In my last Cortex post, I shared that I moved to the DFW area and decided to do a review of our first non-brand pizza place in town. Y'all liked it and gave me so many suggestions for places to go that I thought I'd share more notable places as I discover them here in Dallas. For this next one, I went after one of my favorite styles of food, Chinese! I love hot soup when I'm low or cold and I could eat dumplings every day for the rest of my life and never get sick of them. So tickle me pink when I learned there was a place near me that specialized in... dumplings!!!
Wu Wei Din Chinese Cuisine is over in Plano, tucked away very inconspiciously next to some giant MMA training gym. It's feels much warmer and roomier inside though. As I said, this place specializes in dumplings. They nearly have a menu full of steamed dumplings, fried wontons, steamed spicy wontons, pork buns, and... my favorite... soup dumplings. Worth noting, I came here during lunch and the menu was limited from what I saw on their website. I think they might have a bigger dinner menu and there are a lot of really good things there.
Nonetheless, my experience at Wu Wei Din was nearly everything I wanted it to be. I started off with some staples: hot and sour soup and egg rolls. Basic, but a good spot to start to gauge things. The egg rolls weren't anything spectacular. However, the hot and sour soup was great. They actually a layering of salt and spice on the edge of the soup for you to mix in. The tofu was good, the veggies were pleasant, and the spice was delicious, but not overbearing.
For my dumplings, I went with spicy pork wontons and pork and shrimp soup dumplings. The spicy wontons were delicate to the touch and very slurpable and the pork filling was delightful. The sauce had a nice tangy kick to it as well. Meanwhile, the soup dumplings are an experience. They bring them out in a wooden container on parchment paper. You dip them in ginger sauce and take a nip. Soup broth comes out and you can drink it out or eat the whole thing in a delightful gulp.
Finally, I had another heartier soup for my main meal: fried tofu and pork glass noodle soup. I love glass noodles, and this dish didn't skimp on them like I see some other establishments do. There was a near softball size serving of glass noodles underneath the topping. The tofu, being fried, had a nice chew and texture to it, and the pork was rolled in a bit of wonton that spiraled outward to make the whole presentation look great.
Worth mentioning as a sidenote, I had a jasmine hot tea, and their tea was so floral it was dang near an actual soap fragrance, but without actually crossing the line into unpleasant taste.
Wu Wei Din is my exact kind of place for the winter months. Whether I go there or take it home, I loved their dumplings and soups, plus there were so many other things on their menu I'd like to try. It's not the cheapest Chinese food, but it had a lot of unique things I'm not sure I'd find in one place elsewhere.
The only other thing that I felt a little off about was their reliance on pork. It's not that you can't get non-pork meals here, but I feel like a grand majority of a lot of their signature and most interesting menu items had pork in them. If that's a no-go for you, this place might not be as choice as other options. Still, a pretty dynamite dumpling stop with a grand array of other delicious things. 9 out of 10. Would dump again.
