Where have I been??? Eating dumplings on the lower east side of course! In the past 2 months, I visited 7 dumpling establishments, some of them specialize in dumplings, others are Fuzhou style (Chinese) restaurants that are known to have excellent dumplings. I could have easily went to 10 more places, all in the same neighborhood, but I narrowed this shootout or challenge to 7. So who won???
The contenders:
Vanessa Dumpling House – 118A Eldridge St
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou – 118 Eldridge St
Hua Ji – 7 Allen St
Prosperity Dumpling – 46 Eldridge St
China North Dumpling – 27 Essex St
K Tasty Dumpling – 67 Eldridge St
Lam Zhou – 144 East Broadway
To choose the places, I used a combination of Yelp reviews, Village Voice reviews, and popularity on social media outlets. I had at least 5 dumplings in each restaurant (sometimes 10). I’ll give an overall score (out of 10) and a brief description, in the order that I visited each place:
Vanessa Dumpling House – 118A Eldridge St. The first stop on my dumpling tour, and a nice solid start. Aesthetically, it wins in a landslide with an orderly process to order/pay/pick-up, a clean well kept dine-in area, and a real bathroom. The dumplings themselves were very good, and if you didn’t know that better ones existed, you could be more than happy with Vanessa. Overall score: 8
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou – 118 Eldridge St. Simply outstanding steamed dumplings on every level. Paper thin wrapping, perfect combination and ratio of pork, chives and bok choy. If you visit one place for dumplings in Chinatown, this is your stop. I even bought a bag of 50 frozen dumplings to go ($9), and then bought a bamboo steamer the next day to steam them the correct way. I thought Shu Jiao would be impossible to beat, but there is one place a bit farther down this list that came close. Overall score: 10
Hua Ji – 7 Allen St. This hole in the wall is best known for it’s Taiwanese style pork chop over rice, but rumor has it that the dumplings were excellent here…turns out it was more rumor than fact. The pork chop over rice IS fantastic (although I would still rank Excellent Pork Chop House on Doyers St higher), but the dumplings were just average. Overall score: 6
Prosperity Dumpling – 46 Eldridge St. Many people swear by this place, as if nothing can compare. They have lines out the door at lunch and dinner time, and there are maybe a total of 5 seats to be had inside. So what did I find? Slightly above average at best. I don’t really get the hype that follows Prosperity Dumpling…nearly 1500 reviews on Yelp! Seriously? Overall score: 7
China North Dumpling – 27 Essex St. It’s probably not fair to include this establishment, when I arrived, they were 15 minutes from closing. All stoves and burners were off, and there was a small bowl of (fried) dumplings left to sell. The smell of cleaning supplies dominated all senses, so I took my 5 dumplings across the street, and could barely finish them. I’m going to hold off on a score for China North until I revisit, but the one thing I know is get there well before 9:00!
K Tasty Dumpling – 67 Eldridge St. I believe this is connected to Panda Dumpling, but I’m not 100% sure. Average tasting pork and chive dumplings. VERY nice folks working there, but with all of the competition on Eldridge Street, K Tasty does not stand out. Overall score: 6
Lam Zhou – 144 East Broadway. Lam Zhou defines “hole in the wall” and if you didn’t read blogs and reviews (like New York Ethnic Food Blog) you would NEVER ever think of eating here. Most people come here seeking out home made hand-pulled noodles, where you can watch the expert noodle maker slap, pull, wrestle and twist the dough into long, delicious noodles. First time here for me was September 2012, and (of course) I had the hand-pulled noodles in soup. It was really good, but not as good as Spicy Village on Forsyth. I had the dumplings two weeks ago and was very pleasantly surprised. It was the first dumpling that rivaled Shu Jiao. Very flavorful pork mixture, healthy amount of chives and spices, and a sweet aftertaste that was different from any of the other dumplings I sampled. A standout for sure, and a very close second place finish to Shu Jiao Fu Zhou on Eldridge. Overall score: 9
So there were two clear winners of the great dumpling shootout, both places are worth the trying. Prices are all fairly uniform for dumplings in Chinatown, $1 for 4 or 5 or $2 for 8 – 10. Easily one of the best bang for your buck meals in NYC!
