. But after eating there, I just think Mokban’s kitchen has an extreme air extraction system in place, because the food was home-style and excellent.

All of the banchan (small plates brought out with the meal) were really good and the seafood pancake (Haemul pajeon) was one of the best I have had in a long time.  The pancake was very crisp, thick with seafood, and was delicious.  The seafood Jjamppong I had was also very flavorful, with a serious seafood broth, although maybe a little mild on the spiciness. Mokban also serves a side dish of crispy rice, which I really enjoyed (seen on the left of the bowl of Jjamppong).

The Dumplings:  Makbon serves fried or steamed dumplings that are filled with either, beef, pork or shrimp.  The fried mandoo are deep fired and the pork dumplings I got were very crisp on the outside, very juicy on the inside, and had a robust pork flavor.  The dipping sauce was mildly spicy, but I could taste the mild, and enjoyable, funk of Gochujang paste, which can be very spicy.

While the dumplings were good, they were not good enough to motivate a second visit, but the Haemul pajeon is worth a second visit.

The Location: Mokban is located in downtown Providence RI, on the corner of Eddy and Westminster Streets.      

Posted in Korean, Mandoo, Pork | Leave a comment

Joong Boo Wang Mandoo, Chicago, IL

Posted on May 14, 2026 by rundlea

Joong Boo Market is small (four stores) chain of Korean markets in Chicago.  It has three supermarkets and one houseware market, that it claims provides the “largest selection of kitchenware, appliances, cutlery, gifts, and other housewares products in the Midwest.” I tried the location on Kimball Avenue, which is in a light industrial/commercial area, right next to the Kennedy Expressway.  If you are anywhere near the store, you can see its green sign poking above the elevated expressway.  The best part of the Kimball Ave location is the mandoo kiosk, Joong Boo Wang Mandoo, right at the entrance to the store.  This kiosk provides pick-up window service, and has a small counter with a few plastic stools next to it, where you can eat your dumplings before heading into the store.

The Dumplings:   Joong Boo Wang Mandoo sells large, steamed buns and orders of small steamed dumplings.  The large buns are filled with pork or pork and kimchi and there is also a large black rice bun filled with red beans.  The choices for the small mandoo are pork, kimchi (both come 6 to an order), shrimp and pork, and shrimp and kimchi (both of the shrimp ones come 5 to an order).  The steamed pork mandoo are the traditional style, filled with pork, glass noodles and chives.  My order was perfectly steamed and really delicious.  I am guessing, based on the shape and uniformity, that the dumplings were frozen, packaged dumplings and not home/house made, but I really enjoyed them. 

The Location:  Joong Boo Wang Mandoo is on Kimball Avenue at the Kimball Ave exit off the Kennedy Expressway.  Other nearby major thoroughfares that intersect with Kimball Avenue are, N. Milwaukee Ave, Belmont Ave, North Avondale Ave and Elston Ave.    

Posted in Chicago, Kimchi, Korean, Mandoo, Pork, Steamed | Leave a comment