Dumpling Cafe {SNAPSHOT}

This is a {Snapshot} of Dumpling Café based on my recent experiences at the restaurant. The original post of this restaurant (written in 2010!) can be found here.

Dumpling Café is located in Boston’s Chinatown and has a nice selection of Taiwanese dishes, Sichuan dishes, and various types of dumplings. It’s almost never as crowded as Gourmet Dumpling House (which invariably has a long line outside), even though there’s quite a huge overlap in the menus and the food is comparable in quality. Perhaps less people know about this place, partly because it’s just a tiny bit off the beaten path (5 minute walk from Gourmet Dumpling House).

I like it also because it’s fast. It’s as fast as Taiwan Café, which in my mind has always been one of the fastest restaurants in Chinatown. I swear, within 5 minutes of ordering, your food starts to show up on the table. We were trying catch a movie at Lowe’s Cinema once and came here for dinner beforehand. We were in and out of the restaurant in about 20 minutes. As long as you don’t have to wait for a table, coming here could be faster than a fast food joint, and most certainly tastes much, much better.

Here’s a look at some dishes we’ve tried during our past few visits.

“Sen Jian Bao” are flat buns filled with meat and vegetables that are pan fried to form a crispy edge. The best ones I’ve ever had were in Shanghai from a famous street vendor. These were still nicely pan fried and were reasonably tasty.

The xiaolongbaos (soup dumplings) are tasty here, and probably among the best ones in Boston (though they still pale in comparison to the ones available out west or in Asia). I much prefer the flavor of the crab roe with pork dumplings, though the pork ones are still not bad.

They are pretty huge (a negative in my book, because it’s hard to put the whole thing in your mouth), and thus can be tricky to navigate. Definitely use a spoon and be careful! They are delicate and may break, and the soup inside is hot! I like to wait a bit before eating these, otherwise they seriously burn my tongue.

Steamed dumplings are fine – nothing particularly exciting, but they are reasonably tasty and not greasy at all.

The spicy fish dish (shui zhu yu) is bold, flavorful, and quite similar to the one at Gourmet Dumpling House, which is also quite good. Be prepared for the numbing sour zing from the Sichuan peppercorns, which are used quite liberally in this dish.

Beef with longhorn peppers is fine, though not particularly memorable.

Stir fried hollow heart greens with garlic (a simple dish I often like to order no matter where I am) were tender, flavorful, and light.

I enjoyed the rice cakes with pork and mustard greens (a classic Taiwanese combo), which were nicely flavored and not too greasy. It reminded me of simple home cooking.

A similar dish made with tofu sheets was simple and light – something I could imagine eating reasonably frequently. [yes, eating Chinese food out can be healthy!]

Overall, this restaurant usually falls on my short-list of places to visit when I’m in Chinatown. The food is good, the service is crazy fast, and the dishes are reasonably healthy. It’s a nice option if other places have long lines. Keep in mind I’m a bit biased towards Taiwanese and Sichuan cuisine, so other restaurants on my short list would be places like Taiwan Café and Gourmet Dumpling House.

Dumpling Cafe
695 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02111

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