Few dishes define a good tea house better than the dumplings it serves. Dumplings are an integral element of a tea house's menu. Oriental tea houses straddle the line between café and bistro, providing a relaxed atmosphere to socialize, chat, eat, and, most importantly, enjoy tea. As such, the food tea houses should not take away from the primary activity, drinking tea. Typical dishes consist of small bite-sized morsels; nothing larger than a Chinese bun. Hence, when I visit a tea house, my first order tends toward dumplings: bite-size morels of meat and/or vegetable, neatly wrapped in a flour wrapper, that can be easily picked up with a pair of chopsticks.

Regarding tea house cuisine, there are some wildly successful food blogs that are devoted to teahouse eating. Here's one that I visit often: ChaXiuBao. The blogger was recently (episode aired in September 2007) featured on an episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bordain.

Regarding NiHao, ever since it opened, I have been wanting to try its dumplings. Since the tea house only serves dumplings weekdays during lunch as a special, I never found the opportunity to try them. I make my living quite a ways away from either NiHao establishment. Happily, during a day off, I rectified the issue and sat at a table for lunch in the Wellington Village's NiHao tea house.

For $4.99, I received a plate of 10 steaming hot dumplings. My chosen condiments included red chili oil and soy sauce.

10 dumplings for $4.99
The dumplings were simply wrapped and home made. This is evident from the pronounced wrinkling of the dumplings' skins. Mass produced frozen dumplings wrinkle somewhat less.

Dumpling Filling
The filling consisted of pork and nappa. The dumplings themselves were flavorful and moist.

All-in-all, I was more impressed by the iced green-tea that I ordered with my dumplings. The tea came chilled and lightly sweetened. Moreover, the tea was made from quality tea leaves that were gently brewed. My iced tea was flavorful and refreshing. It had none of the bitter notes that come from tea leaf dust in tea bags.

Total for lunch: $7.84 after taxes, before tip.

For dumplings at home, I direct you to Ottawa's Yen Fung Ding dumpling shop or frozen dumplings that can be purchased at any of the larger Asian markets in Chinatown.

Frozen Dumplings

Particulars:
Nihao Tea House
81 Holland Avenue
(613)722-0088



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