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Bundles of Edible Joy

Jon Bricker And Kate Swoger, National Post

Published: Saturday, February 17, 2007

THE DUMPLING KING

3290 Midland Ave., Unit 2, Scarborough; 416-321-0888

Second location: 3229 Hwy. 7 E., Unit 3, Markham; 905-940-5688

What goes in a dumpling? At Dumpling King, the answer is everythingView Larger Image View Larger Image

What goes in a dumpling? At Dumpling King, the answer is everything

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The dumpling may be the perfect food. An endless possibility of delights -- savoury, salty, sweet -- can be wrapped in these neat, doughy packages. The casings themselves are sometimes tender, sometimes crispy, sometimes both. And these humble bundles of edible joy are almost always inexpensive.

"A dumpling is a food with few, indeed no, social pretensions," writes Alan Davidson in the Oxford Companion of Food.

So what better place to begin this bi-weekly tour of suburban delicacies than The Dumpling King?

There are 22 varieties of dumplings stuffed onto the King's menu, and the resto itself is stuffed into a Scarborough strip mall filled with Asian eateries. At the back of the joint, women deftly stuff dumplings by hand, rolling dough into perfect discs and folding them around lumps of meat mixture in one swift gesture.

A sampling provided an excellent variety of flavours and textures. These weren't your typical dim sum offerings: There were gingery cabbage and pork fried dumplings; juicy soup-filled pork and crabmeat dumplings; delicate steamed bok choy dumplings with green wrappers; seafood and crabmeat dumplings shaped like fish; even honeydew dumplings for dessert -- squishy, coconut-encrusted balls filled with a slimy, dark-green goop that tasted much better than it looked.

Non-dumpling items on the menu also provided pleasurable surprises. The jumbo meatballs in cabbage hot pot were a sight to behold: Four soft, fennel-laced tennis balls of meat floating in a mild broth, each requiring quartering before consumption. The bean sprouts with vermicelli had the hot vinegary tang of kim chi, while the fried egg in pancake roll was a compact combination of egg foo yung and moo shu. The sweet and sour crispy eggplant was a delight -- at first. The french-fry-sized eggplant bits contrasted wonderfully with chili-laced sauce. Then one diner, who regularly douses his food in hot sauce, accidentally scarfed back a whole chili. It almost brought him to tears. Luckily, burning tongues can take comfort in the small pitchers of draught available for just $7.99.

- Dinner for two (includes tax, but not drinks or tip): $35

Burbchomp@nationalpost.com



© National Post 2007
 
 
 

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