Dumpling Social (Woden)

Located on Bradley Street outside Westfield Woden, is Dumpling Social. It’s a slightly more upmarket dumpling joint with a pretty cool fit out including bar. I can never walk past a restaurant that has someone hand making dumplings at the front window. Note my first time dining here was some months ago.

I always try the xiao long bao ($10.90 for 4 pieces) if I see it on the menu. Two of them had popped so some of the soup had leaked out, and the other two were dry with a very minimal amount of soup. Not the best I’ve had.

The spicy pork and prawn wonton ($14.90) was one of our favourite dishes. The wontons were plump with a tasty filling, and the chilli sauce was fantastic. Something we’d order again.

The crystal jade prawn dumplings ($12.90 for 4 pieces) was another favourite dish. Lots of noticeably meaty prawns in the filling, plump and delicious. Definitely a winner.

The restaurant staff gave us a complimentary dish to try – the pan fried chicken and kimchi dumplings. These are more of a wonton than dumpling with a crispy exterior. They had lovely crispy bottoms and a nice hit of spice to it. Enjoyable but it got a little dry and needed a sauce to go with it.

I also had to try the dan dan noodle ($17.90) however what came out was not what I was expecting. I’m used to a dry noodle dish with some dry toppings. This dish came in a cold spicy soup topped with pork and zucchini. Although the soup looked like it would have lots of flavour, it was really bland. Unfortunately this didn’t impress me at all. We gave some constructive feedback at the end of the meal (note this was some months ago).

During another recent outing in Woden, we decided to stop by again for lunch. I spotted some mocktails on the menu and ordered a lychee spritzer for myself (around the $8 mark). It tasted of fresh lychee and wasn’t overly sugary.

We ordered the fried chicken and kimchi dumplings ($14.90 for 8 pieces) again (I’d forgotten we’d had these the first time). They look a lot different to the first time we ate this – a lot more presentable and now with a side of kimchi mayo adding another hit of spice. I’m so glad there’s now a dip added to the side. The steamed pork and prawn dumplings ($15.90) are delicious with a generous portion of filling inside and perfectly cooked silky smooth dumpling skin. I must admit I gobbled these down very quickly.

We also tried the dan dan noodle ($17.90 – I again forgot we’d ordered this the first time!). This dish looked very different and had been completely revamped. Now it is topped with pork belly, crushed peanuts, an onsen egg and chilli. There’s a chilli graphic next to this dish on the menu, and yes it was definitely spicy. Given it’s a Szechuan dish, there’s quite a lot of numbing after just a few mouthfuls. The more I ate, the more spicy and numbing it became. I thought the elements in the dish worked really well, though there were only 4 thin strips of pork belly provided. I loved that it had plenty of thin firm noodles and the fried chickpeas gave it extra nuttiness. A much better version of the dan dan noodle and a great dish if you can handle your heat.

Going on a weekday, we found service to be attentive and the food came out quickly. Prices are more expensive than other dumpling joints but the flavours of the dishes we tried work well.

Foodgasm 7.5/10
Value for money 6/10
Service 8/10

FPJ score 21.5/30

Dumpling Social
Shop R02/9 Bradley St, Phillip ACT

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