Dumpling Man

Anytime cheap food in New York City is brought up, you're sure to hear mention of Dumpling Man. Somehow, it's taken me over a year to check it out, even though I lived mere blocks away! Now let me start off by saying, I am not the world biggest dumpling fan. I'll eat them if they're there, but I don't typically go out of my way in their pursuit. Because of this, I had no idea what to order, even after looking over the menu. There were about 5 varieties of meat dumplings, and about 5 vegetarian as well. The man behind the counter saw my confusion, and recommended the special meat dumpling of the day, the pork soup dumpling. The description said that it was a pork dumpling that was also stuffed with ginger, and cooked in chicken stock. I ordered four dumplings, and my total came out to be a little more than $4. Not bad! I envisioned my dumplings actually arriving in the chicken stock, but when they arrived about 5 minutes later, it turned out they had just been boiled in it. This led to the outside dough having a visibly soggy texture, which I wasn't thrilled with. (sorry about the poor photo quality, it was really dim inside the restaurant)

I took my first bite- and was a little confused. The dough part of the dumpling was too thick and soggy, the pork inside had the consistency of wet cat food, and there was no ginger to speak of. Somehow though, it managed to taste alright! I tried it with Sriracha sauce, the "dumpling sauce", and the vinegar sauce. The Sriracha was too spicy for me, but I liked the dumping sauce and the vinegar-they were a nice tart balance to the sweetness of the pork and dough. Halfway through, I discovered the ginger-which was only a few measly strips. While I wasn't super excited by my experience at The Dumpling Man, it wasn't awful and it really filled me up.
Address:100 St Marks Pl New York, NY 10009
Phone number:(212) 505-2121
Average Price: $4-6 piece, $6-10 piece
Grade: C