HOT DUMPLINGS AND COLD CASH (Tasty Dumpling)

Tasty Dumpling, the tiny storefront facing Columbus Park, seems to always be packed with people. And not all of them are ordering dumplings. During the 20 minutes or so I spent inside the shop, I counted at least 5 people that came in solely to use the prominently displayed ATM machine in the middle of the restaurant. And not one of them used their newly withdrawn cash for potstickers.

I had enough cash (although I didn’t need much), so the only reason I entered Tasty Dumpling was to see just how tasty their dumplings really are. It was easy to tell based on the name, location, and crowds at 3pm that this is one of those dollar dumpling spots. Although depending on how you look at it, this place could be more expensive or more affordable than some of the others. They offer five dumplings for $1.25 while most of the other spots do 4 for $1. If you have any skill with math (I don’t), you’ll realize the price is exactly the same per dumpling. It’s just this spot forces you to pay a quarter more.

And I’m not quite sure its worth the extra quarter. While it’s always nice to have lots of food, with an order of the boiled dumplings (10 for $2) as well, there was no way anybody was leaving hungry. These dumplings are certainly edible but not as good as many of the other cheap joints in the Chinatown area. Regardless, listen to me complain about an extra 25 cents!

At any other time of year, we would have waited the 10 minutes for our dumplings and then headed across the street to enjoy them in the park. But there was quite a bit of slushy snow on the ground and I hate eating while wearing gloves, so we stood around awkwardly waiting for a table to become available.

We watched a tour group finish up their food and vacate a table. I wonder how this tour group settled on Tasty Dumpling and if they were next going to hit Prosperity and Vanessa’s. While the others all seem to linger on the border of the Lower East Side, this is one of the few dollar dumpling shops that’s truly located in the heart of Chinatown. And tourists want to eat dumplings in Chinatown. Wouldn’t you? It’s like living in New York, but having Queens on your mailing address. It seems not quite as authentic, but those of us who live in New York know it’s technically the same city.

Just like us, I imagine the tour group tasted the fried pork and chive dumplings. These were rather on the greasy side, but didn’t have that crispy outer skin that I hope for from such a heavy hand with the oil. The skin was thick, which might have been a hinderance from getting that beautiful tasty crunch. The filling held some of that grease too but was moist and meaty, although rather light on the green onions.

The boiled dumplings featured the same pork and chive filling (although I swear there were many more chives) and fared better without all the oil. They were juicy and had a nice ginger kick, but the texture of the filling was a little mushy and watery. The wrappers again were thick and chewy but there was enough of the stuffing to balance the heaviness of the wrapper. These were filling dumplings for 25 cents each.

The dumplings are tasty, but far from the tastiest in the area, although a decent choice if you must stay in the heart of Chinatown.

As we were finishing up, it started to smell like somebody was smoking in the restaurant. I scanned the room to find the dirty culprit. Fortunately nobody seemed to have a cigarette. And I doubt the steamers in the back smell that strongly of nicotine. My only guess as to the smell was that somebody came in really quickly to pick up a little something and they must have still been enjoying cigarette smoke in their lungs from outside. And I can only guess it wasn’t a dumpling lover, but some random person in need of their ATM machine.

Does Tasty Dumpling have the best dumplings in New York? The fried ones really fell flat, but the boiled are thicker and juicier. Although the name is a bit of an overstatement these get a 6 out of 10 because they’ll do in a pinch.