Review of “Chinese Special Dumpling Flour”

Posted on February 27, 2014 by rundlea

I am busy writing up some posts from my trip to San Francisco but in the mean time check out Andrea Nguyen’s recent post over at Viet Word Kitchen. She compares Shenzhen Southseas Grains Industries “Special Dumpling Flour” to unbleached Gold Medal all-purpose flour for making dumplings.

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Makana Hawaiian and Japanese BBQ, NY, NY

Posted on February 17, 2014 by rundlea

Just a quick review before I head out on a business trip to San Francisco.  As its name suggests Makana serves Hawaiian and Japanese BBQ. The Hawaiian BBQ is served “lunch plate” style with sides of rice, mac and cheese, and salad, while the Japanese BBQ is Teriyaki served Bento box style with rice, California roll pieces, Shumai and salad.  I tried the Hawaiian Kalua pig, which was a mix of pulled BBQ pork and cabbage, which a definitely recommend.

Photo Feb 10, 7 28 46 PMThe Dumplings:  There are pork, vegetable and seafood gyoza available in the appetizer section of the menu and some of the dishes come with Shumai.  I tried the seafood gyoza which, judging by the flavor, seemed to contain a mix of shrimp and some white fish which had been processed together into a “seafood” filling.  The flavor was reminiscent of fake crab legs that are put into California rolls and I am certain these are a commercially produced, frozen dumpling.  The dumplings are deep fried, which in this case was not a bad thing at all.

The Dipping Sauce:  Makana serves a light ponzu style dipping sauce that has a slight spiciness to it, which pairs well with the seafood gyoza.

Location:  Makana is located in the Manhattan Valley neighborhood of Manhattan which is on the West side between Broadway and Central park between about 96th and 110th streets.  This area seems to be on an upswing with quite a few new bars and restaurants opening up over the last couple of years along Amsterdam Avenue.

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Moshi Moshi, Northampton, MA

Posted on February 10, 2014 by rundlea
Photo Jan 31, 7 42 02 PM

Steamed Veggie Dumplings

Moshi Moshi is one of my favorite restaurants in Western Massachusett’s Pioneer Valley and is the best sushi restaurant on the Northampton-Amherst axis.   Sam, the owner and head sushi chef, knows all his regulars by name and often gives out samples of new sushi rolls he is trying out.  Sam and his wife are originally from Korea so they will also whip up Korean dishes for regulars.  Stand out dishes to try include; the spicy-crunchy-tuna hand roll, the okominyaki pancake, the tempura sweet potato sushi roll and the grilled mackerel.  The weekday lunch time Bento boxes are a great deal and another bonus is that he has a satellite radio tuned to a great roots reggae and ska channel. Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Northampton, Shumai, Vegan, Vegetarian | 7 Comments

Return to China Blue for Veggie Dumplings

Posted on February 3, 2014 by rundlea
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Vegetable Potstickers

China Blue has a pretty wide selection of dumplings so I on my first visit I only tried the pork filled ones. I recently went back to try the vegetable potstickers and the steamed vegetable dumplings.  It turned however that these two menu items are the same dumpling, just cooked differently, so I substituted the Shanghai Shumai for the steamed veggie dumpling.

The Dumplings: China Blue makes a really good vegetable potsticker filled with a fine mince of vegetables which I think included at least spinach, carrots and mushrooms – the restaurant is a little dimly lit so it was hard to tell.  The filling had a nice savory, bright and fresh flavor that was slightly sweet from the carrots.  The wrapper was a pale green color and fried to a nice crispy crunch on the bottom.  I thought these dumplings were really successful and they didn’t seem like just an after thought on the menu for vegetarians.  China Blue could probably step it up to another level though and offer a different type of dumpling for the steamed dumpling. Continue reading →

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Sake Bar Hagi, New York, NY

Posted on January 21, 2014 by rundlea

Sake Bar Hagi is an excellent Izakaya (Japanese Pub) housed in a basement space in mid-town Manhattan.  The place is almost always packed after about 6:30 and it doesn’t take reservations; once all the seats are taken you have to sign up on a list and wait on the stairs or out on the street until your name is called.  On any given night about half the clientele is Japanese which I think is a good sign for the bar’s bonafides .  Sake Bar Hagi does an excellent Butta Kimchi (slices of pork belly sauteed with kimchi), Ei Hire (broiled dried skate wing), grilled rice ball and grilled lamb chop sewer. They also have a strong selection of Sake and have Kirin and Sapporo on draft.

Photo Jan 13, 6 48 04 PM (HDR)

Sake Bar Hagi’s Takoyaki

Continue reading →

Posted in Gyoza, Japanese, New York City, Takoyaki | 1 Comment

Day Lee Pride, Frozen Vegetable Dumplings

Posted on January 16, 2014 by rundlea

For my frozen dumpling reviews I have decided to adopt a star rating system with dumplings rated on a zero to five scale.  Within this rubric the first frozen dumpling I profiled, Whole Foods’ vegetable dumpling, got zero stars.

