Bestsellers: The Dumpling House, where every one is handmade
Thursday, 6 June 2024
Secret recipes, quality ingredients and spices imported from China are part of the Dumpling House ethos.
You won’t find any machine-made dumplings there either.
Owner Lei Wang met the Waikato Times at the restaurant’s Hamilton Central location, and served up a ridiculous amount of food for our photographer to snap.
On the menu are traditional and authentic meals, such as crispy fried sweet and sour pork from Wang’s home-town Harbin, braised pork belly which is cooked for four hours, and lots of dumplings.
Hamilton’s favourite order is the pork, shrimp, and chives dumpling, with Wang’s mother’s secret garlic soy sauce.
Tell us about your bestseller
“We’re called Dumpling House, and our dumplings are really, really popular. But beyond dumplings we also have a lot more choice for customers.
“We have a good variety of rice dishes, noodle dishes, and signature dishes. But most people come for the dumplings.
“We have five flavours at the moment, and the most popular is the pork and prawn with chives.”
Why do you think it's so appealing?
“It’s the experience, really. We focus on the quality of our food from start to finish. We use the best meat and vegetables, and quite a lot of our spices are imported from China. So that makes a huge difference to the flavour.
“We use our special and traditional way to make them, our secret recipe. That makes them stand out.
“We also make our dumplings by hand. A lot of other dumplings you see in the market are made by machine. But every single one of ours is hand-made, and you can taste the difference.”
Who's attracted to it?
“The other Dumpling House on Grey St has been around for 14 years, and that one is a suburban shop so most of the customers are local.
“But because we have been here for a long time, and we’re kind of famous, people travel around. We get customers from Christchurch and Australia, and they know that Grey St is our original shop.
“In the CBD, at lunchtime, most of the customers are central workers. But in the evenings and weekends, it’s quite different. People come here to celebrate birthdays, or engagement parties.”
How much is it?
“You get 10 steamed or pan-fried dumplings with a side dish of vegetables or noodles. And that’s $17.90. It’s good for one person for lunch or dinner.
“The thing is, we love cooking for people. At the moment pricing is hard to manage, but there’s no point cooking good food that people can’t afford. So we try to make it so people can afford it.”
What's your favourite item/product?
“In winter time I like to grab something soupy, something hot. The rumours say that we have the best winter noodle soup. It’s quite filling and it warms you up. But in summertime there’s more to choose.”