Simon Wilkinson reviews Dumpling City

An unsuccessful quest to find the dumplings of their dreams has led a couple to open their own impressive eatery, writes Simon Wilkinson

A selection of the food at Dumpling City, Adelaide

Dumpling City. Now there’s a tagline our tourism bosses should run with. Forget Churches and Festivals and even Wine. Let’s offer visitors to the state something they crave and kick off a dumpling-led recovery.

This marketing brainwave was inspired by a visit to an impressive new two-level eatery with precisely that name tucked away off Gouger Street.

Unfortunately, delving into the backstory for Dumpling City does rather undermine the pitch.

Since moving to Adelaide from China 12 years ago, owners Lili Sun and Yong Gao have spent a large part of their time searching for the perfect, freshly wrapped parcels they remembered from home.

Making dumplings at Dumpling City, Adelaide

While locals might spruik their favourite dumplings from Chinatown and beyond, none could satisfy our pair, so despite having no hospitality background, their obsession turned into a business plan.

Their first attempt was an outlet in a food court. That dream evaporated but they were not easily deterred. Yong headed back to China to learn from a dumpling master.

Finally, late last year, in what was once a warehouse for seafood merchant Angelakis, they opened on a much larger, more permanent scale. Dumpling City sits midway between its cheap and cheerful neighbours around the corner and more up-market Asian eateries where the comfort and ambience isn’t always matched by the food.

Viewed from across the street, the double stack of tall, black-framed windows look as if they might be showcasing a fashion boutique. Inside, the ground level is black, white and red all over: painted bricks on one wall, subway tiles on another, the glow of a neon sign giving the vague impression of a fast food diner. The upstairs space, accessed via a lift, is a little more comfortable and cohesive.

Still, it’s worth lingering down around the kitchen for at least a few minutes to watch as dumplings are assembled: little chunks cut from a sausage of dough, flattened with a skinny rolling pin, wrapped around a minced filling and sealed by nimble fingertips pressing together a seam.

At this stage, Lili and Yong have limited the dumpling choices, opting to do the basics well. There is no xiaolongbao, with its wondrous soup filling, or more glutinous har gow. But the fried dumplings, particularly, are very, very good. Ordering is done yum cha style, by writing the number of serves required in the teeny boxes on a printed sheet, before a staff member checks each selection to make sure it is what we want. From there, however, the service reverts to old-school Chinatown as a succession of plates is dumped before us without explanation or acknowledgment or much of a smile.

The sequence is totally random. First up, a stir-fry of “smoked pork” and bamboo shoot has so much dried chilli strewn through it that I fear we might need a fire extinguisher, or at least another beer.

Thankfully, the chilli is mild, adding a welcome touch to what is essentially sliced bacon, crunchy fresh bamboo and pieces of red and green capsicum. As unlikely as it might sound, the combo is bright and bouncy, salty and sweet, strangely delicious and hard to leave alone.

Fried dumplings at Dumpling City, Adelaide

Another wok-cooked dish brings together tiles of tender beef and slurpy rice noodles but desperately needs a booster shot of garlic/ginger/chilli or other aromatics. A mega-serve of Chinese broccoli in oyster sauce is a meal in itself and notable for the cooking of its just-wilted leaves and stems that are only a degree or two beyond raw.

Which leaves us with the dumplings, available either boiled or fried, in five different varieties. The parcels are slightly larger than most and have subtle differences in their creases and pleating that make each one as individual as finger prints.

A filling of fish, pork, ginger and spring onion is rarely, if ever, seen elsewhere in town. In the boiled version at least, it is pale, moist but a little bland, with a vague seafood flavour reminiscent of the inside of a fish finger. Seasoning with soy sauce helps. On the other hand, the fried pork and prawn dumplings are gorgeous. Presented bottoms-up on the plate, all the individual packages are connected by a fine lacy net that can be broken away for a crisp treat.

The taut wrappers contain a coarse pork mince that, when bitten, reveal a nub of prawn meat. Add your preferred balance of soy/black vinegar/chilli oil and it is easy to see how one could easily become obsessed.

DUMPLING CITY

Shop 1, 22-30 Field Street, city, 8117 4627

OWNERS Lili Sun, Yong Gao

CHEFS Yong Gao

FOOD Chinese

SMALL $5.80-$17.80

MAIN $13.80-$26.80

DESSERT $5.80-$6.80

DRINKS Basic wine list with half a dozen whites and reds, a couple of each by the glass

OPEN LUNCH and DINNER Wed-Mon

IF YOU LIKE THIS … Mum Cha, Rundle Street, city; Little Canton, Mile End

SCORE: 13/20