★★★★★
There has been a lot of talk about this place since it opened but how good could a dumpling place be that is located in a Bellevue mall?? Simply incredible! This place has been open for months and you will still find a 1+ hour wait during prime time on the weekends. Can hundreds of people be wrong? Yes...but not in this case. If you are not willing to wait that long I have found arriving early (5:30 pm) or late (9:00 pm) can get you in the door in under half hour in most cases.
But if you are going to have to wait, you might as well be at a mall where there are plenty of places to explore or stop in for a drink...this is of course after you tire of watching the assembly line prepare and create dumpling after dumpling...it doesn't take long. After you stop in and give them your name, they tell you how long it will be and at what time you need to be close by.
Once you sit down the food generally arrives fairly quickly and the dishes will come when they are ready, not in the order you may have intended.
Most of the dishes average somewhere between $8 - $10, which doesn't sound high but they will add up.
The Juicy Pork Dumplings, yes, I am showing a picture of them twice. This is how many you should order if there are only two of you and is the reason you waited an hour to eat here. These dumplings are delicate purses of pure happiness. We were instructed on one of our visits to place the dumpling in your spoon, pierce it with your chopstick, to allow the magical soup to run out and enjoy. This does cut back on the chances you burn the inside of your mouth on the extremely hot broth within the dumpling.
The Pork and Shrimp Dumplings with Spicy sauce on the side is also a must. This dish normally is served with the sauce over the dumplings but I was dining with the spice adverse so ordered it on the side. Not a bad way to order it, as this sauce is so tasty it is good on everything! Not that there is anything wrong with the small bowl of fresh ginger they provide to which you add rice vinegar and soy sauce to your liking for all your dipping needs.
The Pork and Vegetable Wonton Soup (we added noodles) is tasty but not a must. The wontons are good but whether steamed or in the soup they are much more veggie than pork. Not saying this is a bad thing, just that if you are expecting pork dumplings with vegetables, the pork is hardly noticeable.
A con worth noting, I have certainly not tried all their soups but for those I have tried - The noodles in the soup are great. The wontons or dumplings in the soup are great. The broth itself is not great. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad but if you are expecting a big bold broth these are not the soups for you - particularly when it comes to the chicken and pork broths I have tried.
The Fried Rice with Fried Pork Chop is also worth getting, especially the pork chop! The fried rice is excellent but I'd rather fill up on juicy dumplings than rice here.
The Shrimp and Pork Shao Mai I found a bit plain. The noodle and rice cake dishes are excellent - I personally prefer the noodles over the rice cake.
I have found some great dumplings in the area but this place has something that we've been missing - so come here once and come often...or don't and I won't have to wait as long the next time!
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