PICTURE THIS (Best North Dumpling House)

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen. Anybody who knows me knows that I’m not the most organized and careful person in the world, and so my gadgets (and clothes) tend to break or rip.

And eventually it happened with my camera. Except it didn’t break (as far as I know), but rather fell right out of my jacket pocket somewhere between dinner, the subway, and home. Cameras are replaceable of course – and mine wasn’t the most expensive – but what really ticked me off was that I had a handful of photos that I had yet to upload to my computer. And they weren’t of my family or of beautiful landscapes, but rather of food.

This post is much closer to an article in Reader’s Digest than Food & Wine magazine. So I completely understand if you’ve already clicked to another page. I have a hard time reading words without the occasional photo (especially of food) to gawk over.

Since I first composed this post on Best North Dumpling House, my new camera has arrived from Amazon so I am now able to fill in some of the gaps with beautiful new photos. But I’m leaving my review the same since my words were very descriptive the first time around when talking about the dumplings. Why mess with brilliance?

Best North Dumpling House is located inside the Friendship Shopping Mall deep in the heart of Flushing, Queens. When you walk through the bright, sterile booths (very similar but not as dingy as the nearby Golden Mall), you can’t help but feel you have entered another country. There’s a huge language barrier and foreign pictures, so even pointing to food doesn’t necessarily ensure predictable dishes.

Which is part of what makes this adventure so exciting. Best North Dumpling House has seen its fair share of English speaking clientele, so the menu is bi-lingual and makes it easier to choose. They were out of the string bean dumplings, which sounded most intriguing. So we settled on the fennel and pork dumplings and the more traditional pork and cabbage (no chives offered here).

A little girl (who must have been one of the employees’ relatives) ran around and sang Chinese nursery rhymes as an older woman expertly stuffed her last batch of dumplings for the day. We waited a while for our order since all the dumplings here are boiled to order – I didn’t even see an option for fried dumplings.

They were most certainly worth the wait, although once we received the jiaozi we had to wait even more for the steam to dissipate to protect the roofs of our mouths. But what complex flavors and soft interesting flavors. I have one complaint and I need to get it out of the way because it’s a technical thing and I generally really liked these dumplings. The pork stuffing on both tended to be a little dry. I fear the employees may have left them in the water just a smidge too long. Everything else about them was really tasty and enjoyable, but I did notice that it could have used a bit more moisture inside.

Now forget that and let me tell you what worked about these things. They smelled very doughy, but the wrappers had a nice shape and soft juicy textures that made up for the less than perfect pork inside. Also inside was the fennel which added just a hint of aromatic sweetness. And my favorite herb of all time, dill, found its way into the mixture which gave it a very pleasant tangy citrusy kick. The cabbage and pork mixture was a little less dry and the cabbage brought out an extra crunch that played off the slippery wrappers.

This is the third dumpling house I’ve visited in Flushing and they’ve all been excellent. It seems to be the most insular and therefore authentic Chinatown in the city. I wish I could you show you more pictures. Except, as you know, I stupidly lost my camera. It’s a good thing I can’t lose the internet – otherwise you may never be able to read this pictureless post… if you made it this far.

Does Best North Dumpling House have the best dumplings in NY? The complex flavors and delicate textures make up for the slightly dry pork filling, giving this place an 8 out of 10.