Dim Sum Go Go, New York, NY

Posted on February 29, 2016 by rundlea
The Dumpling menu at Dim Sum Go Go

The Dumpling menu at Dim Sum Go Go

I found Dim Sum Go Go on the excellent Vegan in NYC Instagram feed.  Its not a full vegan restaurant but it has the largest selection of vegan dumplings I’ve come across in my Dumpling Hunting career.  Rather than ordering small plates from carts pushed around the restaurant, Dim Sum Go Go has a menu-based system where you order by ticking items off on a card that you hand to your waiter.  Ordering from the menu takes some of the fun out of the dim sum experience but you are assured the food is hot out of the kitchen. The food at Dim Sum Go Go is hit or miss, the sauteed pea shoots were overcooked and the salt baked shrimp tasted like frozen in a bag, supermarket shrimp; at $28.90 an order they were a bland rip-off.  The meal was so unsatisfying we got second dinner at Veggie Dim Sum.

The Dumplings:  there is a huge selection of steamed dumplings at Dim Sum Go Go but the mixed platters help you sample them efficiently.  The down side of the platters is that if you like something you only get one of the dumpling and it is hard to tell what each dumpling corresponds to on the menu. Continue reading →

Posted in Crab, Dim Sum, Duck, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Mee Sum Pastry, Seattle, WA

Posted on February 22, 2016 by rundlea

My photos of Mee Sum Pastry turned out poorly, so here is one linked in from Seattle Bloggers

Mee Sum Pastry in Seattle’s Pike Place Market sells Andre the Giant fist sized, meat stuffed buns known as Hom Bow. They claim to sell the largest buns in Washington State and have baked BBQ Pork, Curry Beef, and Chicken Hom Bow, and steamed BBQ Pork and Chicken Hom Bow. They also sell Crab Rangoon and Pot Sticker dumplings.  Mee Sum Pastry is a take-out only storefront with no dedicated seating so there are always little knots of people standing on the sidewalk eating buns out of waxed paper bags.

The Dumplings:  I tried the baked BBQ Pork Hom Bow which had a crispy outer surface, an inner layer of slightly chewy bread dough and shredded barbecue pork and onion filling.  The filling was sweet tasting, high quality char siu pork, not the mystery off-cuts of pork you find in some buns.  These BBQ Pork buns are really good.

The bun engineering at Mee Sum is really quite amazing.  The bun’s bready dough outer layer are thin, so these monster sized buns pack a  lot of filling, maybe 3/4 of cup of BBQ Pork.   When I bit into the bun the outer crispy layer did not feel thick enough to contain the pork filling.  I kept expecting the pork and onions to squirt out the back of the bun, like jelly coming out of a overstuffed doughnut.  But surprisingly the bun dough kept its integrity the whole time and my shoes were saved from BBQ sauce.

The Location: Mee Sum Pastry is just across the street from the covered produce/meat/seafood market area of Seattle’s Pike Place Market.  It is at 1526 Pike Place, near the excellent Piroshky Piroshky (reviewed here).

Posted in Buns, Seattle | Leave a comment

Sticky Potstickers, ChoripDong Frozen Dumplings

Posted on February 15, 2016 by rundlea

Photo Dec 31, 7 05 58 PMRating:  stars_1_5

Photo Dec 31, 7 23 56 PMI don’t really understand ChoripDong brand Sticky Potstickers frozen dumplings. The bags are captioned “Raviolis Des Pommes De Terre” which suggested to me a potato filled ravioli aka a pierogi.  The Korean labeling describes them as “potato rice cake mandoo”.  I previously reviewed ChoripDong’s Kimchi dumplings flavored with pork here, and gave them five stars.

The Sticky Postickers are small pleated buns about the size of a silver dollar around. The filling doesn’t resemble mashed potato pierogi filling or rice cakes but is made with minced leaks, cabbage, spring onion, tofu, potato powder, onion and radish.  Overall the flavor was, at best, mildly savory; these buns are best eaten with a good dipping sauce, soak these buns in your favorite dipping sauce.  The wrappers are made with rice flour crystal dumpling skins, which I find do not freeze and then fry up well.  Even when cooked golden brown or all the way to blackened, the wrappers were gummy and mushy.  H-Mart was having a special on these, two bags for the price of one, so I am stuck with another bag and half in my freezer. If you care to try them, these buns are vegan.

Posted in Buns, Frozen Dumpling Review, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Return to Naruto Ramen, New York, NY

Posted on February 10, 2016 by rundlea
Pan fried veggie dumplings

Pan fried veggie dumplings

The day after the blizzard in New York City seemed like the perfect time for a bowl of ramen at Naruto Ramen (full review of Naruto Ramen here).  As a starter we tried the pan fried veggie dumplings.  They use pre-made wrappers, but make the filling and construct the dumplings in house.  The dumplings are filled with minced green veggies without any tofu based attempt to provide a meat substitute – an order of these dumplings is a full serving of veggies.   Overall they were good, but a little too salty and a little under fried; they could have used another minute of frying.  Naruto Ramen’s veggie dumplings are vegan.

Posted in New York City, Pan Fried, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Duk Mandoo Gook (Rice Cake Soup With Dumplings) Recipe

Posted on February 5, 2016 by rundlea
Duk Mandoo Gook

Duk Mandoo Gook

Duk Mandoo Gook is a soup with sliced rice cakes and dumplings and served during Korean New Year.  Lunar New Year in 2016, is Monday February 8th. Traditionally families gather on New Year’s day to make dumplings; several of the recipes posted here would be appropriate for this soup or you can use frozen dumplings.  The soup broth is commonly made using beef bones, but here I present a vegan version of the soup.

This recipe serves two.

 

 

Ingredients:

  • 1 Bao Long brand Sup Chay bouillon cube (see Here)
  • 1/2 Onion, sliced
  • 1/2 Zucchini, julienned and then cut into strips
  • Scallions,  white and green sections, julienned
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 1 Tblsp Sesame oil
  • 1 Tblsp Soy sauce
  • 1/2 pound Korean rice cakes
  • 6-8 Mandoo, frozen ones work well

Recipe

  1. In a pot lightly saute garlic and onions in olive oil until lightly wilted.
  2. Add three cups of water, the bouillon cube, the sesame oil and the soy sauce to the pot.
  3. Once the soup is boiling add the rice cakes and bring the soup back to a boil and cook until the rice cakes are soft.
  4. Add the frozen Mandoo and bring the soup back to a boil, add the slivered zucchini and scallions, and cook for another minute or two until the dumplings are cooked through.
Posted in Recipe, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Haioreum Frozen Dumplings, Kimchi and Vegetable Styles

Posted on February 1, 2016 by rundlea
Photo Jan 02, 7 09 15 PM

Haioreum frozen dumplings

Rating:  stars_4

Photo Dec 31, 7 25 48 PM

Steamed vegetable mandoo (green) and kimchi mandoo (pink)

Haioreum appears to be the house brand of the H Mart chain of Asian grocery stores.  H Marts are known for giving out lots of free samples on weekends and my local one is my favorite place to grocery shop.  The chain began in 1982 in Woodside, Queens, New York City as a small corner grocery store and now has over 40 locations.  H Mart stands for Han Ah Reum, which means “One Arm Full of Groceries”.

The last time I was in H Mart I grabbed a bag of Haioreum vegetable mandoo and a bag of Haioreum kimchi mandoo, both of which are vegan.  Both styles were solid, good dumplings, although they didn’t really distinguish themselves from other frozen mandoo I have tried. Of the two, I liked the vegetable ones the best.

The kimchi ones are filled with standard napa cabbage kimchi, noodles, tofu and dried radish and were pretty mild and not particularly spicy. These are kimchi dumplings for people who haven’t yet developed a taste for kimchi.  The vegetable ones were the better of the two styles and are filled with dried radish, noodles, tofu, cabbage, green onion, leeks, onion, garlic, sesame and ginger. The vegetable mandoo tasted of sweet onions and leeks mixed with a mild cabbage flavor, they were quite good.

 

 

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Kimchi, Mandoo, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Lollicup, Denver, CO

Posted on January 27, 2016 by rundlea

A friend of the Blog sent in this review for Lollicup in Denver, CO.

Pork dumplings at Lollicup

Pork dumplings at Lollicup

Lollicup on Colorado Blvd. in Denver, CO is a small tea house catering to a young demographic. The atmosphere is playful with a foosball machine, racks of Japanese anime books, and original paintings on the walls done by the staff. The menu is limited to boba drinks, milk teas, hot tea, coffee, and only two kinds of dumplings: red bean and pork. I had the large, round, steamed pork dumplings. The dough was soft and just the right thickness to make a slightly sweet, yeasty pillow around the filling. The filling is a balanced, juicy mix of ground pork, chopped zucchini, cabbage, green onions, and shitake mushrooms. There is just enough filling to make the dumpling hearty and satisfying. It was served with a house-made ginger soy with green onion and enough red pepper flakes to give it a little kick.

