I live in Vancouver BC, which arguably has the best Shanghainese and Taiwanese food in the world, with the possible (and I mean only possible) exceptions of Shanghai and Taiwan themselves. Actually, the best Chinese food in the Vancouver area is in the neighboring city of Richmond (where the airport is), rather than in Vancouver proper. But I digress...
My mom lives just a few minutes away from Little Dumpling, so we were absolutely thrilled to discover this little gem so close by, as we are now slowly accumulating enough delicious, inexpensive and non-chi-chi places to not feel irritated with Great Neck all the time when we come visit. The decor is modern, spacious and clean. The food is fresh, authentic, and delicious (for the most part - a couple of dishes are somewhat Americanized but if you ask the server to help you choose authentic, non-Americanized dishes he or she will probably be more than happy to assist).
Little Dumpling's Xiao Lom Bao (XLB) is superb (and I am admittedly very particular about XLB). The "skin" part of the dumpling is super thin and delicate but somehow doesn't break or fall apart - this combination is not easy to achieve. The broth is deliciously savory and the pork filling has a delicate flavor and texture. You will not come close to this quality of XLB unless you go to Nan Xiang in Flushing or come visit us in Vancouver. Many people call this dish "steamed soup dumplings," by the way, which is more or less a rough translation. If you haven't had this dish before, be sure to order it and ask the server to tell you how to eat it properly. This is important especially if you are a XLB virgin because the soup broth is inside the dumpling, and it takes a bit of skill to get the dumpling plus a small amount of brown vinegar with ginger slivers all on to your spoon without anything breaking and spilling all over the place. You will not regret it - I assure you!
The Young Chow Fried Rice is as good as the best I've had ANYWHERE in the world, including in Vancouver, Richmond, and even Taiwan. Little Dumpling uses red onion instead of regular onion in their YC Fried Rice and I don't think they use ham at all (or if they do, it's just a weensy little bit). This plus other special touches make this a particularly fresh, flavorful, and not at all greasy, dish.
One absolutely out of this world dish is their Basil Ginger Chicken. The Chinese name for it is San Bei Ji. Order it - specify "white meat" in Chinese with feeling and a confident expression and you will get a look of "wow, you know your stuff" from the server! Well maybe the look from the server is "Wow your accent is hilarious" so maybe just stick with the English name unless you feel adventurous. I cannot begin to describe the complex delicious flavors in this dish. Just promise me you'll order it !
Other excellent dishes include Eight Treasure Noodles and Pork and Dried Bean Curd Hakka Style, which we know in Vancouver (at least in one restaurant) as "Mixed Shreds." Definitely as authentic as it gets. There are two kinds of Wonton Soup - regular Wonton Soup, and Shanghai Wonton Soup. The less expensive one is the regular Wonton - it's fine but not different from the kind of Wonton soup you can get in tons of other Chinese restaurants. My advice is to bypass that and go for the Shanghai Wonton Soup - definitely more flavorful - much more so, actually, and also better value for money as there are lots of extra meats and vegetables in it. It's enough for 2, 3 or even 4 people, depending on how much soup you want as a beginning dish.
Scallion pancakes are not my thing but everyone who had this dish said they were great. I tried it and I thought it tasted fine but then again, don't go by me. One dish I would probably not order again is the Shanghai Fried Udon Noodle. It was quite delicate - possibly too delicate (bland) - for my taste, and does not stand up to the more traditional Shanghai Thick Noodle that others might know better. Not bad, but I wouldn't suggest occupying precious room in the stomach for this dish.
Two non-food items of some importance:
(1) This restaurant does not accept credit cards. I don't carry a debit card (if it gets stolen, there goes your entire bank account) so I am not sure if they accept debit or not, but for my purposes, this is a CASH ONLY place. You can call to see if they take debit if you want but if I were you, I'd just bring cash, which as Yogi Berra said, is just as good as money.
(2) There is ample free parking under the building. The entrance to the underground parkade is on the side street to the West of the building (Browvale Lane). There are a couple of spots right in front of the restaurant (not on Northern Blvd itself but in the little strip mall parking lot right in front) but these are kind of scarce and it's a pretty tight parking lot so I just use the underground lot or park on the side street.
Go with friends so you can sample lots of variety. Enjoy your meal! read more