Mary’s Dumplings and Bao Buns celebrates success in home-made traditional Chinese food at Pimlico shop

The couple behind a beloved dumpling shop have shared their appreciation for the community in accepting traditional Chinese flavours they incorporated into their dishes.

Mary Ma with Prawn and Pork Dumplings. from Mary's Bao & Dumplings in Pimlico. Picture: Evan Morgan

A couple who moved to Queensland to escape the crisp New South Wales weather, have since opened a beloved dumplings and bao bun shop infusing traditional Chinese flavours but pleasing many in North Queensland.

Co-owner of Mary’s Dumplings and Bao Buns, Michael Zhang said he and his wife Mary Ma opened the store in 2022 and have reached new heights since.

“When we first planned to open this shop, we were a bit worried about whether the locals would accept unchanged, original flavours of our dumplings and baos,” he said.

“However, those concerns were quickly dispelled as customers gave us high ratings on platforms like Google, Facebook and UberEats.

Ma Mary from Mary's Bao & Dumplings in Pimlico. Beef Noodle Soup. Picture: Evan Morgan

“Moreover, when we occasionally made mistakes they showed great understanding and patience. So we want to express our gratitude and appreciation to all our customers for their support and kindness.”

The business owner said the shop’s prized dishes of dumplings and bao buns are based off traditional northern Chinese dishes.

“We focus on quality of the food, we try our best to keep the quality of every order perfect,” he said.

“When people travel to northern China it tastes totally the same.”

Mr Zhang said the most popular dishes at the Pimlico shop were the pork dumplings, as well as the pork and prawn dumplings and the pork bao buns.

He shared that his wife Mary, with whom the store is named after, was a master at making dumplings and had years of experiencing working in dumpling stores hence the launch of the store.

Ma Mary from Mary's Bao & Dumplings in Pimlico. Prawn and Pork Dumplings. Picture: Evan Morgan

“Some Chinese restaurants do the fried dishes but we can’t see too many traditional foods in Townsville,” he said.

“Mary’s good at making this so we thought maybe we could open a shop to serve dumplings to local people.”

The shop is open for dinner from 5pm Monday to Saturdays and is located at 2/49 French Street, Pimlico.

Originally published as Mary’s Dumplings and Bao Buns celebrates success in home-made traditional Chinese food at Pimlico shop