If you look up “best dumplings” and you’re in the Hudson Valley, Palace Dumpling will almost always be at the top of the list.
For transplants from the city, finding good dumplings was (and is) one of our top projects. We tried Palace Dumpling years ago and were terribly disappointed. Maybe it was the night, maybe our expectations from years spent wandering dark Chinatown streets were too high, but it was a sad car ride home.
Since then, I’ve heard so many people singing the praises of Palace Dumpling, that when Janet suggested it for a recent lunch, I was eager to give them a second chance.
At first glance, nothing had changed. It’s still a low-key place with an extensive menu devoted to dumplings—lots of them. There are 24 choices on the menu, divided into categories—pork, egg, chicken, beef, lamb and seafood. To round out your meal you can add soups, salads or noodles.
Whatever dumplings you choose, you’ll get a big platter of 12 good-sized ones, either steamed or pan fried. We decided on pork with watercress and shrimp with cucumber and egg. Since I like fried dumplings, we got the pork ones that way.
One of the fun things about Palace Dumpling is that there’s a whole host of condiments to enhance your dumplings. When we got our order, we started playing around with mixes of hot oil, vinegars, soy sauce and others in search of the perfect dipping sauce.
The pork dumplings were nicely golden brown on the fried side. They were stuffed with a good mix of ground pork and watercress and the wrappers were just thick enough to hold the fillings.
Shrimp, egg and cucumber was a new combo to me, and it worked really well as a steamed dumpling. The shrimp and egg went well together, with the cucumber giving a nice contrast.
While we were there, one of the owners was happily slurping down a big bowl of noodles. If you could tear yourself away from the dumplings, there’s more on the menu to explore.
This time the dumplings were better than I remembered them, but they’re still no threat to the best NYC has to offer. We’re still on the search for great dumplings in the Hudson Valley so if you have any recommendations…
1671 Route 9
Wappingers Falls
845-298-8886
