In Retrospect - Dumpling Food Crawl of 2024
Years ago, around this time in February 2024, my friends and I ran into this particular Eater NY list. It's generally a fine list over all, but in the heat of the moment we were not feeling the sort order of the list in the slightest - especially from the places we have tried. So, for the first year in what has now become a slight tradition for my birthday, we did a food crawl of all the spots in the list we could make it to in 1 day. It was arduous and also a lot of dumplings, but the science had to be done.
A surprise to us, we actually made it out to the main 10 locations - we didn't bother with Dim Sum Go Go since it was "disqualified". (the writer's terms, not mine) However, we did try to set a couple of starting ground rules as well:
- Eat the dumpling right then and there. Obviously find the best place to sit, but we want to give each place the best shot possible.
- There's 3 of us, so split one order evenly. The remainder dumplings go to whoever wants 'em.
- Stick to the Eater NY list, so no new spots.
Seeing as this is obviously written 3 years after the fact based on bullet notes, this is going to be a bit more based on memory (and sadly missing pictures...), but hopefully this gives you some ideas on what to grab next time you're by the area!
King Dumpling
The beginning of our trek, which made it the most appetizing and got the boon from being the first on our list. It was "fine enough." The dough for the dumpling was thicker than I'd like + a tad soggy but we still ended up liking the filling.
Rating: B
Dumpling Count: 10 dumplings for $4
Total Dumplings: 10
North Dumpling
Not the worst on our upcoming list, but it was not all that in the slightest. The dumpling wrapper her was slightly gummy, with not much of a crunch. However, North does nail it on the filling sorta - it didn't taste super fresh, but it was still rather good and fragrant. Also wasn't as oily as King but the wrapper definitely bummed us all out.
Rating: C-
Dumpling Count: 10 dumplings for $4
Total Dumplings: 20
Wu's Wonton King
We had mixed expectations on this one - sure there was a huge crowd but it had a lot to live up to for how long the wait for the dumplings were & especially its price. That said, pretty good! The pork & cabbage filling was damn good and juicy and the skin was just as nice. Once again, I like my dumplings to have a bit more crunch but I won't knock too much against it here. Still, that price though oof
Rating: B+
Dumpling Count: 4 dumplings for $6
Total Dumplings: 24
Carol's Bun
Definitely an underdog contender here cause god damn these were good. Slightly priced a bit higher than King and North, these earned its ranking for how packed with filling these were. It was a nice pork & chive that was balanced, with a super thin wrapper and a nice crisp bottom. These were killer.
Rating: A
Dumpling Count: 10 dumplings for $7
Total Dumplings: 34
Jin Mei Dumplings
Hella good dumpling to price ratio, not so good filling to wrapper ratio. We liked the taste of the filling on this one but there just wasn't enough of it. The other issue for us though was the unexpectedly too crispy bottom - crispy enough that one of my friend's cut their gums a bit on one. Still not bad but not a need-to-go.
Rating: B-
Dumpling Count: 16 dumplings for $5
Total Dumplings: 50
Fried Dumpling
Fried Dumpling is one of the spots I like going to to grab frozen dumplings for boiling at home, so I hoped a bit more out of them here. They weren't bad, but they are rather small and super clumped together in one order box. Filling was solid, had the crisp right but maybe a tad too much wrapper for me. Not bad at all though!
Rating: B
Dumpling Count: 13 dumplings for $5
Total Dumplings: 63
Tasty Dumpling
This one is one of those slightly viral places we saw on socials a lot at the time, so we were sorta not expecting much out of Tasty. That said, these were pretty damn good! The filling to wrapper ratio here was the most on-point of the lot, with a good crisp on the bottom too. The filling was delicious but unlike Carol's Bun being more focused on the chives flavor, Tasty leans much more into the pork flavor. I slightly preferred Carol's thanks to this but it was real close.
Rating: A-
Dumpling Count: 4 dumplings for $2
Total Dumplings: 67
Super Taste
Was not expecting super flat dumplings (almost wrapped like taquitos!) when we ordered, but it definitely worked for the crisp we were looking for! The wrapper was kind of thick, but the filling was good enough to make up for any issues with had with the rest of it. A solid dumpling overall.
Rating: B+
Dumpling Count: 10 dumplings for $6
Total Dumplings: 77
Vanessa's Dumpling House
"Lifeless." "Depressing." Known to me as "the place that got me out of starvation after finishing work shifts at 12AM", our low expectations for this spot were still met with disappointment. Too thick of a wrapper, no real flavor to the filling, meh dumpling to price ratio, nothing going on for it at all. It did have a nice crisp at the bottom but at this point, we were fully checked out of this one.
Rating: D
Dumpling Count: 8 dumplings for $5.50
Total Dumplings: 85
Shu Jiao Fu Zhou
The final spot on the list and one I was already excited for, despite dragging my feet throughout Manhattan at this point thanks to all the oil in my body. This had everything going against it thanks to our fatigue, so it should mean something when it still gets top marks in my opinion. Flavorful and delicious filling with a lovely crunch and wrapper. Only issue going against it - on weekends, they only sell them fried.
Rating: A
Dumpling Count: 7 dumplings for $5
Total Dumplings: 92
At the end of it all, and roughly 30 dumplings devoured per person, we finished the list. It was fun overall; I liked properly learning what spots I truly enjoy and what I look for in a great dumpling. That said... can't say I've gotten a chance to return to any of these spots since then, so whoops lol