Vanessa’s Dumpling House

Assorted Fried Dumplings

Vanessa Shu Qin Weng, the namesake of her beloved restaurant, opened Vanessa’s Dumplings in 1999. A Beijing native, Vanessa grew up helping her mom in the kitchen and eventually learned her family’s dumpling recipes.

When she first opened the restaurant, Eldridge street had no restaurants or shops. She had no prior business experience but decided to open a Beijing-style restaurant to fill a void in the Cantonese restaurant-dominated Chinatown. The business was initially slow, and her business partner eventually left after three months.

Nowadays, Vanessa’s Dumpling is known for its Beijing-style street food. Their juicy dumplings are hand stuffed with a pork and chive or pork and cabbage mixture before being boiled or fried to order. You can even get their frozen dumplings to go! Besides dumplings, you can also order hot and sour soup, sesame pancake sandwiches, and pan-fried pork buns.

Fun fact: Vanessa started Tasty Dumpling on Mulberry Street but sold it years ago to focus on Vanessa’s Dumplings.

📍 Vanessa’s Dumpling House
118 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002