When I saw the “Open” sign in the window at a little place called Dumplings, on Ellwood Drive, I was very happy. Dumplings rate high on my list of favourite foods. Unfortunately I was by myself which meant I couldn’t taste as much as I wanted, but this is how our food exploration often starts–with me doing a recky mission first. Thankfully I am a very willing guinea pig.

The restaurant is having a “soft opening” which means not all the dishes are available yet. Seeing some North American dishes on the menu (like Caesar salad and club wraps) had me a little skeptical; I wasn’t interested in anything North American, I was here for the dumplings.

I ordered the Sichuan Dan Dan soup and a plate of pork dumplings. The soup comes in a big bowl, packed with noodles and topped with ground beef, lettuce and minced veggies. Nice.

A wave of garlic and ginger rose up as I stirred things around. Oh boy that was smelling good…I wanted to just plunk my whole face right into it. For $7.50 it’s a pretty fair price, in fact two people could share it (and a plate of dumplings) and be satisfied.

While I was talking to the server, the owner, Hong Yan Powell, came over and told me everything I needed to know about the food and the restaurant. For starters, all the food is made in-house and from scratch. That’s what I like to hear. Hong Yan, a music teacher, says cooking is her hobby and that once she gets the restaurant up and running with the chefs trained to cook the food exactly like she does–from recipes she has “up here” (as she points to her noggin)–she’ll go back to teaching.

For now, she’s quite happy cooking “healthy food that’s good for you.” No MSG, nothing fake–including food colouring she says a lot of restaurants use to deepen the colour of things like ginger beef. I didn’t know that.

You can ask your dumplings to be steamed, grilled or deep fried. Mine came grilled: 12 for $9.95 with hot sauce on the side.

I knew just by looking at them they were going to be delicious. They were delicate and packed with flavour…so good that I picked up a bag of frozen ones to take home to the family.

The opening of Dumplings now makes Ellwood Crossing one of my preferred food destinations as it is also the location of Zaika, Summerside Asian Market and Real Deal Meats. The Pho Hoan Vietnamese chain is just down the street, but I’ve given them two chances to wow my taste buds and they failed miserably. Now that I know Dumplings serves soup, I’ll spend my money here where I know the ingredients are fresh and the food is made to order, and from scratch. The proof is in the taste and Dumplings had flavour to spare.

But what’s with the Caesar salad and club wraps? To appease the office workers that are populating the area, Hong Yan says. Not me, I say…I will come for the the food that she’s learned how to cook while growing up; dishes like the Sichuan spicy noodle salad, and the pork and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. I can get Caesar salad anywhere. If the pork dumplings and Sichuan Dan Dan soup are any indication of how good the rest of the dishes are, then I’d say this recky mission was a success.