We recently contemplated moving out of Clapton, but it’s places like My Neighbour the Dumplings that ensured we stayed put.
Joining the likes of P.Franco, Yard Sale and Del 74, MNTD is probably one of the best neighbours we’ve got right now.
This place doesn’t take bookings and gets busy quickly so arrive early on and be prepared to wait. That said, there’s a cute little basement bar serving banging cocktails (mostly sake based) alongside Japanese beer. There’s even a garden of sorts out back so don’t let the deceptively small, steamed up façade trick you.
Tables are long and plates are small – both are designed for sharing. They recommend 3-4 dishes a head, but fear not, it’s unbelievably good value for what you get, our bill came to around 22 quid a head and we ate bloody EVERYTHING!
So what should ya get………!?!
Ok, we highly recommend starting with a few Crispy Prawn Won Ton alongside the smacked cucumber with chilli oil and plenty of toasted sesame. Lamb & Coriander ‘potstickers’ are crispy, delicious little morsels and the Turnip Cake is a traditional dish, worth trying.
For the main event you have a choice of Pork & Prawn, Prawn or Shitake Mushroom dumplings – all made fresh, by hand every day. You can see the team frantically making them from the open kitchen.
What totally blew us away though was the pork belly – it’s worth travelling across London for this dish alone. We’re not normally big fans of pork belly (too fatty) but we found ourselves actually daydreaming about it the next day. The crackling is FIERCE. Look out for the special too – we got our hands on a huge juicy scallop the night we went. All the meat is free range and fish is sustainably sourced, natch.
We loved everything about this place – the vibe, music, décor and food were all on point – and if the queues are anything to go by, so does everyone else.
