The Dumpling Tree Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Cambridge

✓ Vegan and Vegetarian Options WHAT I HAD: Hot & Sour Potato Vermicelli Noodles [£9.80]; 12 pieces Mixed Vegetables Dumplings [£8.00] – celery, mushroom, carrots, Chinese leaves; Chili Vegetarian Wanton [£8.50]; Vegetarian Warrior’s Bap [£3.50], Pan fried shredded potato [£7.50]; Vegetarian Cross Bridge Rice Noodles [£15.50]; Summer Special – Vegetarian Spicy Sauce Noodles.

FOOD: I’ve had food for takeaway and dined in the Dumpling Tree several times. Although they are called The Dumpling Tree, I am not a fan of their dumplings. It may be a different type of Chinese dumpling that I’m not used to? Although the dumpling skins aren’t thick, I found them bready and dry. It might be the dough or could’ve used more cook time. Their wontons are good thought! Great filling, the vegetarian wontons have nice crunch from the fresh Chinese cabbage in them. The pan fried potato was quite greasy, but really well done with how well-cooked it is to get the right texture and doneness. The warrior bap is definitely unique, the vegetarian one was a stone baked bun stuffed with marinated tofu and beansprouts. Well-seasoned filling in the smoky, crisp and crumbly bun.

The speciality of the restaurant I will say is the Cross the Bridge Rice Noodles. Fragrant, clean and tasty soup with tons of toppings. It would have been great if they serve the soup piping hot (especially for the big bowl!). The hot and sweet potato vermicelli noodles are alright too, but just not worth the price to me as I feel it could’ve use some toppings like tofu or such in addition to the few pieces of Pak Choi.

TL;DR: The staff here is nice, friendly and helpful. There is room for improvement (i.e. being more attentive and detailed). The restaurant is clean and simple in a nice quiet neighbourhood located in the midst of apartment buildings. The food is slightly more expensive than the average Chinese food but it is reflected in the quality and portion (especially the Noodles! The portions for the noodles are huge and generous with toppings! Could probably feed 2). Located just opposite Cambridge Leisure Park, I would recommend The Dumpling Tree for good Chinese food. It has a good variety of different types of Chinese food ranging from appetisers and dumplings to noodles, rice and Chinese mains that is great for solo and group dining! The types of food and quality they offer is definitely a notch up from the average Chinese food in Cambridge. You probably will find something new you’ve not come across here and have interesting options that will keep you coming back to try more. A nice treat for good Chinese food, but definitely not on a...

I'm sorry to say but the pictures and earlier reviews were really misleading and led to a genuine waste of money.

We ordered from this restaurant for a celebration, thinking that the food would blow our minds as the pictures and glowing reviews painted a very different picture to what we actually got. Subpar food that barely feels fresh and simply too small portion sizes. I'm not sure what changed from the time of other reviews to when we ordered but it seems to have changed them a lot.

Our order consisted of: A warrior bap A bbq pork bun Mapo tofu Barbecue pork Ribbon noodles with beef Chilli pork wonton Dirty dozen fried dumplings

If you are still reading, please only ever order dumplings, ribbon noodles and mapo tofu. Everything else is either subpar and questionable or just not worth buying (from what we tried at least). Absolutely avoid the chilli wonton unless you like dry and bland food.

I'll start with the warrior bun. For the price it is actually very good but I feel like there should be more filling.

The bbq pork bun was OK at best. Same as the warrior bun, the price was pretty good, however it was very small and could definitely use more filling, which tasted pretty good I might add.

The mapo tofu was really good and definitely was a highlight of the meal. It tasted very good, with hints of sichuan pepper coming through.

The barbecue pork was a definite let down. This was a shame as I was looking forward to proper chashu pork but instead we got chewy, red pork served in a very strange gelatinous sauce. DON'T GET!

The ribbon noodles with beef was pretty good! I definitely enjoyed the texture of the noodles although the dish was slightly bland.

I've already spoken a abit about the chilli pork wontons but ill just reiterate that they were not good. It was a shame for well made wontons to be thrown together with no sauce and just an absurd amount of dry chilli flakes (that weren't spicy) and maybe chilli oil?

The dirty dozen fried dumplings were very good! If ever again, I will definitely order more portions of these dumplings, as they came with a very nice dipping sauce. The dumplings themselves had loads of filling and were very flavourful with not an abundance of dough.

Overall an OK restaurant that we expected too much from. I'd say, if you want to order from this restaurant, stick to the dumplings! It is a shame that I won't be ordering from this restaurant again, to try their other options but I feel like I've already lost my appetite with anything to do...

On a mid-December Saturday in 2023, our group of family friends, including children, visited the restaurant. The overall quality of the food was relatively good, and the majority of us enjoyed our meals. However, the experience was marred by certain aspects.

While the food received positive feedback, there was a notable issue with the service team's constant advice to keep the children seated. This created a stressful atmosphere for our group and hindered the overall family-friendly vibe we were expecting. The lack of a relaxing ambiance was disappointing and affected our overall enjoyment of the dining experience.

Furthermore, we utilized the restaurant's car parking and were required to register our car upon entry. Unfortunately, due to the size of our group, we overlooked this step. Subsequently, we received a parking ticket at our home with a £100 penalty. In our attempt to resolve the matter, we contacted the restaurant, providing evidence of our substantial bill (almost £300) and specifying the date and time of our visit. Regrettably, their response indicated that there were signs indicating the registration process, and we should have adhered to them.

This unfortunate incident with the parking ticket added an additional layer of dissatisfaction to our overall experience. We believe that improved communication about parking procedures and a more family-friendly approach from the service team would significantly enhance the appeal of...