Dumpling Cafe Restaurant

A reader of mine alerted me to the opening of Dumpling Cafe in Forest Hills about a year ago, and I’ve been meaning to go check it out for a while.  I was a lil disappointed when I finally got over there and discovered it appeared to be little more than a take out Chinese place… with a few items of interest on the menu.  Unfortunately, being the silly girl I am, I didn’t manage to try those this first time. 

Being called the Dumpling Cafe, I of course ordered pork dumplings (fried).  This order of 8 was $4.95. 

They were remarkably juicy and I liked the black vinegar provided with the dumplings.  Tasty.  At the same time, though, I could get these in bags of 50 at the Chinese supermarket.  They weren’t amazing – but they were very good.  (I’m jaded because of my intense fascination with dumplings.) 

Dumpling Cafe has something I haven’t seen in years though – an under $5 lunch special!  I think the last time I saw that was when I was attending SUNY Albany, over 11 years ago.  Between 11am and 3:30pm, for $4.59 plus tax, you get vegetable fried rice or rice, choice of hot & sour soup, wonton soup or soda, and a main course.  I chose sesame chicken because I don’t have much experience with Chinese takeout, but when I did used to order it a bit, I used to love sesame chicken (basically, General Tso’s chicken, but not spicy, is what I was told).  They have a good selection for the main, though no dumplings, which kind of annoyed me.  One of the choices should be just dumplings!!!  They make an excellent meal on their own! 

The sesame chicken was flavorful, tender and not over-sauced.  Some pieces were a little bready, but not all of them, and the broccoli was still tender- which I love.  In fact, they put the broccoli on the bottom, almost as if to buoy the chicken over the sauce, to prevent sogginess.  I was happy with that. 

As for the wonton soup… I was interested when I saw bright green leaves floating in there, but couldn’t determine why they looked like torn basil but tasted like nothing. 

The wontons themselves were, as expected, pretty flat and flimsy. 

The broth was a lil lacking – maybe a dash of salt to liven it up?  But sufficient considering it came with the meal for $5.  I would imagine the hot & sour soup might be a better bet, though curiously, egg drop soup is not on the menu anywhere nor on the lunch special offerings. 

I’d ordered the vegetable fried rice with this, which was good as far as fried rice goes.  Of course, I’d have preferred pork fried rice, but for less than $5, I’m not complaining.  The veggie fried rice had a decent amount of veggies and traces of egg, which is a plus in my book.  Extra protein! 

Yvo says: The delivery range extends to me (though I’m not on the same side of Queens Boulevard, and I’m not THAT close), which is awesome.  The delivery minimum is $10… but any case, I’m glad to have Dumpling Cafe in the area for when I’m too lazy for (or have run out of) my frozen dumpling supply, because their dumplings are good, plus the lunch specials are SUPER cheap!  There are also two sections on the menu that I am totally interested in: “Noodle Soup” which may be worth checking out – $5.95 for wonton, pork dumpling, chicken dumpling, beef noodle, curry chicken… noodle soups… hmmm…. and “Snacks” which includes scallion pancakes for $1.75, Asian beef/chicken skewers for $3, that sort of thing interests me greatly.  I will definitely be ordering from them again sooner than later!  Yummy!  Welcome to the neighborhood, Dumpling Cafe!!!
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