One of the questions we got often asked is what makes a good dumpling.

Guests on San Francisco Food Tour of North Beach\Little Italy and Chinatown will often be asked where to find a good dumpling in Chinatown and what to look for in the restaurant. What is interesting about that question is that more often than not, smaller restaurants will have better dumplings than larger ones. For example, when I walk into most of my favorite??s places, I usually see a small restaurant when one of two people are making the dumplings. The good ones will make their wrappers out of rice flour, rather than buying premade wrappers. It does take more work. After all, someone needs to take the flour and make it into a dough, then roll it out, then form it into the wrapper. After that, they need to cook most of the ingredients until they are almost ready, keeping in mind that they are going to be steamed after they are stuffed and sealed. On our San Francisco Food Tours, we notice that it??s not just making one??s wrappers and the fresh fillings that makes for a good dumpling, it??s also serving them right after they first steamed. The best dumplings do not taste as good when it??s either reheated or not warm. I find that the wrapper becomes hard. So, to summarize, the place that makes good dumplings not only makes their own wrappers and filling, but then serves them immediately. And a good dumpling is a treat worth waiting for.