Dumplings are arguably one of the food groups that people all across the globe associate the most with Chinese cuisine. Enjoy these recommendations for when your next dumpling craving rushes over, but you don’t have time to wait three hours outside of Din Tai Fung. Plus, these places are better.
1. Sunny Dumpling House — 7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
Sunny Dumpling House is my absolute favorite place in San Diego to get dumplings or steamed buns when my grandparents are not in town to make them for me! Everything here is handmade, and each dough ball that later becomes the dumpling and steamed bun wrappers are carefully weighed out individually. The freshly kneaded dough offers a super enjoyable chewiness to it; I just can’t get enough. My favorites are the chive and egg steamed buns (no meat) and the dumplings with shrimp, pork, chives, and egg. Just a reminder, this place is super small and nothing fancy. You can only take frozen dumplings home to boil or pan fry on your own; but the buns are freshly steamed (though not always available).
2. Tasty Noodle House — 4646 Convoy St.
Tasty Noodles house offers a lot of dishes, but my favorite here is the Shanghai Grilled Pork Bun which is a Shanghainese specialty. Pork buns are cooked in a large frying pan, so they have a super satisfying crunch at the bottom. Their pork and vegetable rice cakes are also so good that I usually order one to eat while I’m there and take another order to go. And of course, their Xiao Long Bao is better than Din Tai Fung’s.
3. Bafang Dumplings — 9690 Reagan Rd ste 104
Bafang is a Taiwanese dumpling house with more than 25 years of history, but it is new to San Diego. Their cabbage pork dumplings are on point, but I love the pan-seared ones (potstickers) even more. If you like food with a kick, you should try their ma la noodles, and don’t ever skip Bafang pork chop. It’s so good, you won’t ever want to have pork chop anywhere else.
