Dumplings are one of my favorite things to eat and have been since childhood where perogies were a regular item in our house. Fast forward to being an adult with a love of all things Asian in the dumpling department, from water-boiled, steamed, pan-fried, and heck even filled with soup I’ll eat them all!
The folk’s over at Tourism Richmond have developed a self-guided tour in Central Richmond along the Canada Line appropriately named The Dumpling Trail. With over 800 restaurants in Richmond, it can be a bit intimidating for those not very familiar to completely new to the dining scene in the city. Tourism Richmond had hand picked 15 select restaurants to participate in the Dumpling Trail with choices of dumplings that span Asia from regions in China, Japan, and Korea. Over on the Tourism Richmond has set up an interactive map where you can plan out your Dumpling Trail adventure and get more information about a couple great contests they’re running.
Sherman put the word out that he was looking to hit the dumpling trail so Nora, Diana, and myself joined him to hit an epic 6 different spots starting with dim sum in the morning. You could hit the dumpling trail alone but that is kind of suicide and Tourism Richmond recommends getting a group together, dumpling orders tend to come with 4 pieces so the bigger the group the more places you can hit.
We started bright and early at Empire Seafood Restaurant at 9:30am. Empire is one of the few Cantonese Chinese restaurants that starts dim sum service at 9am and by the time we got there the place was packed with hungry diners. Sherman did the ordering getting all the dim sum favorites to get our day of eating started.
First up is the classic Siu Mai dumplings. These pork and shrimp stuffed beauties were on point for my tastes. The filling had a good balance of shrimp and pork that was seasoned well and not overcooked. Size wise the Siu Mai were on the larger size but I managed them into two sizeable bites.
Next up is the other dim sum classic item, Har Gow. These shrimp filled dumplings are another of my favorites because it’s simplicity showcases the shrimp in the flavor, preparation, and texture department. These like the Siu Mai were sizeable and provided a generous two bites. The dumpling skin for me was on the thick side but the filling made up for that, it was cooked perfectly with the mousse retaining a snappy texture and good sized pieces of cut up shrimp in the mix.
A couple dim sum items I’m still trying to find my love for are the Deep Fried Glutinous Dumplings and Deep Fried Taro Dumplings. Both of these dumplings can be grease bombs if not fried at the right temperature so I’m happy to report Empire did a great job cooking these. The glutinous dumpling had a crispy outside while the inside remained well, glutinous and the saucy pork shitake filling was full of flavor. With the flavorless nature of taro, I would have to say it’s my least favorite filling for dumplings and it can be heavy but these were fluffy inside almost and did a great job of soaking up the soy I dipped my bite into.
Lastly for dumplings at Empire Seafood, we had the Shrimp and Chive Dumplings. These dumplings were my favorite we had at the restaurant, the dumpling wrapper was just right and the dumpling itself was packed with plump pieces of sweet shrimp and flavorful chives.
Next, we headed over to Suhang Restaurant restaurant for some Shanghainese eats. This was a first-time visit for me to Suhang and I was excited to try their XLB’s.
We did order some other items from the menu but the XLB were at the top of our list. Suhang is known for their XLB dumplings and I must say that these were pretty damn good. The dumpling skin held together nicely, the size wasn’t too big or too small, and the balance of filling to soup was spot on.
Another version of XLB’s are the pan-fried variety but I’ve never laid eyes on the bun version so when the pan-fried XLB Buns hit the table I got wide eyed! While I loved the look of these I found the bun soaked up most of the soup inside leaving a large vacant pocket inside with just the pork filling remaining. The outside was indeed crispy on the bottom with a tender bun on top but these just didn’t do it for me.
Time for some Korean dumplings at eats at Samsoonie Noodle and Rice (and ramen). The place was packed when we made our visit around 12:30 and was steadily busy so keep that in mind if you come with a large group. When I got my media sample last month Samsoonie’s Korean Mandu dumplings were part of the delivery, I’m new to Korean dumplings so I was looking forward to this restaurant in particular.
We were all surprised when we got a small bowl of the house special Korean version of Won Ton Soup. The soup was seasoned really well with black pepper being the predominant flavor. The wontons themselves were bite sized and filled with a tasty pork filling.
Being the dumpling pigs that we are we decided to get all three preparations of mandu on the menu. The only difference between the three dumplings is preparation method with the same pork and scallion filling in all. I’ve tried the steamed version in a delivery of dumplings Tourism Richmond sent me a month ago, the steamed variety really showed off the filling and the deep fried ones were alright to try but the pan-fried ones were my favorite by far.
Located in the same strip mall as Samsoonie is Tsim Chai who are known for their wontons so we ordered two variations. Sherman did the ordering and got Siu Gow Soup and Wonton Noodle Soup. The siu gow were filled with shrimp, shrimp mousse, and wood ear fungus while the wontons were traditional pork and shrimp filled. Personally, I liked the size of the siu gow but I found the wood ear fungus to be on the chewy side but the shrimp was on point. The wontons were on point with a generous amount of well-prepared filling but I will say I prefer my wonton soup with no noodles.
Next up we headed over to the Richmond Public Market to Xi’an Food Stall for Chili Oil Wontons and Pan Fried Pot Stickers. After all the meals I’ve eaten in Richmond I had no clue this public market existed, it is a two level space with shops below and a bunch of different food stalls upstairs and plenty of seating. The chili oil wontons were served with no shortage of chili oil and had a good sprinkling of ground up Szechuan peppercorns. These were alright but they didn’t really hold together all that well. The pan fried potstickers had a good pan fry on them but the dumpling wrapper was on the thick side. The thick wrapper was balanced out with a generous amount of pork filling that was juicy and moist.
By now we all were REALLY full but still headed over to Lansdowne Mall’s food court to hit up R and H Chinese Food. This place is a favorite of mine and I always stop in when I visit the mall to give all my money to Broadway Camera so I was going to find room in my full stomach for some of their dumplings. We got the big three items to have at R and H starting with the XLB’s which are all made fresh to order. The dumplings are on the large side and the plastic spoon is dwarfed in comparison to them, I find the soup in them slightly sweet but the meat is really well seasoned to balance things out. My other go to item is the pan fried pork dumplings with chives, they take a few minutes more to prepare but are well worth the wait. The dumplings are nicely sized and stuffed with a good amount of filling and they are very juicy so watch out when you take your first bite! Lastly, the water boiled dumplings were just like they should be with a tender wrapper and more of that pork and chive filling.
After a day of eating our faces off I really have to say I enjoyed eating on the Dumpling Trail, Tourism Richmond has put together a solid list of restaurants that deliver a wide variety of dumplings for your eating pleasure. Tourism Richmond is running a couple contests in connection with the Dumpling Trail so please head on over to their site for full details by clicking here.
**Disclosure-Tourism Richmond provided Sherman with a budget for our dumpling adventure, I’m not being paid for this post and all opinions and experiences are completely my own.**
