Shanghai Asian Cuisine, NYC

Posted on January 19, 2013 by rundlea

I really wanted to give Shanghai Asian Cuisine a great review, both for the nostalgia I have for this spot and for the food, but they shorted us $20 on the change on our bill and when we asked about it, they gave us a ton of attitude. Shanghai Asian Cuisine used to be Shanghai Snack Bar, which was the first restaurant I tried in Chinatown when I moved to New York City twenty years ago. It was where I first fell in love with soup dumplings.

In summary, the Xiaolong Bao, Sheng Jian, scallion pancakes and lo mein we tried at Shanghai Asian Cuisine were really good and the service is really fast, but watch your change.

Fried tiny buns with porkShanghai_Asian_Cuisine_buns

Continue reading →

Posted in Buns, New York City, Soup Dumpling, Steamed | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

The China Pearl, Boston, MA

Posted on January 12, 2013 by rundlea

The China Pearl is an Dim Sum restaurant in Boston’s Chinatown that gets a lot of good reviews on Yelp. Overall I thought this place was just “eh”.  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. On the plus side there were a lot carts circulating, and steady stream of food being offered to us. There is also a hot table that you can walk up to get plates of head-on salted shrimp and shell-fish. When I was there the clientele was probably 50-50 split between Chinese families and Caucasian tourists.

Posted in Boston, Buns, Dim Sum, pan-Asian, Steamed | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Kimchi & North Carolina BBQ Pork Dumpling Recipe

Posted on January 5, 2013 by rundlea

This Christmas my brother and I experimented with making North Carolina BBQ pork and kimchi dumplings. We thought we would take the current trend of adding kimchi to basically everything, and try and make Kimchi & North Carolina BBQ Pork-Chinese style dumplings.  These dumplings came out great.

Posted in Chinese, Kimchi, Pan Fried, Pork, Recipe | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Dumpling House Restaurant, Toronto, Pan Fried

Posted on January 2, 2013 by rundlea

I wish I had pictures from this great little place in Toronto’s Chinatown. I went there for an afternoon snack and it was so good I went back for breakfast, well they open at 11 a.m., so more of a brunch. Despite this spot’s name, it has a pretty big menu of other dishes.

The Dumplings. The dumplings are pan fried in a cast-iron fry pan and at the last minute the cook adds a mixture of flour and water to the pan. This batter crisps up and joins all the dumplings together into a single, sheet of crispy goodness. They have pork and chives or leeks, shrimp dumplings and I think also some vegetable dumplings.

The Dipping Sauce. Bottles of soy and vinegar and a tubs of hot chili paste that you mix together to taste.

Location. 328 Spadina Avenue. It is on the east side of Spadina at the corner of Glenbaille Pl.

Posted in Pan Fried, Toronto | Tagged | 2 Comments

Vanessa’s Dumplings, New York City

Posted on December 26, 2012 by rundlea

Vanessa's LogoVanessa’s Dumplings is becoming something of a cheap dumpling institution in New York City, with a location on Eldridge Street in China Town and a location on 14th street at the northern border of the East Village. Vanessa’s tag line is that they make Beijing Style Dumplings, although at this point in my dumpling eating career I am not yet sure what distinguishes Beijing Style.

On the right side of the restaurant is a long counter, behind which is the open kitchen with steamers and fry pans, and on the left side there is seating for maybe 40 people cramped together. To order you peruse the menus laying on the counter towards the back of the restaurant and place your order with the woman behind the counter who gives you a number. When your order is ready the number is yelled out and you get your food served at the counter on styrofoam plates, on a cafeteria tray. I have been there several times and the staff always seems to be kind of surly – maybe that’s part of the charm. Last time I was there I got the steamed shrimp dumplings (8 pieces), the fried pork buns (3 pieces), two orders of fried pork dumplings (4 pieces each) and a slice of sesame bread stuffed with roast pork, all for $9.75. They also sell frozen dumplings to-go.

The open kitchen at Vanessa’sVanessa's Open Kitchen

Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, New York City, Pan Fried, Steamed | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Bunch, Korea Town, NYC

Posted on December 20, 2012 by rundlea

Bunch sells steamed buns so it is not really a dumpling spot, but buns are an allied snack and Bunch serves good ones. Bunch is located at Food Gallery 32, an Asian style food court, on 32nd street in Manhattan’s Korea Town. You can see into Bunch’s open kitchen/steam room from the street and watch the workers pulling fresh buns out of the huge steamers. They only do take out, but there is some seating on the second floor of the food court, which also has plenty of other take out spots with tasty Korean offerings.

