Message: | I ate lunch at Dumpling House Restaurant on Saturday and was only slightly disappointed--further investigation is warranted. First, on the location: Dumpling House is located at 5612 Rosemead Boulevard in Temple City, in a very small mall set at a right angle to Rosemead and a good hundred yards south of Las Tunas, on the east side of the street. The place is simply appointed and the service is friendly and informal--my waitress spoke good English. The Chinese dialect used by the owner and waitstaff (and most of the patrons) is Mandarin. I ordered a dish of wu xiang dou gan (sliced dried bean curd, $2.45), one cong you bing (scallion pancake, $2.75) and the shui chao mian ("soft water noodles," $6 or so). The bean curd had been kept in the freezer, but strangely the particles of ice and very slight crunch they imparted were welcome; the slices were set atop a bed of sliced cucumber and a very garlicky vinegar dressing. The scallion pancake was as light as Youndo promised--delicious and not at all greasy. The noodles were disappointing. I don't eat any sort of animal flesh, so it was not easy to find something promising to order. The zha jiang mian (noodles with brown sauce) is normally made with pork, and costs one dollar extra without. So I settled, at my waitress's suggestion, for the shui chao mian, something I'd never before heard of. It turned out to be a virtually oilfree fried noodles with thinly julienned and rather bland vegetables. The noodles were uneven in texture and quite good (a big sign on the wall announces "shou la mian," or hand-pulled noodles, meaning that the noodles are made there; strangely the boodles are square in cross-section, which I've never encountered with shou la mian--in fact, I can't see how it would be possible to make square noodles by the shou la method).
In addition to the bilingual menu is a small tabletop card announcing special banquet menus (in English) and a list of xiao cai (appetizers), only in Chinese. Below is my romanization and translation of these items. You can just order by the number in which the item appears on the card.
1. liang ban huang gua = cold cucumber $1.75
2. liang ban hai dai si = cold seaweed threads $1.75
3. wu xiang lu dan = savory hard-boiled egg $1.75
4. wu xiang hua sheng = boiled peanuts $1.95
5. wu xiang dou gan = savory dried bean curd $2.45
6. zhu er si = pig ear threads $2.45
7. zhu du si = pig stomach threads $2.45
8. zhu ti = pig trotter $2.45
9. niu du si = cow stomach threads $2.45
10. A mixture of the above $6.75
I'm afraid I've left off some of the Chinese descriptive terms.
Did not try dumplings or beef noodles, due to my dietary restriction.
Lao Xiang Jiaozi Guan (Natal place dumpling house)
Dumpling House Restaurant
5612 Rosemead Boulevard
Temple City
(626) 309-9918
Closed on Tuesdays |