Leah and I met for lunch in Harvard Square to try out Tom’s Bao Bao. I love me some dumplings so I was in heaven. We walked in and spent a good ten minutes just staring awkwardly at the people behind the glass making the dumplings (and taking videos of them). All of the buns are made by hand and each employee is trained to steam and fold them. The restaurant has limited seating in the back by the register, but don’t worry, you can always do take out. They had 6 bao on the menu with one additional seasonal special.

So of course we tried one of each:

Juicy Pork ($3.25): pork, scallion, ginger, shaoxing wine

Curry Beef ($3.75): beef, potato, carrot, mild curry

Chicken ($3.50): chicken, cabbage, carrot, bean sauce

Seasonal Lobster (market)

Vegetarian ($3.50): bok choy, shiitake, smoked tofu

Sweet Potato ($3): sweet potato, orange zest

Seasonal Braised Pork and Apple ($4)

The buns are a bit doughy but we liked every one that we tried. My favorites were the juicy pork (the meat was so flavorful) and the sweet potato (it tasted like dessert – although I think I missed the orange zest flavor in there). The steam buns are reasonably priced for their size, you could definitely make a meal out of one or two (we were definitely pushing it with 3.5 buns each).

Tom’s Bao Bao

84 Winthrop Street, Cambridge

http://www.tomsbaobao.com/

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I never really liked school – but dumpling school is something I can definitely wrap my head around. A few weeks ago I was invited to Dumpling Palace for a hands on dumpling making tutorial. The intimate event had us forming dumplings with the chef and eating what we made! Top left is Leah Palone, Marketing Director of Boston Magazine; top right and bottom left Fiona from Gourmet Pigs.

Something tells me I will need a little more practice before mine look even remotely acceptable, but it was a fun evening! Bik Ng from the Mayor’s office was on hand to help translate for us along with Chris Haynes from CBH Communications.

Leah and I had been to the restaurant once before and had an outstanding meal, this one was equally as delicious.

No we didn’t make these, but we did sample a variety of dumplings – everything from pork to vegetarian.

And as if I wasn’t stuffed to the gills with dumplings, after we completed our class, we were treated to a delicious feast of lo main, fried rice, even more dumplings and scallion pancakes. Let’s talk about scallion pancakes, they are usually greasy and heavy, these ones are made fresh, never frozen, and made to order. They were crispy and light and I am now comparing all other scallion pancakes to these!!

Some more exciting news, the owners behind Dumpling Palace are opening a second restaurant in the next few months in Allston, keep your eyes out for Dumpling Kingdom!

Disclaimer: I was invited to be a guest at Dumpling Palace. My meal was provided complimentary, all opinions are my own.

Dumpling Palace

179 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA

http://www.dumplingpalaceboston.com

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The fun part about this place is that there’s a little window and you can look in on the chef making the dumplings by hand!

I love soup dumplings – and they have some seriously good ones here. Soup dumplings are steamed and generally filled with pork. Good thing Leah and I are friends, sometimes these can get a little messy to eat

The steamed pork and leek dumplings were delicious.

And just to round out our meal, we ordered the rice cake noodles with pork and mustard greens. I love me some rice cake noodles and this dish was tasty – it felt very light. Looking forward to heading back to get my dumpling fix!

Dumpling Palace

179 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA

http://www.dumplingpalaceboston.com/

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I’m a sucker for noodles and dumplings, so when Live Noodles came in right down the street, I was dying to try them out. They serve traditional hand pulled noodles with authentic soup. From their website:

Lanzhou beef lamian, or Lanzhou beef hand-pulled noodle, is a type of Chinese noodle dish originated in Lanzhou, China, and generally popular in China. It is referred to as “beef noodle”  or “beef big bowl”  in Lanzhou. It is sometimes simply called lamian , which means hand-pulled noodle in Chinese, or “beef lamian”  elsewhere in China.

Like most places on this block, the decor leaves something to be desired. While you can get some recognizable things here, they also serve authentic dishes like squid tentacles, chicken hearts and pig ears.

We were glad that we decided to get take out, as the place was packed! The place is small, with mainly two tops, so if you are going with a group, make sure to call for a reservation.

The home made dumplings ($9) came a dozen to an order. They were steamed and the filling was super tasty.

I love soup dumplings. These pork dumplings ($8), that came 6 to an order, were so good.

Here’s a close up of the hand pulled thin noodles.

The beef hand pulled thin noodles were a hit in our house, they came with corn, cucumbers, carrots and other vegetables to balance out the dish. Dishes are generally prices around $8-$15, but there are a few “big pot” dishes that can cost you up to $28.

Live Noodles

1026 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA

http://www.livenoodles.com

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The restaurant is small, it only has about 30 seats – but they also do takeout! Bonus is that you can BYOB and they don’t charge you a corking fee. Order at the counter from the menu on the wall and grab a seat – a food runner will bring your dishes out when they are ready. The service was quick and the staff at the counter were quite friendly

We started with the wonton soup ($5) lean pork wontons with scallions in chicken broth. Delicious.

Coco’s rollup ($8) was a big hit at our table, a crispy scallion pancake, rolled around beef shank and hoisin sauce. The scallion pancake was light – crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.

You can order 6 dumpings for $6, such a great deal. We ordered the pork and chive dumplings, pan fried. Other flavors include chicken with napa cabbage and mixed vegetable.

The scallion lo-mein ($9) was another hit at the table, the noodles were delicious and they weren’t too heavy or starchy.

