With super-sized soup dumplings that sold out within minutes of their grand opening in September, The Drunken Dumpling Shop has officially marked its territory in the East Village food scene of New York.
Owner Yuan Li operates the restaurant with his mother Qihui Guan, who also happens to be a former math professor. Chef Guan and Li spoke with The Huffington Post to discuss the unique appeal of the soup dumplings.
Li’s love for his mother’s dumplings began when he was a child. “The reason we make these giant dumplings is because my mom used to make this pork broth and the chicken broth for me at home and they’re really awesome,” Li reminisced. Guan has since added vegetables, shrimp and crab among other ingredients to the dumplings sold in the shop. The restaurant sources its meat products from Cascun Farm in upstate New York and receives additional supplies from Greenmarket Farmers Market in New York City.
The tasty dumplings already appear to be a hit. When the shop opened on September 14, the extra-large dumplings sold out in just 15 minutes. While the shop makes plenty of normal-sized dumplings, Drunken Dumpling makes only 25 super-sized dumplings per day, as Guan is the only person at the shop who knows how to make them. Eventually, she’ll be able to impart her craft to future chefs.
“I hope that this business and [my son] can grow together,” Guan said.
The video above was produced and edited by Kohar Minassian and shot by Mike Caravella and Melissa Pellicano.
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