Author Archives: rundlea

bibigo Frozen Kimchi Dumplings

After a long pandemic, my local H-Mart has returned to offering food samples and have been highly successful in getting me to buy new products.  Recently they were giving out samples of bibigo pan fried kimchi dumplings, which was a … Continue reading

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Kimchi, Korean, Mandoo, Pan Fried | Leave a comment

Furama, Philadelphia, PA

Furama is a new Dim Sum palace style restaurant in South Philadelphia where dim sum is served from carts that roam the dining room.  I am conflicted about dim sum served from carts.  I enjoy the tension/surprise of spotting a … Continue reading

Posted in Bao, Chinese, Chive, Crystal Shrimp, Dim Sum, Pea vine, Philadelphia, Pork, Shrimp, Shumai, Steamed | Leave a comment

Quick Reviews: London, Edinburgh and Glasgow

Itadakizen London. Near King’s Cross St. Pancras train station, Itadakizen is a plant based Japanese restaurant that serves deep fried vegan gyoza. The gyoza were excellent as was the Goma-Q, the vegan Karage and the Shoyu Ramen. I recommend this … Continue reading

Posted in Korean, Pan Fried, Pasty, Pork, Travel, Vegan, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings | Leave a comment

Ray’s Café and Tea House, Philadelphia, PA

Ray’s Café and Tea House is a family run Taiwanese café that introduced siphon coffee brewing to Philadelphia and serves some great house made dumplings.  Ray’s is a small place that sells drinks and food and ground coffee and packages … Continue reading

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

Stargazy, Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia’s Stargazy is styled as a classic east London pie and mash shop, and totally hits this mark, even down to the green parsley liquor sauce on the mash.  It is a small store front shop with counter service and … Continue reading

Posted in Pasty, Philadelphia, Vegetarian, Veggie Dumplings | Leave a comment

Ramen Kuraku, New York, NY

Ramen Kuraku opened during the pandemic in a Columbia University building neat the 168th street medical center, making it one of the northern most ramen restaurants in Manhattan.  The restaurant offers shio black, miso and shoyu ramen broths, served spicy … Continue reading

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

Dim Sum Bloom, (ne Shun Lee Cafe, and Shun Lee 98th), New York, NY

The food at Upper West Side’s Dim Sum Bloom was meh when I ate there, but the back story of the restaurant is interesting.  It originally opened, to great anticipation, as “Shun Lee Cafe” and then later changed its name … Continue reading

Posted in Bao, Buns, Chinese, Dim Sum, Duck, Fish, New York City, Pan Fried, Pork, Soup Dumpling, Xiao Long Bao | Leave a comment

Moon Kee, New York, NY

Moon Kee opened back in October of 2023 selling Cantonese style food and dim sum.  The restaurant traces its origins to the owner’s father, who learned to cook in China in the 1950s and after moving to Hong Kong in … Continue reading

Posted in Buns, Chinese, Chive, Dim Sum, New York City, Pan Fried, Pork, Shrimp, Shumai, Soup Dumpling, Steamed, Sticky Rice, Xiao Long Bao | Leave a comment

3 Times, New York, NY

The origin story of 3 Times, a local NYC mini-chain of dumpling joints, is that an expat from Nanjing who was working as a tour guide in New York wanted a good Chinese restaurant to take his groups to. He … Continue reading

Posted in Bao, Buns, Chinese, New York City, Shanghai, Sheng Jian Bao, Shumai | Leave a comment

Ba Le Bakery, Philadelphia, PA

There seem to be several Ba Le Bakery stores around the U.S. – California, Dorchester, Falls Church, Chicago and the one I hit in Philadelphia.  It is unclear whether they are related to one another.  The website for the Ba … Continue reading

Posted in Bao, Bao Battle, Philadelphia, Pork, Steamed, Vietnamese | Leave a comment