I love dumplings. I give classes on dumplings. I basically look like a giant overstuffed dumpling. Needless to say, I’m all about dat dumpling lyfe. I’m always on the looking for new places to cop these little bundles of meat filled joy in and around the city. The last time I had dumplings in the West Island it was a catastrophe. The pitiful plateful of burned frozen dumplings were more disappointing than if season 8 of Game of Thrones was rewritten and then fucked up a second time. I didn’t let this one bad experience extinguish all hope of finding dumplings worth eating west of the 13. In the spring, I noticed a very unassuming store front when I was driving along St. Jean. I remember seeing the sign for this store. The sign was of a dumpling. Was this the sign I was waiting for? Finally after weeks of papered up windows and disappointed drive-bys, the windows were clear and there was signs of life… or signs of dumplings inside. I tried Mama Dumplings.
West-island
I get excited every time I hear about a new restaurant opening in the West Island. I don’t live there, so why do I care? Because that part of the city deserves it. Spots like Grill Seleect, Nolahor KBBQ prove that there is space in the West Island for legit dining establishments and these types of places dismisses any stereotype that anything west of the 13 is devoid of quality restaurants. So you can imagine my excitment when I heard about a new dumpling restaurant that opened in Kirkland – Dumplings Hinata.
Let’s play a quick word association game. Ready? “Dog”. Did you say “cat”? Good job! How about, “day”. Did you say “night”? Wow, you’re good! Here’s another; “Dollar-des-Ormeaux”. Did you say KOREAN BARBECUE?? WOW! You are both good looking and smart! You read that right. Besides not stopping at stop signs, most soccer fields per capita and population that considers anything past Ikea as “downtown”, the West Island can add Korean Barbecue to the list of things they’re known for! I checked out the relatively new all you can eat Korean barbecue restaurant, Restaurant K-BBQ.
