Mei Mei Dumplings - Factory, Cafe and Classroom — Restaurant in Boston

Heard about them on the Channel 5 show Chronicle, and saw their Double Awesome sandwich and had to have it!

Went there the other day with the family and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the food there. The dumplings were wonderful as were the sandwiches. Starting a couple months ago this restaurant had a promotion where if you had receipts from eight different places purchasing dumplings, you would get a free bag. The reason why I mention this is because, we tried a lot of different dumplings around the area and none of them compare to Mei Mei Dumplings. Their dumplings were cooked perfectly. I’m not a food critic but I do enjoy my food and I do a lot of cooking. Many times when I go out to eat, it can be disappointing. I was not disappointed at all with their food.

Our family sampled the Double Awesome sandwich, Scallion Pancake Burger, Dumpling Party Platter and also the Lemongrass Pork Dumplings and Cumin Lamb dumplings. All of them were beautiful and the salad that came with the dumplings went perfectly with them. Seasoned to perfection! The eggs were beautifully runny and scallion pancake crispy, nice sized, well seasoned burger (Not a skinny piece of burger!) and deep fried and pan fried dumplings. These are not your average dumplings. I don’t think there was anything that I would change in the way they taste. Surprisingly, the cumin lamb dumplings were probably my favorite and inspired me to make that version at home instead of the ones I usually make. I would have never thought of using cumin in a Chinese dumpling! Their dumplings weren’t overly seasoned or under seasoned. And the skins were crispy and soft at the same time. I grew up eating dumplings and worked in a Chinese restaurant when I was younger and I am used to the traditional Chinese dumplings one would get at the local Chinese restaurants. Mei Mei Dumplings add a nice twist to the traditional dumplings. When we were there, we bumped into the mother of the owner and she was delightful to talk with. She was very proud of her children and rightfully so. The restaurant exceeded my expectations.

Another thing that made me really happy is that our son has multiple food, allergies and through very good communication and a lot of help on their behalf, our son ate there and had a great time enjoying their food. I communicated with Cody, Matt and the person who took our order and they really showed that they were on top of food allergies which put us at ease as some restaurants are not very accommodating of food allergies. We had a wonderful time Mei...

On a recent trip to Boston, it was a great opportunity to check this place out after hearing about the food truck on social media and seeing Yotam Ottolenghi give his thumbs up.

It’s a pity this place didn’t appear on “Ugly Delicious” in its “Fried Rice” episode. It’s a great example of Chinese food evolving* beyond what is expected of it. (This is coming from a person who has worked in the Restaurant food supply chain and probably eaten too much Chinese food in their lifetime.)

We came as a group of 4 which was an opportunity to try as many things as possible: Carrot and Turnip cake Bluefish fritters Corn Fritters (a nice freebie as it was my first visit) Double Awesome scallion pancake Lemongrass and pork dumplings Cheese Pierogi Kale salad

Having said that, if you are a bit conservative about Chinese food or come with expectations of what “Chinese” food is, I’m guessing you are likely to be disappointed. It’s a place I wouldn’t be able to take my parents as they would probably moan at me as they have the quantity-over-quality mindset.

The staff were friendly and seem like a tight-knit team which is good to see.

It’s easy to picture London embracing a place like this. Scallion pancakes done this way could be the new “Bao”.

NB The worst case of “evolving” I’ve seen is a Chinese supermarket/restaurant being given a lot of LKK’s newish Sriracha mayo on the cheap. Not knowing what to do with it, they smother a load of battered chicken with the damn stuff and is not a great combo...

(This review is for the food truck)

I found Mei Mei to be a decent lunch truck. The food was certainly tasty, it just had a few flaws that give this truck an "A-OK" rating in my book.

The Chorizard (play on "Charizard"?) is a bowl with chorizo, black beans, and carrots, topped with feta and fried shallots. The chorizo was flavorful, juicy and savory. The pickled carrots cut through the savory chorizo with a vinegary tang. The apple dressing that covers everything in the bowl is a good source of tangy flavor; the black beans need that extra kick, and the apple dressing helps deliver it.

Unfortunately, I found almost no fried shallots. Towards the end of my meal, I found one sitting at the bottom of the bowl and thought to myself, "Oh right, there were supposed to be fried shallots in here". A big handful of fried shallots would have given a nice salty crunch, I missed them here.

The black beans were hit-or-miss. Some were cooked great, but some were still a little hard. They didn't seem to have much seasoning on them, and were a little bland eaten on their own.

The biggest issue I had, was that the bowl felt incomplete: there wasn't any rice, or some big base ingredient. It felt like I was eating all of the toppings to a rice bowl, just without the rice. Since it was missing a good base, it wasn't as much food as I'd like. The prices are a little steep for the amount of food you get.

All in all, I'll visit Mei Mei every now and then if I'm looking for a...