Random Dumpling News: Streaking at a Dumpling House and a New Dumpling Billionaire

Posted on October 12, 2013 by rundlea

Kanazawa, Japan:  Two men were arrested for “public indecency” for sitting naked in a Gyōza no Ōshō (King of Dumplings) restaurant.  The men were from a nearby massage-parlor/sex shop and were apparently at the dumpling house to shoot an add for their business.  Somehow they thought it was a good idea to do this during business hours when customers were around, cell-phone photos of the incident are circulating on the internet.

Sanquan_stock

Sanquan stock price on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Henan Province, China:  The share price of Sanquan Dumplings, China’s largest maker of frozen dumplings, recently doubled bringing the wealth of its chairman, Chen Zemin, to $1.1 billion. The company began as an ice cream maker back in the 1990s and then switched to dumplings when it faced stiff competition in the ice cream marketplace.

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Han Bat, Manhattan, NY

Posted on October 9, 2013 by rundlea
Han_Bat

Mandoo Gui at Han Bat

Han Bat is a Korean restaurant in Manhattan, situated on the periphery of Korea Town.  They have a full menu of Korean restaurant staples, but when it comes to dumplings they only serve Mandoo Gui, the fried pork Mandoo.

The Dumplings:  The Mandoo Gui are large pork and leak dumplings, deep fried to a crispy golden brown.  They are best eaten almost immediately upon arrival at the table, I find that if they sit awhile and cool too much they somehow take on a greasier taste and mouth feel.  So there is a narrow, optimal window of time in which to eat them, between when they are too hot to eat and when they have cooled too much, but during this window they are delicious.  The dumplings are quite large and packed with minced pork and leaks so they are really filling; best shared with a group if you want to make it to the entrees.

The Dipping Sauce:  The sauce is a traditional soy and vinegar based sauce with a dash of sesame oil.  What sets the sauce apart from the competitors is the large amount of diced scallion floating in the sauce, enough to impart a scallion fragrance to the overall sauce.

Location:  Han Bat is between 5th and 6th avenue on 35th street, which puts it three blocks north of the main Korea Town  strip.

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Return to Upper West Side Legend, New York

Posted on September 16, 2013 by rundlea
Upper_west_side_legend_veggie

Vegetable Dumpling

Following up on my pledge to return to some of the dumpling houses where I had previously only reviewed the meat dumplings and instead to try the vegetable dumplings, I recently returned to Upper West Side Legend. Continue reading →

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

Oriental Flavor, Amherst MA: Best Chinese restaurant in the Pioneer Valley

Posted on September 7, 2013 by rundlea
The Soup Dumplings

The Soup Dumplings

Oriental Flavor is a Dim Sum restaurant that was recently opened by a waiter and a chef from the previously great, but now sadly fading Amherst Chinese.  As a true Dim Sum restaurant, Oriental Flavor opens for breakfast and serves congee. The local community bank, Common Capital Inc., that backed the restaurant has a page dedicated to the new restaurant.  I have been there twice, doing my best to work my way through the menu and almost all of the dishes I’ve tried have been excellent.  This is the best Chinese restaurant in the Pioneer Valley and will be my new go-to place, perhaps though, with Ginger Garden rotated in every now and then. Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, Dim Sum, Soup Dumpling, Steamed, Vegan, Vegetarian | 6 Comments

Dumpling Room opening soon, Cambridge MA

Posted on September 5, 2013 by rundlea

Apparently the much anticipated Dumpling Room in Cambridge, MA is having its final inspection and will be opening soon.  Dumpling Room replaces the Beavis and Butthead snigger inducing Pu Pu Hot Pot.  They are already running a delivery service providing Taiwan Home Style Bento Box.

Posted in Boston, News | 1 Comment

Dumpling Crawl in London’s Chinatown

Posted on September 2, 2013 by rundlea
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Making dumplings at Leoung’s Legends Continue

London’s Chinatown, which is mainly comprised of restaurants, two or three grocery stores and a few bakeries, is located just North of Leicester Square and next to Soho, and covers a 4 or 5 square block area. There are quite a few dumpling houses in Chinatown, and based on prior experiences and online reviews I tried three of them; Leoung’s Legends Continue, Beijing Dumplings and Jen’s Cafe – all within a five minute walk of each other. Each of these places feature open kitchens/dumpling making stations in the front windows where you can watch the chefs rolling out wrappers and stuffing dumplings.

Continue reading →

Posted in England, Pan Fried, Pork, Soup Dumpling, Steamed | Leave a comment

NPR Dumpling Week

Posted on August 28, 2013 by rundlea

On both their radio shows and web site NPR is hosting Dumpling Week, a series of stories about our favorite topic, dumplings. One of the things they are trying to do is to crowd source a definitive list of dumplings around the world.

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Neptune Polish Restaurant, New York, NY

Posted on August 26, 2013 by rundlea

best_pierogi_signNeptune is a small Polish dinner in New York City’s East Village neighborhood and is contributing writer, El Diablo’s, go-to spot for pierogies. I can understand his devotion to Neptune, the restaurant won best potato pierogi in the recent 2013 New York Best Pierogi Contest.  Neptune also has a full menu of Polish dishes including a tasty stuffed cabbage and kielbasa.  Unfortunately the potato pancakes were a miss, they tasted burnt and were really heavy. Continue reading →

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Ginger Garden, Amherst, MA

Posted on August 19, 2013 by rundlea

Since the decline of Amherst Chinese I have been looking for a new Chinese restaurant in Western MA, and Ginger Garden may become my new go-to spot. Its main menu is a pan-Asian mix of Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese (American-Chinese), the type of thing I usually avoid, but they also have a Traditional Chinese menu. The traditional menu has a lot of interesting sounding dishes – Double cooked pork belly with chili leaks, Camphor tea smoked duck, Braised pig’s feet and beans in broth, Shrimp toasted rice in tomato sauce and three different preparations of sea cucumber.

Dumplings in Hot Chili Oil

Dumplings in Hot Chili Oil

Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, Northampton, Pork | 1 Comment

Vegan Pho Soup Dumpling Recipe

Posted on August 12, 2013 by rundlea
Pho Bouillon Cubes

Pho Bouillon Cubes

These dumplings are a vegetable soup dumpling designed to mimic the flavors of Vietnamese Pho.  The filling could be made of any of the ingredients you often find in Pho, but I used spinach, tofu, carrots and scallions.  Bean sprouts are usually a prominent ingredient in Pho but they are hard to work with as a dumpling filler, so I don’t include them.  I use a Vietnamese Pho bouillon cube that you can find in many Asian markets.  To the left is a photo of the one I used.

Agar-agar is used in this recipe to make a vegan aspic, basically it turns the Pho stock into a gelatin that can be put inside the dumpling.  When the dumplings are steamed the Pho gelatin converts back into a soup. This effect is similar to the pork aspic used in conventional soup dumplings. Continue reading →

Posted in Recipe, Soup Dumpling, Steamed, Vegan, Vegetarian | Leave a comment