Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: August 21, 2019 | 
| 中文
The restaurant in F-10
Baozi, Jaozi or the more familiar Mantou, are all oriental versions of a comfort food commonly known as Dumplings. It is a home cooked, intimate family meal in almost every Chinese household. The dumplings are pieces of dough made with a variety of fillings. Depending on the filling, one can have them for dinner, lunch, or breakfast.
The history of baozi dates back to almost 1,800 years. It is said that baozi was invented by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, to treat the frostbitten ears of the poor. They stewed mutton and some warming medicines in a pot. Afterwards, they filled the concoction in small dough wrappers, that resembled human ears.
In Pakistan, however, Chinese cuisine has been a popular dine-out choice for decades. But it has been mainstreamed to a large extent, with restaurants offering localised versions of chow mein, sweet and sour chicken and the erroneously attributed chicken corn soup.
Mr. Chen, a young entrepreneur from the Hunan province of China, has been living in Pakistan for last six years, and wants this trend to change. In January, he opened Mr. Dumpling in F-10 Markaz, Islamabad. It specializes in home-cooked and authentic baozi and jaozi (a larger version of baozi). On a sunny Sunday, my wife and I decided to give this new eatery a long-awaited visit for lunch.
The restaurant is a bit hard to find, with an unassuming entrance from a backstreet. It took us a couple of wrong turns before we spotted the sign. The restaurant itself was minimally furnished with limited seating, and the seats were slightly uncomfortable. Another disappointment was that Mr. Dumpling had not invested in traditional bamboo steamer baskets. This definitely took away a little bit of fun from the experience of authentic Chinese dumplings.
At Mr. Dumpling, the menu is short and simple. The baozi and jaozi are available in beef, chicken, mutton, egg tomato, and shrimp & mushroom fillings. You can order the dumplings steamed or pan fried, in serving sizes depending on your appetite. Chen was a gracious host, as he offered us a mixed platter.
The dough wrap was just the perfect thickness, and the fillings were fresh and of perfect quantity. Chen explained that he could find most of his ingredients locally, but some spices are imported from China. The unusually delectable vinegar, paprika and soy sauce dip proved his point.
Other items on the menu include steamed noodles, with chicken or beef, and sausage and corn fried rice. Both the noodles and rice were up-to-par and filling. For Pakistanis who are used to localised versions of chow mein, the noodles at Mr. Dumpling may seem a bit dry. But Chen is not bothered by this; he is happy taking his chance on his noodles. And the steady stream of Foodpanda riders, and take-away customers prove his point.
“Over ninety percent of my customers are Pakistanis, and they like the taste of Mr. Dumpling.” Chen shyly admits, “I want to have a chain of outlets across Islamabad, and possibly other cities in Pakistan. I would like Mr. Dumpling to be the Chinese equivalent of KFC for Pakistan.”
By now we were digging into sausage and corn fried rice, and sipping on refreshing pearl milk taro tea. Unfortunately, there is only one option in the soup section, the hot pepper soup, and it was not available. “It is still too hot so we don’t make the soup. You will have to wait till the weather gets a little cooler.” Chen explained.
We were almost full, but another round of dumplings came, this time with egg and tomato filling. This was undoubtedly the best of them all. The egg and tomato filling was light, and the steamed dumpling was just the right level of moist.
I started chatting with another customer, Nabeel, a student who lived nearby. He was a regular at Mr. Dumpling, and I can understand why. The total bill was PKR 1000, which seems very reasonable, considering we ordered more food than we usually would for two people. Nabeel gave Mr. Dumpling 8 out of 10, and I agreed.
Mr. Dumpling has definitely won two new customers. But next time, we are ordering through Foodpanda, while Chen expands his restaurant. However, Mr. Dumpling’s baozi are a great option for when one feels too lazy to fix dinner, or one wishes to entertain some friends to exotic food without a big dent to their pocket.
Form more authentic Chinese restaurants in Islamabad click here...
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