San Francisco: Kingdom of Dumpling
I forgot how we ended up at Kingdom of Dumpling, but we did:
And we waited too. In the cold.
No surprise there. The place was TINY. So small that when we were finally seated and ready to order, we were told that we could only order once. No adding on later in the meal. You only get one chance, so you better make it count.
I think we did pretty good. We got the string beans:
A little on the salty side, but not bad at all.
The dumplings were a little less impressive:
Which is kinda sad because the place is called Kingdom of Dumpling after all.
We got the pork and chives:
I just felt that the filling could have had a bit more seasoning.
The Shanghai soup dumplings were also just okay:
After waiting so long in the cold, we wanted something hot and soupy. We couldn't find any soup on the menu, but we decided to try our luck and ask our server. We were ecstatic when we found out that there was hot and sour soup:
Hooray for secret menus! But boo for way too much wood ear mushrooms. Seriously. There were so much in that bowl that we were left with a giant, tangled knot of it at the end.
Red bean pancakes are one of my favorite things. I haven't been able to master the art of making them at home, so I always get excited when I see them on the menu:
More often than not, I'm disappointed. Like I was at Kingdom of Dumpling. The dough was too thick and tough. Like a big, stale pop-tart. Sigh.
I really wanted to love Kingdom of Dumpling. I mean, come on. I'm Chinese. I was raised to love cheap Chinese joints.
But sorry, Kingdom. It just wasn't good enough to be worth the wait.
Kingdom of Dumpling
1713 Taraval St
San Francisco, CA 94116
(415) 566-6143
http://www.kingofchinesedumpling.com/
I enjoy Chinese food.
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