Dumpling Daughter is open daily from 11:30-8pm. Stop in this Friday (3/13) for custom french pastries from Cafe Madeleine in the South End.

Dumpling Daughter

37 Center St. Weston, MA

http://www.dumplingdaughter.com/

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The restaurant only has about 10 tables and a communal high top. Every seat is taken and we squeeze three onto a two top.

Parking can be tough here on the weekends, so plan accordingly.

Kimchi dumplings ($7.50) came in red wonton skins, filled with pork and had a little bit of a spicy kick.

Emperor dumplings ($9) come pan fried with chicken, pork and shrimp.

Beijing dumplings  ($6.50) are steamed and filled with pork.

Mini Bao ($7.50) are pan seared and filled with pork and cabbage.

While the dumplings are quite tasty, the service is slow, even with three people serving. There are many times that we are left with empty water glasses, trying to get the attention of our server. The table next to us orders the same dumplings, before us, and ours come out first. We graciously give our plate to them as it only seems fair. At the end of the night, when we get our check, we have another table’s check. We are slightly confused since there are under a dozen tables. We would certainly come back for take out though, the dumplings are pretty tasty.

Nutella and Banana dumpling ($5) for dessert. The are doused in powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Check out my Favecast video of Patty Chen’s:  http://favecast.com/37CdfkRtZI

Patty Chen’s Dumpling Room

907 Main Street, Cambridge, MA

www.dumplingroom.com

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We waited 20 minutes for a table – while hostesses walked around aimlessly and while tables sat dirty and empty. You just get the feeling that this place needs to be managed better. A girl comes in drunk and angry from the bar and creates a scene and the hostess doesn’t know how to handle her, so she seats her ahead of the people who have been waiting.

The decor is bright and visually appealing.

I love the goldfish tanks in the front of the restaurant. Our waiter arrives and doesn’t seem to be familiar with the menu. It takes some time to order what we want, and then there is some confusion because certain items that we ordered weren’t available and people told us twice…it was a mess.

Chicken mushroom noodle ($14.99). The noodles came out first. The chef was hand stretching them in the window of the restaurant. The sauce was a little thick and gooey for me, but the dish overall was good.

Beijing No. 9 Soup Dumpling ($11.99), I love soup dumplings, and these were no exception – delish!

Beef pancake ($10.99), these were a little weird – they were hard to eat, the wrapper was hard to cut, it was a mess.

Pan fried beef dumplings ($11.99) just what you would expect for Peking raviolis. I think that we could have done with one less dumpling dish. This restaurant also offers a discounted price to Total Rewards members, and even though I gave the waiter our card, we did not get the discount

The food was good, but maybe we should have gotten take out. They really need to work on their service and running things a bit smoother – right now it feels like a mess.

Beijing Noodle No. 9 in Caesar’s Palace

3570 Las Vegas Boulevard S, Las Vegas, NV

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Mei Mei Street Kitchen may be one of my favorite food trucks. Their dumplings made Boston Magazine’s Best Dumpling List. And in even better news, they are getting a brick and mortar location (see the blog post here). We are hoping that they are going in to the space that was formerly My Brothers Pizza, but it is kind of hard to tell from the star on the map.

Really I love any kind of dumpling that the mei mei truck is making, but I think I like the pan fried version over the deep fried version. And the kimchi fried rice can’t be beat, I dream of that stuff.

I love the double awesome, but one day decided to try the bahn mei: Scallion pancake filled with house made liver pate, cured ham, pickled white carrot and cabbage ($8.50). Really nice flavors, a little smokey, a little sweet. A close second to the double awesome!

I love any of their desserts, pictured above was the chocolate beer cake with chipotle nutella frosting and candied peanuts. The cake was dense and delicious and the frosting left your lips tingling.

And the macarons (not to be confused with the macaroon-a heap of coconut held together by egg whites) are to die for. We heard from the truck that mei is perfecting the recipe for the big oven, so there will be more macarons soon! Yum!

Mei Mei Street Kitchen

http://meimeiboston.com

Check out their website to see the daily menu and where they are going to be!

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I had seen Boston Magazine’s Best Dumpling article, and decided to get a few friends together to go to the Windsor Dim Sum Cafe to try their dumplings. Located in Chinatown, on the second floor, this place is always jam packed. There are a few larger tables, so many times, they ask you if you mind sitting with other people.

This time around, we shared a table with another group of three.

We ordered fairly “American” Chinese food, while our table mates went for the more authentic dishes. They ordered things like “fake shark fin” soup and chicken feet. The woman sitting across from me picks up a whole chicken foot, puts it completely in her mouth, and then proceeds to spit the bones out on her plate. I’m still having nightmares about that.

I loved the rice cake noodles-really nice flavor and a chewy consistency.

We had so much food, and we were completely full by the end. The great part was that for all that food, it was very reasonably priced. Above are some of our choices, deep fried shrimp rolls, steamed shrimp dumplings, sticky rice, sting beans Szechuan style, and more. Service is so so-your food comes out as it is made in the kitchen, pull any waiter aside if you need anything else during your meal. They have a menu with pictures if you are newbie to dim sum-so don’t worry.

And just to leave you with something fun, the parking garage elevator sign!

Windsor Dim Sum Cafe

10 Tyler Street at Beach, Chinatown

Takeout available

minimum credit card charges, open daily 9am-10pm

http://winsordimsumcafe.com/

Menu http://boston.menupages.com/restaurants/winsor-dim-sum/menu

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