I know there are all sorts of little gems in Oakland’s Chinatown but I’ve been too lazy to seek them out. I’ve heard of a kick ass dumpling place so after some searching, I found the joint…Shan Dong. The staff is super friendly, a far cry from your typical indifferent Chinese restaurant. What it may lack in ambiance, it well makes up for in its food. Arguably, this type of ambiance is needed for good Chinese food, but I digress.

We dialed up the 宮保雞丁 (kung pao chicken), handmade 炸醬麵 (spicy meat sauce noodles), Tam’s favorite veggie 豆苗 (pea sprouts), and their renowned dumplings. We tried one plate of 韭菜水餃 (pork and leeks dumplings) and another of 山東特味水餃 (pork and cabbage dumplings). Everything was outstanding. Especially since everything was roughly $5-6 per plate and they weren’t skimping on the portions. There was plenty left over for Tam’s lunch tomorrow.

The reviews on Yelp suggested avoiding the restrooms so we didn’t venture in there, but everything else was clean enough. I don’t think my mom would approve, but that won’t stop us from going back. They also make frozen bags of 50 dumplings available so we couldn’t help but get a bag of the 韭菜水餃. Looking forward to boiling those up at home.