When you talk about “dumplings,” you can cover a lot of ground.
It’s a pretty broad-based classification of food, but generally means pieces of dough wrapped around a filling, or not. Fillings can be anything from cheese to meat to fish to vegetables.
All I know is that I love dumplings, no matter what is inside of them.
They are so great precisely because you can put anything in them – even dessert fillings. (Now, I’m not talking about wontons – that is the subject for a future Bite. Me. blog post.)
As long as they aren’t overcooked, dumplings make a perfect appetizer, main course or dessert. You can eat them anytime, even breakfast.
And when it comes to dumplings, my absolute favourite are the steamed pork soup dumplings at Dinesty Dumpling House on Kingsway near Willingdon in Burnaby.
If you haven’t had soup dumplings before, you’ll be forgiven thinking they are served inside soup. Dinesty’s most popular dish puts the soup inside of the dumplings.
Inside is a yummy chicken broth with a double-ground pork filling, all wrapped up in a thin, hand-kneaded wrapper.
What you do – according to my friend who is a most-excellent Chinese food guide – is you take your soup dumpling, dip it ever-so-gently in a vinegar-ginger sauce, and place it on a soup. Then you poke a hole in the dumpling to let some of the soup flow out. Then you gobble it all up in one bite.
I also liked just keeping the soup inside and letting it explode when I bite down. After a while, I didn’t even need the sauce because the soup broth is so good.
It’s ridiculously delicious. I also had a shrimp, scallop and pork version that was equally devastating. They are all served in hot and steaming bamboo baskets that keep the dumplings hot without making them soggy.
That’s not all of the delicious dishes at Dinesty. Their friend dumplings are pretty incredible too – they come in long tubes that are crispy on the outside and delicate on the inside.
The menu is filled with a large variety of other dumplings, but the soup dumplings are my favourite. They are a miracle in how they can get the dough so thin without the soup leaking out.
Enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: I have not been compensated in any way by this restaurant for writing about its food. They don’t even know I am writing about them.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
