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

Best of the Year: 2015

Posted on January 1, 2016 by rundlea

With 2015 coming to an end it is time look back at the best and worst dumplings of the year.

Best Overall Dumpling:  The winner for the year is Nishida Sho Ten‘s pork gyoza which are served fried into a thin layer of crispy, crunchy batter.  This spot also has excellent Takoyaki and some of the best onigiri I’ve sampled so far.  Nishida Sho Ten‘s location in mid-town far east, near the UN, makes it a pain to get to, but totally work the trip.

Pork gyoza embedded in a crispy creppe

Pork gyoza embedded in a crispy creppe

Best Vegan Dumpling:  Peacefood wins for vegan dumpling.  It is unclear why the menu lists them as “Shanghai Dumplings”, they resemble none of the styles of dumplings found in Shanghai, but they are really, really good.  Peacefood has a weak burger and terrible service; the staff mainly hang out and ignore the customers.  Its difficult to place an order at Peacefood, but if you can get the staff’s attention order the dumplings.

Peacefood Cafe's Shanghai Style Dumplings

Peacefood Cafe’s Shanghai Style Dumplings

Best Vegetarian Dumpling:  Xi’an Famous Food‘s vegetarian dumplings were just edged out for Best Overall for 2015 by Nishida, but they easily win Best Vegetarian.  Their dumplings are packed with spinach, probably an entire day’s worth of vegetables are in each order, and the spicy and sour sauce they are doused in is amazing.

Spicy and Sour Vegetable Dumplings

Spicy and Sour Vegetable Dumplings

Best Wontons:  The wontons in hot chili oil at Dumplings and Things were excellent. They take an unconventional approach to the wonton wrapper, but their wrapping style makes it easier to sop up their deeply flavored sauce.

Dumplings and Things pork wontons

Dumplings and Things pork wontons

Worst of the Year:  Chopsticks on Grace Bay in Turks and Caicos sells some deeply bad dumplings.  I have seen better looking dumplings at airport terminal food courts in the Mid-West.

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

Winsor Dim Sum Cafe and China Pearl, Boston MA

Posted on December 31, 2015 by rundlea
Pork Shumai at the Winsor

Pork Shumai at the Winsor

I have previously given Boston’s top two rated dim sum houses, China Pearl and Winsor Dim Sum Cafe, pretty mediocre reviews.   But after a long night of celebrating the holidays in Boston some dumplings seemed like just the thing to take the edge off the impending hangover. Since the Winsor and the China Pearl  were the only spots open early on a Tuesday morning, I gave them another shot.  Unexpectedly the food at both places was better on a slow Tuesday morning than on the packed Sunday mornings when I have previously been to these restaurants.  Or maybe it was just the restorative properties of salt, fried food and pork working their magic on me.

Pan fried pork dumplings at the Winsor

Pan fried pork dumplings at the Winsor

A lot of the items on the menu at the Winsor weren’t available this time around, perhaps because it was a slow Tuesday over the Christmas break.  The pork shumai and the pan fried pork dumplings were available and were really good.  The pan fried dumplings were large and cooked gyoza style, with the flat bottoms of the dumplings pan fried almost to the point of being blackened, while the topside of the dumplings were steam cooked.  I really enjoyed how the flavor of the charred wrapper mixed with the juicy, well seasoned pork filling.

A shrimp ball at China Pearl

A shrimp ball at China Pearl

The China Pearl was also serving a reduced menu, this time around they didn’t have the hot table serving seafood set up.  We tried the steamed shrimp balls served from the carts that circulate between the tables.   The shrimp balls are crystal shrimp style dumplings that are round and pleated like soup dumplings and are served with a single garden pea balanced on the top.  The shrimp balls were really good and I highly recommend them.  The filling was made of chunks of shrimp that tasted sweet and fresh and popped when I bit into them.  The rice flour crystal wrappers were strong enough to hold together the filling, but weren’t thick and gummy.

In my last review of the China Pearl I wrote “The various fried dishes we tried were greasy and heavy, and for several of them the cook seemed to have a heavy hand with the MSG.”   But for this outing the fried dishes were light and fresh tasting; the salt and pepper fried head-on shrimp were excellent.  The shrimp are not available from the dim sum carts and have to be ordered from a waiter.

Salt and pepper head-on shrimp at the China Pearl

Salt and pepper head-on shrimp at the China Pearl

 

Posted in Boston, Chinese, Dim Sum, Gyoza, Pan Fried, Shrimp, Shumai | Leave a comment

Naruto Ramen, New York, NY

Posted on December 7, 2015 by rundlea
Dodging flying slices of fish cake Matrix stylee

Dodging flying slices of fish cake Matrix stylee

After having been blown away by Nishida Sho-Ten, I decided to try all the ramen joints in the Ramen Joe family – Naruto with four locations, Terakawa Ramen and Nishida Sho-Ten.  The Naruto Ramen location on the Upper West Side has a couple of tables and a small ramen bar that seats about eight people.  The wall across from the ramen bar has an odd mural of a Japanese school girl dodging flying slices of fish cake like Keanu Reeves dodging bullets in the Matrix.  Also, in what seems to be a feature of Ramen Joe restaurants, the bathroom has a super high-tech Toto toilet. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, New York City, Pan Fried | 1 Comment

Vedge, Winter (Vegan) Village, Bryant Park, New York City

Posted on December 1, 2015 by rundlea
Vedge kiosk at Bryant Park

Vedge kiosk at Bryant Park

Like many public spaces in New York City, in the run up to Christmas Bryant Park hosts an outdoor marketplace selling gifts and food.  What makes the Winter Village at Bryant Park unique, is that over the past three years Frank DiPrisco, the guy who runs the place, has been veganizing the market (see an interview here).  Most of the food kiosks are 100% vegan or offer substantial vegan options. I tried Raaka chocolate, Marty’s V burger, Super Mac + Cheez, Chimney Cakes with vegan Nutella, This Pie Is Nuts Key Lime pie, and steamed veggie dumplings at Vedge – all were vegan and all were excellent.

