Lucky Dumpling, Langstrasse, Zurich

One of the things which has been missing from Zurich’s dining scene is a restaurant solely focussing on dumplings. One might object that the “Dim Sum” next to the Landesmuseum fits the category, but it’s not a sit down restaurant. So it seems that the Lucky Dumpling gets credit for being the first dumpling restaurant in Zurich.

The place is superpacked on a Thursday night, partly due to the fact that it got some PR from ronorp.net and it seems to be a success with female patrons in their late twenties. One can only suspect that a few special dietary requests were voiced that night, we overheard a conversation which revolved around how vegetarian the vegetarian dumplings were and wether there was cross-contamination due to them being cooked in the same water or broth as other dumplings. At that moment I felt elated to have a male dining companion who’s as happy with a cold beer and a Cervelat as with a 12 course dinner at a Michelin star restaurant.

We order beef & celeriac, pork & fennel and shrimp & water chestnut dumplings to start. The dumplings are seared nicely and the dough is okay, but overall it’s lacking love and a bit plain. There could be more herbs in the filling, more aroma and thinking back of dumplings I sampled outside Switzerland, these do not compare. The shrimp and water chestnut version does deserve a special mention, the textural nuances are pretty exciting – the soft crunch of the water chestnut makes it an interesting segue between the crunchy sear and the doughy softness.

Main courses are disappointing. The Jin Jan chicken, is a below average rendition of the pancackes & duck you get at most “chinese” restaurants, the spicy ribs were not all that spicy. I dare say that the Suan Long (one of my most hated restaurants ever since I got kicked out over a debate…) across the street can do this better.

One interesting thing is the service – looking at it by Swiss standards it was a mess. People only spoke English, you had to order drinks multiple times (a big problem for thirsty males in front of an empty beer glass), dishes came out in a complete random order and at the end a waitress asked us what we had ordered since apparenlty all records had disappeared. So again – the typical way of judging this would be it’s a miserably managed operation and even if it’s new, if you’re mentioned on ronorp.net you need to be ready to take care of the tidal wave of customers.

But… there is one saving grace – the call themselves “authentic” chinese cuisine. From my own experiences in China you do not queue, you don’t nicely ask for things – you simply elbow your way to whatever you need. Looking at feedback from other sources, apparently diners thrive on dining in an “authentic” restaurant. Here at Lucky Dumpling you can get this experience. So in hindsight: if you’re okay sitting in a place where a mild form of mayhem ensues, you’re not shy to grab any waiter to get you a drink and stick to the dumplings – you’ll be very pleased with the experience.