According to this Seattle Times article, the owner’s husband’s family owned a dumpling shop in China.
When they got to Seattle, Guo says, “We couldn’t find [an] authentic Chinese restaurant. For us, it’s American style. Some dishes, we’d never heard of … orange chicken, Mongolian beef. “In China, we never had that kind of dish,” Guo observes. “So it’s very funny for me: ‘Oh my god, it’s Chinese food!’ Sort of! Maybe!” She laughs.
“I like to eat; I love to cook,” Guo says. “I’m thinking, why don’t I open a restaurant?”
The location has been open for three years now, but as mentioned we just recently found out about it. Amazingly, they’ve never used advertising and have grown their business through work of mouth just like how we found it.
To us, the dumplings and pan fried buns are the stars. We’ve tried the soups, pancakes and handmade noodles and it’s just okay. We do like the Hot & Sour Cucumbers, though. Unless we’re with friends, who want something else, we load up on just dumplings and buns. I love the presentation and taste of the pan fried dumplings. They put a layer of flour on the bottom so when it’s fried it creates a crunchy floor that connects all the dumplings. When you break apart the individual dumplings the crunchy layer creates some mini “crackers” that our daughter loves to eat. I love the taste of the pan fried dumplings, but it does cost a dollar more than the steamed dumplings that my wife prefers, so we normally get an order of each. Either way that it’s cooked, the dumpling wrappers are strong enough not to fall apart when biting the dumpling, but also thin enough so that the dough doesn’t dominate the taste of the filling. The pan fried buns are also really good(and also have the crunchy floor). The inside of the bun is so juicy. You best eat it over the plate or you’ll be throwing your shirt in the wash. As mentioned above, they have a huge selection of different types of dumplings and we’ve yet to go through all of them. My wife’s favorite is the steamed pork & chive. My favorite is the pan fried lamb.
One note, they do not serve alcohol. You can ask the
