Despite their endearingly cluttered layouts and cavalier disregard for making a lick of sense in English, Beijing’s dumpling shops provide a way to experience a Chinese culinar y tradition on the cheap. So much so that the term ‘restaurant’ seems too upscale for a place that essentially hands out boiled pockets of fried pig and greens in a bag.

Smiling Dumplings, though, brings it to a higher standard. It seeks to run with the simple, much-loved flavours of the street dumpling vendor and ‘go full restaurant’. Elegant wood-coloured furniture replaces the usual plastic red stools, and ar tistic snaps of the owner’s native Chongqing share the walls with bunches of gleaming Sichuan chilli peppers.

Of the titular speciality there are plenty of options, but none of them are par ticularly spectacular: the pork and leek combo is indistinguishable from the garlic and chive in taste and appearance, for example. Still, while the dumplings aren’t par ticularly innovative, the meat and veg keep a strong presence in relation to the dough wrapper. And the staff are helpful, from strategically positing how many dumplings you’ll need to fill up, to offering a number of dipping sauces such as vinegar, garlic or ‘numbing’, which tickles the back of the throat.

It’s a good place to enjoy the familiar strengths of Chinese cuisine in a more luxurious setting than the side of the road, but there isn’t much here to impress the city’s more experienced residents.

Address: Xiaoyun Lu, Third Floor, 32 Chaoyang District 朝阳区霄云路32号3层

Source: timeoutbeijing.com