LDNReview
photo credit: My Neighbors The Dumplings
My Neighbours The Dumplings
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There are two guaranteed ways to get us to visit a restaurant. The first involves a bribe involving a Pokemon DVD, and a multipack of pickled onion Monster Munch. And the second involves the words ‘the dumplings’, and ‘all of’.
That brings us to My Neighbours the Dumplings, a ridiculously popular neighbourhood restaurant in Clapton specialising in dim sum and a rotating menu of Chinese-style specials. It’s on a street where trendy locals like to hang out and do things that people in Hackney like to do, like drink negronis and say things like ‘woke’, and ‘I still haven’t paid for my last freelance job’. The restaurant itself is artfully scruffed-up, with lots of hanging lanterns and neon signs - it’s a dim sum parlour, East London-style. So it’s ridiculously trendy, yes, but don’t let that put you off - the food’s pretty good.
The standard dumplings like har gau (prawn) and shu mai (pork and prawn) are fat little parcels of flavour. They’re nicely made and the ingredients are good, and they’re the kind of thing you’d see at a much more expensive Chinese restaurant in town like Yauatcha. They’re not always perfect - on the odd visit, we’ve found the quality to be not that much better than the average spot in Chinatown - but when the kitchen’s on its game, which they usually are, they’re fantastic. The lamb potstickers are also great, and the daily specials are usually excellent. Look out for the sticky ribs - you’ll start out eating one, and demolish the lot before you realise what’s happening.
There's also a wicked bar downstairs where you can eat endless bowls of lotus crisps (they’re really good) and Asian-themed drinks with sake in them. The bar is an excellent place to hang out in itself, but the prospect of a good har gau for us is usually too good to resist.
We like My Neighbours. It’s a banging little restaurant with an A+ atmosphere that most people would kill to have on their doorstep. While we wouldn’t advise spending an hour on public transport to come and eat here, it should be an evening go-to if you’re local and fancy an easy night out. It’s great for a mid-week fix, and a good place to gather a few friends from the area for the occasional feast. And in this part of London, no one’s going to blink if we show up in our Pikachu onesie.
photo credit: Stan Lee