If searching for dumplings in Denver, I would not rank Lollicup among the top 3 destinations; however, I would not expect to find the very best dumpling on Colorado Blvd. The neighborhood is very gentrified and most of the cuisine is Americanized. Lollicup does make very good boba drinks, however, and the dumplings are not disappointing. 3.5 out of 5 stars

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Bunn Reborn as Mama

Posted on January 25, 2016 by rundlea

Kimchi bun

Kimchi bun


Packed with kimchi

The steamed bun take-out kiosk at Food Gallery 32 (on 32nd Street in New York’s Korea Town) started life as Bunch, then added Gua Bao to the menu and renamed itself Bunn and then recently expanded to add Taiyaki (a fish shaped pastry filled with red beans or custard) to the menu and became Mama.  Throughout the evolution they have served large, fist sized steamed buns from their open kitchen/steam room.  They serve five or six different buns and the kimchi and sweet potato buns are both vegan.

If you get the kimchi bun, you better like kimchi, the buns are large and packed with a lot of nappa kimchi and some glass noodles. They use a good, spicy kimchi and the bun dough wrapper is light and fluffy.  So it is a good bun but it is a lot of kimchi, I preferred the bacon and kimchi bun (the bacon cuts the kimchi) and the spicy pork bun.  Be careful eating these buns they are piping hot when they come out of the steamer.

Posted in Buns, Kimchi, Vegan, Vegetarian | 1 Comment

Shanghai Restaurant, Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

Posted on January 18, 2016 by rundlea

Shanghai Restaurant in Playa Del Carmen

The mom, pop and son restaurant Shanghai Restaurant pioneered Chinese food in the late 90’s in Mexico’s Playa Del Carmen.  The food is essentially mom’s home cooking with dad cranking out dumpling wrappers and noodles on an old school hand cranked pasta maker; it appears that they make everything from scratch.  Shanghai Restaurant is a tiny place with seating for about 12 and a hot counter that runs during lunch.  It was the “Special Home Made Noodle” sign in the window that convinced me to give it a try and it turned out the vegetable chow mein, the fish with garlic sauce and the dumplings were outstanding.  Oddly enough they also seem to sell hats, they have a display of them just inside the door.  Between the home cooked feel of the place, the really friendly owners and the excellent food, I expect that this will be one of my top picks for 2016. Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, Pan Fried, Pork, Shanghai, Uncategorized, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Return to Wild Ginger, New York, NY

Posted on January 11, 2016 by rundlea
Wontons stuffed with soy cheese, spinach and watercress

Wontons stuffed with soy cheese, spinach and watercress

Stuffed with spinach and soy cheese

Stuffed with spinach and soy cheese

For the vegan in New York City Wild Ginger’s menu provides breadth and depth, almost everything I have tried has been really good.  I previously reviewed Wild Ginger when I tried their steamed vegetable dumplings and vegetable shumai, which were good but I don’t think they are homemade.  During my most recent visit I tried the fried wontons stuffed with soy cheese, spinach and watercress.

While I admit that these dumplings sounded gross to me and I had to be convinced to order them by my dining companion, they turned out to be really good; better than their vegetable dumplings or the shumai.  The filling was mainly comprised of spinach and I didn’t notice any peppery watercress flavor, but the spinach mixed with the creamy, American cheese style soy cheese was really tasty.  The wontons were perfectly deep fried and crispy and crunchy without any oiliness.  The menu suggests that these wontons are homemade and judging from the non-uniformity of the folding (you can see this in the picture) I don’t think they are factory made.

The wontons are served with a mango dipping sauce which I thought was pretty bad.  It appeared to be pureed mango and was hot dog mustard yellow in color.  The sweet mango flavor did not compliment the dumplings in any way.

Wild Ginger’s Manhattan location is on Broome Street between Mott and Mulberry, at the Northern edge of Chinatown, and their Brooklyn location is on Smith Street in Brooklyn.

 

Posted in New York City, Vegan, Vegetarian, Wontons | Leave a comment