Grin and Eat It: Smiling Dumplings on Xiaoyun Lu

Great food can put a huge smile on your face, and the new Smiling Dumplings on Xiaoyun Lu does exactly that.

As the name suggests, the place mostly specializes in dumplings, but it's also got lots of authentic Chongqing dishes to spice things up.

My favorite dumpling of the night had a zucchini and pork filling (RMB 8 for five) – I couldn't stop eating them. A pork and lotus root dumpling (RMB 8) was also quite good and had a light crunch to it. I'd also recommend the fried dumplings, which come with the standard pork and cabbage filling.

The dish that I'm most looking forward to eating again is the wonton soup with numbing spice (RMB 18, pictured at top). It's definitely got that numbing kick to it, but not overpoweringly so. I've got a serious crush on this one.

We also enjoyed an appetizer of marinated seaweed, bean sprouts and rice vermicelli (RMB 12). The chilled dish has quite the vinegar punch to it at first, but it quickly recedes to a swirl of flavors.

For dessert, finish up with fried glutinous rice cakes with a sticky red sugar sauce (RMB 18). The cakes themselves aren't too gummy, and the molasses flavors of the sugar make for a nice treat.

We're lucky enough to have plenty of places to go for dumplings around town, but Smiling has shot to the top of my list. We left with grins on our faces, and hopefully you will too.

Smiling Dumplings
Daily 11am-9pm. 3/F, 32 Xiaoyun Lu (50m from Invincible Ramen), Chaoyang District
朝阳区霄云路32号3层