Xi Home Dumpling Bay’s summer menu has arrived in central London, bringing authentic Northern Chinese cooking that somehow manages to be crunchy, zingy, fresh, salty, rich and deeply comforting all at once. And that’s just the dumplings.
The new Northern Summer Table menu offers far more than its headline act, and we had the pleasure of being among the first to try it.
On an unassuming Spitalfields side street, Xi Home doesn’t shout for attention. Instead, you’re welcomed by warm smiles and genuine hospitality from the moment you step through the door. It’s fitting, really. Xi translates to “joy”, and that spirit runs through the entire restaurant. In every recommendation, every dish, and every interaction.
But I’m not starting with the dumplings. A little anticipation never hurt anyone.
Instead: the lotus root. Too often reduced to a novelty ingredient, sliced thin and fried into crisps. Here, it’s allowed to shine. Served raw, it delivers an astonishing crunch, lifted by a bright yuzu dressing that wakes up the palate.
This might sound strange, but it reminded me of Paddington Bear. The yuzu carried a marmalade-like quality, sweet, sharp and citrusy, cutting through the earthiness of the lotus root and transforming something simple into something memorable.
The charred and wilted morning glory also deserves a special mention. That bad boy was deeply savoury, with layers of umami running throughout, balanced by soy sauce salinity and just enough chilli warmth to keep things interesting. A deceptively simple dish executed brilliantly.
Before I move onto the dumplings (sorry, I know I’m a tease), I need to talk about the sake-forward cocktails. A genuine East-meets-West offering.
I knew from the first sip that the Ningpolish Garden was a bit of me: sake, cucumber, elderflower and citrus combining into something impossibly refreshing. My long-suffering plus one opted for the Apricot Gimlet, which perfectly satisfied her sweet tooth while remaining bright and balanced.
I can see sake having a real moment in London very soon. I’m fully expecting an overpriced “sakeria” to appear in Hackney within the next year, complete with queues around the block. You heard it here first.
Fine. You’ve waited long enough. Let’s talk about the dumplings. The summer menu explores three different and entirely delicious varieties of the dough-wrapped delicacies.
I’ll begin with the vegetable thin-skins. With their roasted vegetable and tofu filling, the thin-skins were absurdly rich for something so delicate, while the addition of water chestnut provided a beautifully satisfying crunch.
I have no idea how the chefs do it but these thin-skins are light, yet filling. TARDIS-like in function, they truly felt bigger on the inside. It’s a scientific marvel that the paper-thin wrapping keeps all of the deliciousness inside. Oh yes, and it’s worth mentioning that every single dumpling is created by hand, daily. Amazing.
Now for the pork and prawn dumplings, a bite-sized surf and turf. Why try and mess with a classic filling? If you do it well, and let me tell you – Xi Home do it well, then why mess with it? Even though my poor chopstick skills let me down every time, and let me tell you – I mean every time, the bliss of these perfectly sweet and meaty dumplings makes it worth it. A mouthful that leads you to grab the next before you’ve even swallowed.
The pork and Chinese toon dumplings completed the trio, and they were a revelation. Juicy, savoury pork provided the foundation, while the Chinese toon brought something altogether more intriguing: a flavour somewhere between spring onion, garlic and walnut, with a gentle herbal edge that lingered long after each bite. I’m not going to lie and say I knew what Chinese toon was before this, because I didn’t. Will I be ordering the next thing I see with it in? Absolutely.
Xi Home Dumpling Bay is joy by name and joy by nature, whether that’s the punchy, vibrant cocktails, the oh-my-god-I-can’t-stop-thinking-about-it food, or the wholesome welcome of the staff that later sit at the table next to you to enjoy the exact same dishes on their break (I can’t tell you how much I love it when a restaurant treats their staff to the same food the customers eat). Joy runs through the restaurant and joy will be what brings you back.
Head down to one of their three restaurants and experience the new summer menu. You won’t regret it.
Available at:
- Xi Home Dumplings Bay (Spitalfields / Liverpool Street), 10 Blossom St, London E1 6PL
- Xi Home Dumplings – Covent Garden, 43 Chandos Pl, London WC2N 4HS
- Xi Home Dumplings – Bang Bang Oriental Food Hall, 399 Edgware Road London NW9 0FH