At Sumi, the tops of shaomai dumplings poke out of the steamer baskets, opening like some kind of strange, tropical flower. It’s an unexpected moment of elegant beauty that you’d never guess could happen anywhere close to the glitzy mess of Gongti. These dumplings share the same name as Shanghai’s glutinous rice-stuffed shaomai, and the Cantonese classic of pork- and shrimp-filled shaomai with their tacky outsides and a top-off of crab roe. But these Inner Mongolian shaomai are a different beast entirely – carefully handcrafted dumplings with papery outsides and a jumble of ingredients inside.

The menu’s Chinese-only, but sympathetic service and illustrations of plump pigs and wideeyed sheep give some insight into what you might be getting. Fillings range from grassland standards like lamb straight up or dusted with cumin, to mushroom and pork. Speciality fillings include ‘dry hot pot’ flavor (麻辣香锅) and numbing spicy crawfish (麻辣龙虾).

Order a couple of steamer baskets-dumplings come six to a steamer-pour a saucer of vinegar and chilli oil, take a deep breath and tuck in. Long-simmered hunks of beef, green onion, potato in the sifang sirloin (私房牛腩) are perfect cold-weather fare. Sip on nutty, roasted millet tea to accompany the dish.

Beyond the signature house dumpling, Sumi does a mean clay pot casserole (砂锅). In the lamb variation (酸汤羊肉砂锅), blunt cuts of cabbage are steeped in a cloudy broth that’s big on flavour, with a touch of spice. They’ve tossed in flat, crystal-clear rice noodles and neat bundles of milky-white vermicelli, thinly cut lamb and a sprinkling of goji berries, too.

Address: 8 Gongti Xi Lu Chaoyang District 朝阳区工体西路8号(糖朝后)

Source: timeoutbeijing.com