I’ve grown up eating at dim sum and dumpling restaurants with my friends and family. Whether it’s for a family reunion or just a regular weekend with my immediate family, dim sum is one of my favorite cuisines to eat. There are many dim sum and dumpling restaurants in the Bay Area, but these are just three of my favorites.
Din Tai Fung
Din Tai Fung is an upscale dim sum restaurant chain whose closest location sits in the Westfield Mall in San Jose. Compared to the other restaurants in this list, Din Tai Fung is the farthest from Sequoia by a large margin; however, the food easily makes it worth the drive. All of the dishes at Din Tai Fung are among the best in the world, which is why I’ll be using it as a baseline to compare the other restaurants to.
Din Tai Fung is famous for making the world’s best soup dumplings, called Xiaolongbao. These dumplings are characterized by their pork and soup filling enclosed in a thin shell of dough. With the thinnest skin of dough in the world, soup dumplings at Din Tai Fung are some of the best in the world. The authentic pork flavor really comes through in the broth filling, and the dumplings are rarely broken or leaking soup when they are served to you.
Unfortunately, the quality of these dumplings comes at a much higher price compared to the other restaurants, at $16.50 for a bamboo steamer containing 10 Xiaolongbao. In addition, they must be ordered in batches of 10 dumplings, meaning you may end up with either too few or too many dumplings if you come with a small group.
The other dishes at Din Tai Fung follow a similar pattern as their soup dumplings: tasty and high quality but at a high price. Their braised beef noodle soup is slightly spicy with tender beef and egg noodles. Again, the authentic beef flavor is the spotlight of this dish, making it the best noodle soup on this list. One bowl is enough to split between three to four people, but it costs $18.50.
Other than the Xiaolongbao and the braised beef noodle soup, I would highly recommend trying the shrimp and kurobuta pork potstickers. With a pork, shrimp, and soup filling, these potstickers also have a thin, crispy (almost cracker-like) base that adds a unique texture compared to other potstickers.
I Dumpling
Sitting at the corner of Broadway and El Camino, I Dumpling is a cozy and authentic hole-in-the-wall dumpling restaurant that is literally across the street from Sequoia. My family frequently converges here on ordinary weekends and whenever extended family visits.
At just over $6 for six soup dumplings, I Dumpling’s Xiaolongbao is significantly cheaper than Din Tai Fung’s and almost just as tasty. Although the dough skin is thicker and is sometimes served broken or leaking, I Dumpling’s soup dumplings are still a staple of my family’s go-to order.
Some of our favorite dishes at I Dumpling are the beef noodle soups. The beef tendon noodle soup and beef stew noodle soup both cost $13.95, but I would recommend asking them if they can make a noodle soup with half beef and half tendon. Neither of the other restaurants on this list have tendon, and it adds a unique jelly-like texture to your noodle soup.
My favorite item on I Dumpling’s menu is their green onion pancake. Paper-thin, crispy and gooey, I’ve never come across a restaurant with better green onion pancakes, and my dad—who used to live in Hong Kong—agrees.
If you need more recommendations, my family’s go-to order also consists of the tree ear mushrooms with cucumbers and sesame balls for dessert. We also order bags of frozen pork dumplings with napa cabbage to bring home and boil for dinner when needed.
Dough Zone
Stepping into Dough Zone in downtown San Mateo feels like a more upscale version of I Dumpling. With the cheapest prices among the restaurants on this list, the food quality is still nearly on par with Din Tai Fung.
Xiaolongbao cost $8.95 for a bamboo steamer with eight soup dumplings. Though not as good as Din Tai Fung, my family agrees that they are slightly tastier with thinner skin than those at I Dumpling.
The beef stew noodle soup, priced at just $9.95, is second to Din Tai Fung in terms of flavor and just slightly over half the cost. However, Dough Zone unfortunately does not offer tendon with their noodle soup.
Dough Zone also serves pork and shrimp potstickers in the same style as Din Tai Fung, with the crispy, cracker-like base.
However, my favorite dish at Dough Zone also happens to be the most unique on this list: the Q-BAO, a pan-fried pork bun. If you have ever thought of a cross between a soup dumpling, a pork bun and a pan-fried potsticker, this is it. Pan-fried to a perfect golden brown crisp, the Q-BAO has a slightly thicker layer of soft dough than traditional Xiaolongbao encasing a tasty pork and soup filling. If you ever stop by Dough Zone, the Q-BAO is a must-try.
Overall
In terms of overall food quality, Din Tai Fung asserts itself as the best dim sum restaurant in the area, but a meal here comes at a high cost in addition to being a long drive to get to. Dough Zone ranks as a close second in terms of food quality and is also the cheapest restaurant on this list, making it a great alternative to Din Tai Fung. Its location in San Mateo’s downtown is a lot closer but still somewhat of a drive. Although I Dumpling ranks third on this list, the food is still amazing and authentic. Just across the street from Sequoia, it is a great option for people who enjoy dim sum as well as anyone who wants to try a new cuisine.