The Buns. Bunch sells fist sized steamed buns stuffed with a variety of fillings. The bun bread is light and fluffy and they are generously stuffed. I tried the pork bun which was delicious and pretty spicy.

Steamed buns as Seen from the street.
20121220-182135.jpg

Continue reading →

Posted in Buns, New York City, Steamed | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Are Pasties the English Dumplings?

Posted on December 15, 2012 by rundlea

pasty_uncookedIf we begin with the definition that a dumpling is a sealed pocket of dough that encloses a savory or sweet filling, then I think the Pasty counts as the English dumpling. Pasties are baked and a lot larger than your typical Asian dumpling, but as you can see to the left, without a sense of scale, an uncooked Pasty looks a lot like a Chinese dumpling.  Pasties are a sealed pocket of dough wrapped, traditionally, around a filling of diced beef, potato, turnip and onion, seasoned with salt and pepper. I have also seen them made with lamb and mint, all vegetables, chicken and mushroom, steak and Stilton and cheese and onions.

Vegetable PastyPasty

Continue reading →

Posted in England, New York City, Pasty | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Shanghai Garden, Seattle, Washington

Posted on December 9, 2012 by rundlea

Shanghai Garden, located in Seattle’s International District (Chinatown), serves excellent steamed or fried pork dumplings. Shanghai Garden has a full menu and dumplings are only part of the offerings, other stand out dishes include; the barley green hand shaved noodles, shrimp with chili sauce and the sauteed pea vines.

The Dumplings:  The pork dumplings at Shanghai Garden are some of my favorites. They taste exactly how I remember soup dumplings tasting in Shanghai, with just the perfect amount of ginger mixed into the pork, which gives them a ginger fragrance.

Fried Pork DumplingsShanghai Garden Fried

Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, Pan Fried, Seattle, Shanghai, Steamed | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Source, Washington, D.C.

Posted on December 1, 2012 by rundlea

The Source is Wolfgang Puck’s pan-Asian restaurant in the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The executive chef, Scott Drewno, has won several D.C. dining awards, so I had high-hopes for this place.  The stylish three-level restaurant seats 250 people, with a small kitchen and dining/bar area for casual dining on the ground floor, a full kitchen and formal dining room on the second floor and a private dining room for 40 guests on the lower level.  The casual dining area features small plates and is billed as having a Japanese style Izakaya menu, although it didn’t resemble the Izakaya menus I am familiar with in NYC (e.g. Yakitori Taisho or Sun-Chan), it was more like pan-Asian apps.  During happy hour they have a three dishes for 20 bucks special.

The Dumplings:  The “Izakaya menu” features Crystal Garlic Chive Dumplings with black Bean Glaze, Sichuan Chicken Dumplings with Crushed Peanut Chili “Dan Dan”, Wok Fired Shrimp Dumplings with Spicy XO Sauce, Rose Veal Dumplings with Fermented Chili Bean Sauce.  I tried the Crystal Garlic Chive Dumplings, which were sort of weak, even though it was fried the crystal dumpling wrapper had an unattractive gummy mouth feel.  The filling was unmemorable.

The Crystal Garlic Chive Dumplings

Continue reading →

Posted in Celebrity Chef, Chinese, D.C., Gyoza, pan-Asian | Tagged , | Leave a comment

East Dumpling House, New York City

Posted on November 25, 2012 by rundlea

East Dumpling House is actually on the West side of Manhattan and located at 106th Street is probably the northern most dumpling house in Manhattan.  The place seems to mainly cater to local Columbia students and appears to do a lot of take out business.

The Dumplings:  The dumplings taste really fresh. When you bite into the shrimp in the pork and shrimp dumplings, you get that ‘pop or snap’ sensation you get with super fresh shrimp.  The pork and chive dumpling have a great porky flavor and are very juicy.  The only drawback to the dumplings is that the wrapper is a little thick and chewy for my taste.  So over all, I rate this place as being solid.

They serve pork with chives, pork with cabbage, chicken with green pepper, chicken with corn, vegetable, shrimp and pork, and basil chicken with shitake mushroom dumplings.  They also serve dumpling soups, which have a really good broth.  East Dumpling House also does catering and sells frozen dumplings, 50 dumplings for 20 bucks.  The frozen dumpling would probably make for a good emergency or late night snack reserve to have in the freezer.

Pan-Fried Pork and Chive Dumplings

Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese, New York City, Pan Fried, Steamed | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment