Northern Dumpling Kitchen.

yummy... Being a Chinese person, it is almost a given that I love dumplings! I had a request to put up some Chinese food and its a good thing that I just happened to come back from this sick dumpling place for lunch. This place is called the Northern Dumpling Kitchen, and I made the visit with some friends that I met during my summer in Shanghai. To quote one of my friends, who was visiting T.O. from Cali, "These dumplings are HELLA good, I haven't ate dumplings like this since Shanghai!" So there were three of us and of course we ordered the Xiao Long Bao (soup filled dumplings), Steamed Leek and Pork Dumplings, Steamed Cabbage and Pork Dumplings, Steamed Fennel and Pork Dumplings, Silver Roll (a chinese bun you dip in condensed milk) and 3 glasses of sweeeeet cold soy milk. The Xiao Long Bao are HELLA good and come in orders of 6. Their Xiao Long Bao alone have made me a regular at this place over the past couple of months. They are filled with the perfect amount of soup and out of the 100s that I have eaten at this place, not one has ever broken (like they do at other places) as they've perfected the dumpling skin and steamed each order perfectly. The dumplings come in orders of 6 and I would recommend the leek and pork or the cabbage and pork. The fennel and pork ones are alright, but the fennel flavour is a bit strong, and tastes almost like a bag of dill pickle chips.lol. Finally the silver roll comes either steamed or deep fried (I prefer the deep fried) and is cheap and a good addition to the dumplings. We ordered the steamed one because one person at the table was a super health freak (even complaining about oil in pho places!).
Quick Notes: The best part about the Northern Dumpling Kitchen is that it is cheap! It's doesn't' have as nice of a decor as a place like Ding Tai Fung or Asian Legend, but it tastes awesome and has HELLA good value! I normally just order off the first page and get dumplings and appetizer type things, which are all under $5. 1 order of Xiao Long Bao ($4.99/order), 3 orders of Steamed Dumplings ($3.99/order), Silver Roll ($???), 3 Glasses of Soy Milk ($???) came to a total price of around $25 (after tax, before tip). The waitresses/waiters mostly speak Mandarin and a bit of English and there is also one who speaks Canto. Where can you find this awesome place? At the Times Square Plaza (Leslie/Highway 7) in Richmond Hill. It is located at the corner facing the parking lot on the inside of the plaza (not facing Leslie or Highway 7), a couple doors left of the Richmond Court entrance.