The Dumpling Lady

This weekend was one for chasing down a food truck (of sorts).  My quarry was The Dumpling Lady and fortunately they were pretty easy to find since they are routinely at Atherton Mill on Saturdays.

It was quite a great day for outdoor dining and long strolls which turned out to be a good thing.  I’d never been to Atherton Mill before but it is apparently popular judging by the very full parking lot.  I grabbed a spot at the edge of the lot and got a nice walk in to the other end where The Dumpling Lady was parked.

As you can see it’s not a truck but more a food trailer and what you don’t see from this side is the line to order.  Whatever else you want to say about the Dumpling Lady popular has to be part of the description.  I got there about 11:45 and as I was in line a guy who already ordered was talking to the young lady in front of me and they were already out of 3 popular items when he got there at 11:30.  A couple of points worth noting: they source their ingredients from local farms and suppliers & this is not an express lunch so plan to be in line for a few minutes.  When I got to the window I chose the chicken & mushroom dumplings since they were out of the sweet pork belly that was my first choice.  They also have noodles, steamed buns & wontons for those who might not be enthusiastic for dumplings and they were moving these in good quantities as well.  When you order they give you a pager to let you know when it’s ready so you don’t have to hover around the window for the 10-15 minute wait.

This is the large with 10 dumplings, they have a smaller one too but I wasn’t paying attention to how many were in it when the guy taking orders mentioned it.  The dumplings were steamed and the texture was tender but not mushy.  The filling was ok but it was really outgunned by the sauce.  I don’t know what all was in the sauce but it was flavorful, reddish in color and slick.  It made eating the dumplings with chopsticks an adventure.  Some of the ingredients I believe were in the sauce were cilantro, ginger, garlic, chives or really small scallions, lemongrass, and possibly chili oil among others.

I washed the dumplings down with some green tea that despite the name wasn’t quite ice cold but was very interesting nonetheless.

There is plenty of seating in the area in the form of benches and tables near the market.  The market deserves a mention because most of the suppliers of ingredients used by the Dumpling Lady have stalls in the market.  Another item to mention is this is a very dog friendly venue so if you have one bring it, if you don’t like dogs maybe skip it.

I enjoyed the dumplings and the day provided a great excuse for a drive and lunch outside but I’m not sure I’d make the drive again just for lunch.  If I ran across them at another venue I wouldn’t hesitate to try them again or recommend them to someone else.