A few months back, I heard about a new XLB/Jiaozi restaurant opening in Carmel Valley named Super Dumpling. After doing a bit of research; I found that these were the folks who owned Sunny Noodle on Clairemont Mesa, which has since been replaced by Spicy Noodle. This kinda dampened the excitement a bit since I wasn’t overly impressed with my meal there. Though the jiaozi was ok, it was definitely not in the same league as Ju Feng Yuan or Lucious Dumpling (both of which I need to return to) in my opinion. Still, a couple of weeks passed and curiosity got the better of me (doesn’t it always?) and I had some time….even with the “crazy boy” at home to head on over to check the place out.
It was an interesting drive as I really don’t get to this area off the 56 very often. It was actually a pretty quick drive. The restaurant itself is located in a large mall with a good amount of parking available.
It was just past opening time as I entered and the simple, but spacious dining room was empty.
The two folks working were really friendly and I was led to a table. There’s also the very typical dumpling making area near the counter as well.
Of course I ordered the Pork and Cabbage Jiaozi ($12.95) and was wondering about the Popcorn Chicken ($10.95) as well since I find it hard to get a good version of that here in San Diego.
The dumplings arrived in a few minutes. This was actually better than what I’d had at Sunny Noodle; though the wrappers were on the thick and brittle side thus tearing easily.
The filling was on the dry – chewy side of the scale, fairly porky, with hints of sesame oil.
Overall, not bad; though I still prefer what Ju Feng Yuan and Lucious Dumpling serves. It does seem like jiaozi is stepping up here in San Diego. My good friend “YZ” had warned me that when she visited, you could tell the jiaozi were frozen. I’m thinking that the filling might indicate that.
As for the Popcorn Chicken. Well, it was quite a large portion.
More like chicken strips than “popcorn chicken”, the batter was mealy – crunchy and somewhat hard, on the salty side with a strong pepperiness.
Though the meat had nice soy sauce – seasoning tones; the chicken itself was really tough.
Still looking for some good Popcorn Chicken here in SD.
Really nice service and the prices were not bad; so I decided to return.
This time I got the Garlic Fried Chicken Wings (6pc – $12.95). They should have called with “Sodium Bomb” chicken wings….good lord and if the chicken wasn’t salty enough, the wings were topped with even more salt! There was a chili based powder provided as well.
The batter was fairly crunchy and fell apart easily. The flesh was moist, but had so much blackish meat. It was hard getting past how salty this was.
Every so often, I get distracted by those “shiny things”…..I had meant to try the Xiao Long Bao here. And I did get XLBs…but while I should have acted rationally; like I did trying the basic jiaozi, I ended up ordering the “Signature” Xiao Long Bao ($19.95). I haven’t had much luck with these “variety” XLBs; if it be locally at Facing East or even in Taipei at Dian Shui Lou. But still, here I went and ordered it.
Yes, quite colorful. And I took some comfort knowing that all the coloring was “natural”, even the blue on the Chicken and Corn XLB, is supposedly made by red cabbage…..why it’s blue…well, you got me?
And which was the best? Well, obviously what I should have gotten in the first place; the Pork XLB.
It didn’t have a whole lot of soup and the wrappers were on the firm and brittle side; like the jiaozi…I prefer my XLB to have a more “pillowy” wrapper. But the filling was quite porky, with hints of what seemed like ginger.
The Chicken and Corn XLB was also not bad – even though that neon-ish color seemed a bit disturbing.
My least favorite were the Korean BBQ Beef XLB which had no soup and was really tough and the Black Truffle; I really couldn’t make out truffle flavor.
The two crab versions were not bad; but nothing to write home about.
I’m glad I got to check out Super Dumpling. Though now I really need to head back to Ju Feng Yuan and Lucious Dumplings.
Speaking of Ju Feng Yuan; I’m wondering if my two “FOYs” who recommended JFY; SD Julie and RD have checked this place out; and if so, what are your thoughts?
And for another view on Super Dumpling, you can check out Soo’s post as well.
Super Dumpling
3870 Valley Centre Drive #301
San Diego, CA 92130
Current Hours:
Mon – Thurs 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 830pm
Fri – Sun 11am – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm
You notice the color of the fillings that you can see thru the wrappers? Well, I'm thinking there was some opening jitters here as I ordered the Cabbage, Shrimp, and Pork, but I basically got 4 of those and four Pork, Shrimp, and Chive! Which I would have ordered if I could have gotten four of each!
The wrappers were quite delicate, almost too delicate as I punctured three of the XLB while picking them up with the chopsticks. There was so much light-porky, not salty "soup" in these.
There were some things I quickly noticed. The liner was very wet, so I started turning over the XLB and guess what? Four of the six had wrappers on the bottom that were cracked and all the "soup" had leaked out. This will also tell you what I thought of the wrappers; too thick, brittle, lacking the slight delicate texture I enjoy. I'm truly not expected anything like I had at 
Looks like lunchwagon tonkatsu, eh? It had been over fried, the breading hard, as was the dried out pork. It could have used some flavor; you know, five spice, soy sauce, a good pre-breading marinade. If it was brined or marinated, I couldn't tell. 
So, how did this match up? Well, the wrapper was not as tender and more brittle than what we'd had at DTF. The "soup", the aspic based liquid was porky and flavorful. The filling was tender, though not quite as flavorful as DTF in our opinion. Though, it could be that having been to several locations of DTF around the world we've been indoctrinated?
The wrappers were good when the dumplings were first delivered, fairly tender, but got brittle and chewier as the dumplings cooled off. The filling was tender, moist, nicely seasoned, and full of pork flavor. This was a pleasant surprise. The filling was more finely chopped than many versions I've had recently. I think this compares favorably with 
The pieces of beef were decently tender and nicely flavored, good anise tones, with a hint of sweetness. The soup was of the clear variety and had some five spice and white pepper seasoning going for it, but it lacked beefiness and decent richness. At least it wasn't overly salty. The noodles were overcooked for my taste and lacked the springiness I enjoy.
There were 8 dumplings in all, enough for a light lunch. One of the XLB, the one on the bottom had, ahem, an 
was our opportunity. So, we walked to Xinyi, and got to the original DTF on Xinyi Road.
There was a sign posted saying that the place wasn't doing takeout orders on this day. I guess they were anticipating a major lunch rush? By the way, this was a weekday. One thing we noticed, that is usually a positive sign were that most of the customers were older folk, which to us is usually a pretty good sign.
These were not very good. The wrapper was chewy and brittle, there was some "soup" in the XLB but it was very bland. The filling was tough and chewy and also pretty much tasteless.
Of course we're talking about good pork XLB. This was basically, meh…. The wrappers were too thick, there wasn't enough "soup" in the dumplings, and the pork filling was tough.
It was good. I liked the wrapper, which was tender, with a bit of heft, and a nice al dente pull to it. The filling was also nicely seasoned, more of a course chop with large pieces of tender, briny-sweet shrimp. There were perhaps a bit too much Chinese chives in this, but overall no complaints. I did not care for the dipping sauce that came with the jiaozi, it had sweet tones I didn't care for. I just ended up using the black vinegar provided on the table.
Of course, in typical fashion, when there's just too much to see, like when 
The fat on this was quite velvety, but the meat kind of dry. The flavor was a lot milder, lacking in the sweet-soy, ginger, and slightly pungent tones I'd used to in this dish. It also had a bit too much of a greasy mouthfeel for us as well.