The Winter Village is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday only, and #veganBryantPark is a trending hashtag. Continue reading →

Posted in Steamed, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment

Rockmeisha, New York <NY

Posted on November 12, 2015 by rundlea

Photo Nov 11, 7 36 36 PMRockmeisha is a small izakaya that features Mentai – marinated pollock and cod roe – across several of the dishes.  The Mentai Potato Salad was creamy pink color from the Mentai, which gave it a salty, umami flavor that was balanced by the mild sweetness from the Japanese Mayonnaise. This dish was amazing, but it sells out quickly, we tried to get a second order around 7:30 at night and they were already out of it for the night.  Another stand out was the Miso Brussel Sprouts, which were served split into halves and topped with miso-sesame sauce.  The sprouts were perfectly fried so the outer leaves were crispy and the inner heart was soft.  One thing we learned quickly was that the waitresses are all business, be ready to order when they stop by, if you dither on your ordering they get annoyed and walk off. Continue reading →

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Nishida Sho-Ten, New York, NY

Posted on November 9, 2015 by rundlea
Pork gyoza embedded in a crispy creppe

Pork gyoza embedded in a crispy creppe

I recently had a work gig on the far east-side of Mid-Town, a neighborhood I thankfully rarely have to go to, and on the way I was lucky enough to stumble upon Nishida Sho-Ten. The food there was so good, I went back for second dinner after my gig was over.  Nishida Sho-Ten has a retro-look, designed to look like a Japanese ramen joint from the early post-war period, although the bathroom has one of those super hi-tech Japanese toilets that comes with its own operating system and control panel.  All of the available ramen broths are made with chicken stock, which I don’t eat, but the rice ball stuffed with roast pork was sublimely delicious.  The individual serving size Okonomiyaki came served in a sizzling hot, cast-iron pan and was amazing.  Nishida Sho-Ten is part of the Ramen Joe mini-chain of ramen joints, which I am going to have to thoroughly explore. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, Takoyaki | 2 Comments

Back to Canteen 82, New York, NY

Posted on October 26, 2015 by rundlea

Canteen 82’s location works pretty well for several aspects of my daily life so I end up going there somewhat frequently.  In my first full review of Canteen 82 I neg’d their soup dumplings pretty hard, but recently I thought I would give them another shot and tried them again.  Turns out I didn’t hate them enough on my last review.

When I opened the steamer of pork soup dumplings I saw that the wrappers of all of the dumplings had holes or rips and all the soup had drained out of the dumplings.  The soup had actually pooled on the plate that was under the steamer, so at least I got to taste some of it.  The crab and pork soup dumplings were even worse. They were so over steamed that the dumplings fell apart when I tried to pick them up.  The top halves of the wrappers tore right off the dumplings, leaving behind a mushy, collapsed meat ball in the ruins of the lower half of the wrapper.   I noticed that the time between ordering and dumpling delivery was very short, I am starting to suspect that they might be microwaving the dumplings to heat them up.

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Return to Vegetarian Dim Sum House, New York, NY

Posted on October 19, 2015 by rundlea

As I wrote in a recent post, I had stopped going to Veggie Dim Sum a couple of years ago when I felt the quality had declined, but Veggie Dim Sum has bounced back and now I need to make up for lost time.  Veggie Dim Sum has a lot of dumpling options and this time I tried the steamed shrimp dumplings and roast pork buns.  And I know this is Dumpling Hunter, but I have to mention the “Treasure Balls with Assorted Flavor”; the best potato croquettes ever, astoundingly good, three ping pong ball sized spheres of croquette goodness for $3.00.

Steamed "Shrimp" Dumplings

Steamed “Shrimp” Dumplings

Roast "Pork" Buns

Roast “Pork” Buns

The Dumplings:  the steamed shrimp dumplings are crystal wrapper style mock shrimp dumplings.  Rather than being a whole shrimp tail or big chunks of shrimp as enjoyed in real crystal shrimp dumplings, the filling in these was more like minced or shredded shrimp and had a texture that was closer to fake crab legs.  They had a shrimp-esque flavor and texture but I found them bland and in need of dipping sauce.

The roast pork buns were a really great vegan interpretation of real roast pork buns.  The bun was really light and fluffy and the mock pork filling captured the texture and flavor of real roast pork bun filling.  The conversation with my dining companions was not about whether or not the filling had the pork-i-ness of a real pork bun but whether or not the barbecue sauce was too sweet or had too much Hoisin sauce. When the conversation is about the authenticity of the BBQ sauce rather than the authenticity of the mock meat, I think you have some successful fake meat. Don’t order these when you are really hungry, they take a while to cook.

Posted in Buns, Shrimp, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment