A new Chinese restaurant opened on Preston Road in March and it’s already one of the more interesting things to happen to North Dallas dining in a while. It’s called Uptown Dumpling, and the chef running the kitchen — Hao Wenjie — has cooked at a level most people in this city have never encountered.
Chef Hao is a UNESCO Ambassador of Intangible Culinary Heritage. He personally led three China Day banquets at UN Headquarters in New York, events the Los Angeles Times once called an edible cultural white paper. He was part of the founding team behind the Michelin Guide’s launch in Beijing and holds accreditation as a judge with the World Association of Chefs Societies. He ended up at 18101 Preston Rd., Suite 204c, in a strip mall space that used to be Tian Tian. Dallas does things like that.
The menu is built around the food of the Jiangnan region — eastern China, south of the Yangtze River, and the birthplace of the xiao long bao. That’s the soup dumpling, for the uninitiated: a thin dough wrapper around a pork filling and a pool of hot broth that hits you the moment you take a bite. The technique matters enormously, and Uptown Dumpling has their own approach, a rolling process they call three-sink, three-float, meant to get the wrapper as thin as possible without it falling apart. They offer three versions — classic pork, pork and shrimp, and a wagyu and black truffle for the more ambitious order.
The Peking duck comes out of a traditional hanging oven, slow-roasted until the fat renders into the flame and gives the skin that lacquered crackle. You get pancakes, duck sauce, green onion, cucumber. Call ahead and reserve it — they need the notice, and it’s worth planning around.
The rest of the menu is solid. The Sichuan Dandan Noodles are handmade and have real spring to them, dressed in sesame and chili. The Kung Pao Shrimp has been a crowd favorite since opening. The spicy chicken — organic bird, chili, peppercorn — shows up in a lot of early reviews from people who went back a second time.
They also run a tea program, which most Chinese restaurants treat as an afterthought. Four options here: jasmine, Longjing, Dian Hong from Yunnan, and an aged tangerine peel pu’er that’s meant to help with digestion after a heavy meal. Order it at the end. It’s the right call.
A Santa Monica location is already in the works at 1332 2nd St., so this isn’t a one-off. Get in now while the room is still relatively easy.
Uptown Dumpling is at 18101 Preston Rd., Suite 204c, Dallas. Phone: (214) 238-6058. Hours: Monday through Thursday 11:30am–2:30pm and 5–9pm; Friday and Saturday 11:30am–2:30pm and 5–9:15pm. Reservations via OpenTable.
