Join us as we search for the finest frozen dumplings (henceforth known as FroDo) that Hong Kong has to offer. By Sean Hebert and Adam White. Dumpling technician: Victoria Wong.
3-MIN READ3-MIN
You’ve just come home from work and you’ve got twelve minutes before you have to run out to meet a friend. One foot out the door, your stomach groans. It’s a scene so typical your life should be a commercial for ready meals. It’s time to revive whatever’s stuck to the side of your freezer, a move that usually comes with the requisite Lowering Of Expectations. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve scoured the chilly aisles for the finest frozen dumplings and wonton around. Here begins our quest to find the Winningest Wonton; to crown the Duke of the Dumpling…
Wonton
East East Vegetable & Pork Wonton $11.50
Packaging:
Simple and clean: it looks like it was designed by the ghost of Steve Jobs, come back to ensure dumpling packaging is up to snuff.
Appearance:
Maybe it’s just because we like our wonton shrimpy, but they seem a little green to us. Still, they’re fairly large, which is always nice.
Taste:
The soup base isn’t bad, but the wonton suffer a bit. That bulk comes from vegetables, not any flavor-packed shrimp. Unremarkable, sadly.
Overall:
Like all Apple products, they’re pretty and easy—but true nerds might find them limited.
Oriental Delights Pak Choy and Shrimp Wonton $19.90
Packaging:
You see a delicate, almost shan shui scene of a bridge in fog. You imagine a day of contemplation and verse composition, interspersed with these delicious morsels.
Appearance:
They’re not big, and they are green. The skin isn’t as yellow, either. Concerning...
Taste:
These wonton are shrimp-packed, and the flavor is very good indeed. It might not quite match Mak’s Noodles’ finest, but it’ll do.
Overall:
A satisfying wonton, well worth a nibble while viewing a beautiful, foggy lake—or the apartment blocks outside your window.
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CP Shrimp Wonton Soup $15.90
Packaging:
Looks like a no-name imitation meat product. But it promises “whole shrimp.” We’re hopeful
after the last few veg-packed examples.
Appearance:
These wonton look absolutely prawn-stuffed: they’re so big they actually look more like tortellini than wonton. Exciting! Maybe we were too harsh on the packaging.
Taste:
Awful. Stick one of these wonton in your mouth and the predominant taste is of flour and dough. Yes, you get loads of shrimp, but there’s not much flavor to them. Avoid.
Overall:
We’re yet to make a single “wonton” pun, but these are so bad you’ll NEVER wont-on.
