It's been very busy after Will's birthday with family and friends. Although, I'm a month and a half late with writing about the
NYC Dumpling Festival, I still want our thoughts with you and show you what was featured this year.
This year Will and I were a little proactive when it came to purchasing tickets because instead of getting online on the day of the festival. We bought the tickets online since they guaranteed a free bag if you purchase online. The event took place on September 24th, 2016 at the Sara D. Roosevelt Park from 12PM - 5PM, but Will and I didn't stay too long at the duration of the event.
Last year I didn't blog about the NYC Dumpling Festival, but I liked the selection, vendors, and etc. a lot better. This year was below par in every aspect except for the customer service. Last year there were 8-10 vendors to choose from, but this year it was only 5 which were split by boroughs (Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island) which I didn't quite understand what the logic behind it was.
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| Queens |
Queens was serving chicken soup dumplings, pork and shrimp shumai, and chicken wonton with a side of kimchi. The pork and shrimp shumai was delicious and so was the chicken wonton - nice and crunchy, but the chicken soup dumplings had very little soup. I think it's perhaps the filling soaked up all the soup. I didn't bother trying the kimchi since I can't have spicy foods too much.
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| The Bronx |
Will went to The Bronx and they were serving vegetable curry samosa, buffalo chicken dumpling, and Thai chicken dumpling. The vegetable curry samosa was crispy, crunchy, and delicious! The buffalo chicken dumpling wasn't very tasty and neither was the Thai chicken dumpling.
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| Brooklyn |
I went to Brooklyn and that they were serving kale and vegetable dumpling, edamame dumpling, and spinach dumpling. The dumplings here were mediocre and completely vegetarian. The only dumpling that tasted fairly decent was the edamame dumpling, Although the dumplings appeared to have a charredness on it - it wasn't actually crispy or crunchy.
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| Manhattan |
Manhattan seemed to have a lot more variety. They were serving BBQ Pork bao, Kung Pao chicken dumpling, pork and kimchi dumpling, chicken and cilantro, and a mini dumpling, I think out of all the dumplings that were served, I liked the chicken and cilantro the best. I wasn't a fan of the BBQ Pork bao at all and everything else had spiciness in it.
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| Staten Island |
Staten Island was serving drinks and dessert dumplings. They were serving a custard bun, red bean bun, and pumpkin pie dumpling. The pumpkin pie dumpling was quite delicious, I liked it. I wasn't a fan of the red bean bun and the custard bun was crisp, crunchy, and delicious.
Overall, Will and I didn't really enjoy this year's festival at all. Most of the dumplings were all cold. stale, not crispy or crunchy, and a waste of money. All of the dumplings were pre-made. Each ticket allows you for four tastings, so Will used two stamps and I used three. We had four stamps left so we decided to use our remaining stamps on Chef One's frozen dumplings to bring home and we also got an insulated bag. We tried the frozen dumplings at home and they were a serious downgrade compared to the brand we usually buy from.
It was a total disappointment this year that we're not sure if we'll even come back next year.
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