FFWD Weekly
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Food by Beth Weisberg The word "dumpling" finds itself in unlovely company, dumped in with others such as (down in the) dumps, dumpster and dumpy. The humble dumpling itself, however, rises above the name. Dumplings, my friend, are a life lesson: how to be simple and transcendent. So when I came across an ad for "the best dumplings in town," a trusty friend and I raced out the door on a mission to declare a winner or debunk the claim. We slid into one of the horseshoe booths in the restaurant, located off Crowchild Trail in the northwest, and surveyed the scene. It's not palatial, but The Dumpling Palace is fair-sized and comfortable. Everything looks brand spanking new – turns out the restaurant has only been open a month, a pretty short time to come up with a reputation for the best of anything. It also turns out that owner Anna Lau ran a restaurant in Chinatown for three years – long enough to ensure a reputation for her dumplings. There's plenty of other foods to choose from – 143 other items, to be exact. Dishes like fried rice, chow mein and spare ribs run from $6 - $9; seafood is $10 - $12; one or two-course Peking Duck tops out the menu at $22 - $26. We had our mission: the 15 dumpling and bun selections. We started with a classic – grilled dumplings with pork and vegetable filling (10 for $6). The dumplings are made with dough, not the thin paste-based skins that some places use. Dough obviously makes the dumplings chewier and more filling. They brown up just as nicely as the thinner skins do, but with this style you get crunch on one side, a teeth-sinking softness on the other. The flavourful filling hit the perfect midpoint – tasty, fresh and just firm enough. Good as the grilled dumplings were, the broth from the boiled dumpling soup gave me the first sit-up-and-take-notice jolt of the meal. This is better broth than I've ever had in a Chinese restaurant soup – Anna says it's made with homemade chicken stock. The dumplings were set off with a perfectly-cooked baby bok choy slice and some chopped green onion. We'd tried the fried and the boiled dumplings. For steamed, we chose the juicy pork and vegetable-filled Shanghai Steam Buns (six for $5.50). The steamer was lined with a bonus of succulent cabbage leaves, probably to keep the dumplings from sticking to the bamboo, but I ate them anyway. They were delicious, as were the dumplings. The grilled pancake with shrimp and leeks ($4.50) was the second scene-stealer of the night, though. This crispy turnover filled with finely ground pork and shrimp is a perfect example of The Dumpling Palace's strong points: spot-on seasonings and fresh dough. These are very, very good. Besides keeping us in a steady stream of tea and dumplings, our waitress was cheerful and fun. So when she announced they were out of fried apple and banana fritters for dessert, we trusted her recommendation of the fried red bean cakes ($6). Four lovely thick crepes enfolded a thin spread of red bean paste. Azuki beans are naturally sweet, and have a complex flavour – more like the kind of flavours you'd get from coffee beans than a can of frenched green. It's a great dessert. You'll eat well and smoke-free at The Dumpling Palace (Crowchild Square, B1 5403 Crowchild Trail N.W., phone 288-0088), but if accessibility is an issue, you have two flights of stairs to contend with. The question is: are these the best dumplings in town? In the end, how do you measure? What we found were fresh dumplings with expertly seasoned fillings, served with good cheer in comfortable surroundings. Even after the April tax hit, they're very affordable. We'll be back. Often.

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