Dumpling Kitchen, a San Francisco-based Chinese restaurant available for dine-in, takeout and delivery, has opened up a new location in Berkeley’s Southside neighborhood.
Berkeley City Councilmember Rigel Robinson said in a tweet that the restaurant’s opening “may be the best thing to happen” to Berkeley since the city was chartered in 1895.
“I’ve been to Dumpling Kitchen in San Francisco three times, and it’s well worth the trip, but my life has forever been changed now that these fluffy little orbs are here on Telegraph,” Robinson said.
He noted that even though he is not vegetarian, Dumpling Kitchen serves “fun veggie options” for those who are looking for a restaurant that accounts for their dietary restrictions. The vegetarian options listed on its menu include variations of pot stickers, steamed shumai and fried rice.
Robinson’s personal favorite dish is the Shanghai-style pan-fried pork buns, which he said he highly recommends.
“More than anything, after the last year that has been so difficult for our small businesses, every new restaurant opening in Berkeley is a cause for celebration, and I hope everyone checks out these wonderful dumplings,” Robinson said.
Angie Chen, legislative aide to Robinson, said the Dumpling Kitchen in San Francisco’s Outer Sunset neighborhood is her “favorite Chinese place” in the Bay Area with its selection of Shanghai cuisine.
Like Robinson, she highlighted its pan-fried pork buns, which she described as similar to “thicker, crispier soup dumplings.”
“It’s hard to find Shanghai-style food in Berkeley,” Chen said. “A lot of the Chinese-style food is from other regions of China, so I’m really excited for a solid dumpling place in Berkeley.”
The chain was established in 2010, according to Frank Tan, the general manager of the Dumpling Kitchen in San Francisco.
Although its initial owners, father-and-daughter duo Paul and Rebecca Yu, planned to close the restaurant in 2019, Paul Yu’s friend and business partner decided to take over the business because of its popularity with the families who lived in the area, Tan explained.
“One of main Reason that we decide open a new location in Berkeley is because we have noticed that we got a lot of UC Berkeley Student loves our food in our San Francisco location,” Tan said in an email. “For the convenience of students here, we decide to open up a new location in Berkeley.”
Tan noted the variety of dishes served by Dumpling Kitchen, such as its house-made steamed pork soup dumplings and Shanghai-style chow mein.
Berkeley residents can get a taste of the “juiciest dumplings,” as put by Robinson, now that Dumpling Kitchen is offering reservations and catering, according to its Yelp page.
“For the future of Dumpling Kitchen, We will continue server our best Dumplings and Chinese food for our lovely families and students in the Bay Area,” Tan said in the email.