Day Lee Pride, Frozen Vegetable Dumplings.  Rating:  stars_2_5

Day Lee Foods, the maker of Day Lee Pride gyoza, is subsidiary of Japan’s largest meat supplier, Nippon Meat Packers, Inc, and claims to be one of the first companies to market mass produced frozen dumplings for home consumption.  They make frozen vegetable, pork, chicken, beef and shrimp gyoza; here I review the vegetable gyoza.

Day_lee_prideI pan fried and then steamed them as directed on the back of the bag.  The vegetable filling maintained a decent crunch and wasn’t mushy, but overall I found these dumplings had a fairly bitter cabbage flavor.  The wrapper is fairly delicate and pan fries and steams up quite well.  Eggs are not listed on the ingredient list for the wrappers, so they are actually vegan. There is also no added MSG or autolyzed yeast yeast extract, which is food manufactures favorite stealth way to add MSG to processed food without listing it among the ingredients.

I give these dumplings – 2.5 stars.

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Gyoza, Vegan | 1 Comment

Frozen Dumplings Review: Whole Foods Vegetable Potstickers.

Posted on January 16, 2014 by rundlea

For the New Year I am starting a new feature for Dumpling Hunter, reviews of store bought frozen dumplings.  I have had a wide range of experiences with store bought frozen dumplings, from excellent to horrifying. I’ll sort it out for you, so that you don’t need to experiment.

Whole Foods Vegetable Potstickers: Rating stars_0

whole_foodsWhole Foods makes a frozen vegetable potsticker that may be the worst dumpling I have ever tried.  My problem with them was that the filling was mushy and gloppy.  The packaging lists rolled oats as one of the filling ingredients, which I think is where the mushiness came from. Maybe when they are steamed the oats form a porridge inside the dumpling wrapper.  I managed to get through only one of these dumplings.

Whole_foods_ingredientsWhole Foods sells them in packs of eight and, while not labeled as such, there are no meat or dairy products listed among the ingredients so they appear to be vegan.  The ingredients include “Yeast Extract” which is a way to add MSG into packaged food without having to label it as such.  Yeast are high in glutamate, the G in MSG, add water and salt and you have MSG.   The packaging advises against using the microwave to cook them and recommends that you pan fry the dumplings until one side is golden brown and then add some water to the pan to steam them to finish them off.

I give these dumplings – 0 stars.

Posted in Frozen Dumpling Review, Vegan, Vegetarian | 2 Comments

Bamboo House, Springfield, MA

Posted on December 30, 2013 by rundlea
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“Pork Stickers” at Bamboo House

Springfield MA has a small cluster of Vietnamese restaurants, including a deli that sells awesome Banh Mi sandwiches. Pho Saigon usually wins the local “Best of…” awards in the Vietnamese Restaurant category and as a result is usually packed with yuppies. But in my opinion Pho Saigon is probably the worst of the restaurants in this neighborhood, the flavor profiles are watered down and the service is terribly slow.  My pick for more authentic Vietnamese flavors is Bamboo House, it doesn’t get noticed in the “Best of…” lists, but it is where Asian families and the local police officers come for Vietnamese food.  They do an excellent grilled pork, they have a fine meat pie, amazing vegetarian spring rolls and their shell on, salt and pepper shrimp is a stand out – they also have incredibly light but flavorful sauces on their stir fry dishes, no oily gloppy sauces here. Continue reading →

Posted in Pork, Vietnamese | 2 Comments

Where and When to Eat Xiao Long Bao in L.A.

Posted on December 10, 2013 by rundlea
The Soup Dumplings

Soup Dumplings

The L.A. Weekly blog just published an awesome flow chart on where and when to eat Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) in L.A.  The flow chart includes decision points for wrapper thickness, dinner vs lunch, whether you what dumplings with four corners (??), whether you need to return something at J. Crew, the day of the week and the time of day.

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Pierogi Love at Sky Mall

Posted on December 3, 2013 by rundlea

While crammed into a US Airways flight waiting for the plane to reach cruising altitude and the “OK” to use my laptop, I spotted pierogi based Christmas decorations amongst the weird and random offerings in the Sky Mall catalog.  Sky Mall sells pierogi Christmas tree ornaments and pieorgi Christmas tree lights.  Further investigation yielded the pierogi shaped area rug and the “Pierogi Lover” t-shirt.

Sky_Mall

Pierogi ornaments, Christmas tree lights, area rug and t-shirt

I am totally getting the Christmas tree lights.

Posted in News, Pierogi | 1 Comment