Eat like a Dumpling King

Chinese dumplings are traditionally shaped to resemble gold pieces from back in the day, so it makes sense that I feel like royalty when scoffing a plate of them.

At Dumpling King on Newtown's main road, it's generally always packed around dinner time which is a good sign for my seemingly insatiable appetite for the dough-wrapped morsels.

Pan fried pork and chive dumplings at Dumpling King, King Street, Newtown

My preferences are for pan fried dumplings for some crisp skins, a filling of minced pork with a vegetable or two, and served with vinegar sauce and chilli oil on the side. And it's as if I am royalty because it's all there at Dumpling King.

The pan fried ones are always boiling hot and mostly at risk of squirting or leaking revered dumpling juices. Garnished with shreds of iceberg lettuce, this - and the condiments on the side - is all I need in a meal.

Spicy tofu

There isn't a mapo tofu dish at Dumpling King - the spicy tofu dish is as close as it gets. There's no meat in it but the silky cubes of tofu satisfy in the sweet, bright red sauce with a tinge of chilli heat.

Spicy shredded pork

The shredded pork is a better, more flavoursome dish with an array of julienned vegetables along with the generous portion of pork. The bold flavours in this, leaning again a little to the sweet side, make it an ideal dish to have with steamed rice by the bowl.

Shanghai stir fried noodles

Amid the selection of noodles, the Shanghai noodles stir fried with a variety of seafood and crisp vegetables also has a bit of a kick to it. The initially al dente noodles slowly soak up all the juices of the dish and make for quite the filling plate.

Given the reasonable prices I always seem to order and eat too much here, but don't be misled - the dumpling remains king of the menu.