Dumplings ahoy at Yang's Dumpling, Burwood

Burwood

This dumpling eatery has cemented a spot in our hearts as one of our favourite dumpling places of all time. If you haven't heard of Yang's Dumpling before, then be you'll be itching to try their dumplings by the end of this post.

Dumplings galore at The Mandoo, Strathfield

Dumplings
Among the many, many Korean BBQ restaurants in Strathfield, maintaining its presence on a relatively small, narrow corner shopfront, lies The Mandoo. It’s a handmade dumpling and noodle restaurant, with cute dumpling characters dancing on the front windows above a cluster of Korean and English menu items.

Taste of Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield
There's something so enjoyable about eating dumplings. Here are some of the reasons I think why.
  1. Dumplings are small, so you can eat a lot of them.
  2. They have a very high filling to wrapper ratio, so when you eat a lot they don't feel as heavy as something wrapped in thicker bread or rice.
  3. Dumplings come in so many different varieties and flavours that it's quite impossible to find a variety that you don't like. 
  4. They're cute!
  5. You can eat them easily without embarrassing yourself or causing a mess (I'm looking at you, tacos)
...And the list goes on.

New Shanghai, Ashfield

Ashfield

Xiao long bao, those immaculately shaped pork dumplings bursting with steaming hot porky broth, are perhaps the most famous type of dumpling in Sydney. Din Tai Fung offers the holy grail of pork dumplings, with each crafted to a precise weight and diameter and filled with tasty pork marbled with gelatinous bits, have mouths drooling and queues forming at every joint. 

The lesser known relative to these dumplings are pan-fried pork dumplings, brimming with a similar filling and hot soup but with a fluffier bun wrapper and a bottom fried to golden crispy perfection. These are bigger, meater, more filling - call it the plump, loving auntie of xiao long bao.

Sydney Dumpling King, Burwood

Burwood
Are you someone who love lingering over long lunches, or more the person who opts for a quick, fast meal when it comes to lunchtime? I guess it depends on your day's agenda and current circumstances, but I love doing both. Whether its going out for a family dinner of pizza and pasta, or a quick bowl of Pho for Sunday lunch, weekends are always the highlight of my food week because they're the times when I get to go out and eat something other than a homemade sandwich for lunch. Not that sandwiches are bad, but when you have them 5 days a week they do tend to get a little bit boring.



Whatever tickles your fancy, I find that a number of cuisines either fit into one lunching category or the other. Asian fare, such as Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Malaysian, always makes for a fast, cheap lunch fix, whereas more of the European or Western cuisines - Italian, Greek and modern Australian - will tend to drag out and make for a longer, more expensive and filling lunch. I'm not quite sure whether its the cooking methods of each cuisine and the ingredients they use, or the kind of lifestyle each is associated with, but more often than not it will be the bowl or noodles or rice dish that will take less time to cook and eat than a bowl of pasta or steak and chips. Asian is by far my favourite.

Din Tai Fung and the art of Xiao Long Bao

Din Tai Fung

Being Asian, I'm a sucker for all Asian food - whatever cuisine it may be. We often go to eateries in the suburbs of Flemington, Burwood and Ashfield when we're in the mood for a cheap, wholesome Asian feed and always leave feeling extremely full and satisfied. Din Tai Fung, being the only one of its kind in the whole city, is a little on the higher end of the market and is one of our favourite Sydney CBD haunts.

I don't know whether it's the atmosphere of lining up and waiting for our buzzer to buzz, or the efficiency of the service, or the way you can see the dumplings being made in the steamy windows, but there's always something special about going there.

Cute little Xiao Long Bao man!
A visit to DTF isn't a visit to DTF without ordering Xiao Long Bao - perfectly crafted, pork-filled dumplings that exert a hot, tasty broth when bitten in to - one of their specialties. We've tried various other versions of this dumpling at Taiwanese restaurants around Sydney (New Shanghai, Taste of Shanghai) but it's always Din Tai Fung's Xiao Long Baos that we love the best.