when molly first asked me to write about my favorite vegetarian dumplings, i immediately thought of the steamed vegetable dumplings at house of vegetarian on mott st. i hadn’t been there in years, but I remembered them being fantastic. i thought this guest post would be a good opportunity to revisit them and see if they were as good as i remembered.

most chinese restaurants have vegetable dumpling on the menu; what you usually get are dumplings with overly thick skins and dry, bland fillings; they require a dunk in soy sauce and vinegar to taste like anything.

not so at house of vegetarian. the translucent dumpling skins are so thin they don’t so much encase the filling as gently cradle them from the steam basket into your mouth. the filling is incredibly moist; the bits of mushroom and vegetables encased in a flavorful, thickened broth. this is about as close as i’ve found to a vegetarian soup dumpling in nyc.

speaking of vegetarian soup dumplings, dumpling man on st mark’s has something they call a “veggie surprise dumpling,” which is not just vegetarian but vegan. it’s supposed to be a soup dumpling, but when i bit into i couldn’t find any soup at all. that being said the dumplings are absolutely delicious. they’re filled with bits of noodles, mushrooms, and vegetables (still a little crunchy) and there’s something a little spicy in there as well. as long as you don’t go in expecting any soup inside, i highly recommend them.

-HOWARD WALFISH

this post is part of the dumpling a day while i'm away guest blogger series. i'm in hong kong right now so i've gotten some awesome bloggers, photographers, and writers, to showcase delicious dumplings. if you're interested in being a dumpling guest blogger, send me a note at yeh.molly@gmail.com. yay!