Im Dumpling Haus

The Dulcinea and I had brunch at Dumpling Haus on Sunday along with a couple friends who were eating their way across two counties. (They broke their fasts at a pancake breakfast somewhere in Jefferson County.) Here's what the table looked like when we were finished.





Three of the four of us ordered a noodle dish along with dumplings or buns and passed everything around so that we could all get a taste. The first dish that made its way to our table was The D's Sesame Noodle Kick.





The noodles were done perfectly. It had enough hotness for The D to label it hot while I found it to be on the mild side. I think she liked it because sesame is her weakness at Asian restaurants. Nothing fancy here, just a basic bowl of noodles but tasty nonetheless. Here are the shrimp dumplings.





Again, very tasty. The shrimp were nice and firm and, while not caught that morning, they didn't taste like they had been in cryogenic suspension. The diaphanous dough wasn't all glutinous so it had a nice smooth texture. I can't recall what kind of sauce was ladled over the top but it was surely soy sauce gussied up a bit. I must have grabbed a couple that had escaped the flood.

Here are the Barbecue Bao. Someone also got an order of the Haus Bao Zi.





Alas, the buns were hit-or-miss here. The dough itself was fine – light and fluffy – but the filling's the thing wherein lies the tastiness of the bao zi. In the case of the barbecue variety, there was a paucity of it and what was there just tasted generic. Not badly or off, just more of an adumbration of BBQ as opposed to something well-seasoned; too sweet and lacking flavors to complement the meat. The Haus Bao fared much better with its savory pork mini-patty tucked neatly inside.

I think that these are the Haus Jiao Zi.





Same kind of pork filling as in the Haus Bao but I don't care. I love the mixture of pork, minced vegetables, garlic, soy, sesame, and ginger and can eat that stuff until the second coming of Christ.

My last photo is of the Black Bean & Pork Noodle.





It was slightly disappointing because the black bean wasn't seasoned very much. Basically you had a nice bed of noodles with a big glob of gelatinous black bean that had some bits of pork in it. I found this very odd considering everything else was seasoned, whether it was to my liking or not. The julienned cucumber made a nice contrast to the rest of the dish, though.

The last dish I recall was an order of the Haus Lo Mein with chicken. Nothing grand about it; a simple combination of noodles and chicken tossed in a light, basic, soy sauce. Some pukka comfort food. I hope Samara Kalk Derby doesn't try it because, if memory serves, the chicken was (gasp!) dark meat and not her precious "choice" white meat.

There is still a lot on the menu that we left untouched and I would certainly return. However, I felt that the noodle dishes were a bit overpriced considering the portion size. But I suppose one must pay for freshly rolled noodles.