Mama's Lu Dumpling Monterey Park 91755

TheGastronomer | Blogger Favorite Cuisine: Japanese,Chinese 178 Reviews

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User Restaurant Rating 89

8/6/2009 Mama’s Lu is owned by the daughter of Dean Sin World proprietress, Ms. Lu. Not only did Ms. Lu pass on her superior dumpling making genes, but she also gifted her daughter with a knack for awkwardly naming restaurants. Read more from their blog Recommended Dishes Shanghai rice cakes, green onion pancake

pepsimonster | Blogger Favorite Cuisine: Chinese,Japanese 49 Reviews

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User Restaurant Rating 85

7/21/2009 Great for the whole family albeit it's a small place with only one big round table and 8 other smaller tables in the restaurant. Nonetheless, it's still a great place to get a meal that filled you up without lessening your wallet.

Everything they have done right so far except the name. What is a Lu? Read more from their blog Recommended Dishes Xiao Long Bao

Kung Food Panda | Blogger Favorite Cuisine: Chinese,Japanese 53 Reviews

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User Restaurant Rating 89

7/1/2009 We started off with 2 orders of their famous green onion cake. Although it's one of the most simplest thing on any menu, especially at a Northern Chinese style restaurant, I've had some pretty horrible green onion cakes in my days (soggy, oily, you name it). The version found here is simply delicious. Crispy, flavorful, and at only $1.99 to boot, it's hard to beat this version based on taste and price. Call it Chinese Pizza or whatever, it's just plain delicious. Probably my favorite thing found at Mama's Lu. Read more from their blog Recommended Dishes Stir Fried Rice Cakes, Fried Rice, Green Onion Cake

Paul Favorite Cuisine: 13 Reviews

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User Restaurant Rating 85

6/29/2009 Recommended Dishes Juicy pork dumpling, Pan fried dumplings, fish dumplings

agbells Favorite Cuisine: 23 Reviews

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User Restaurant Rating 89

3/27/2009 I've been craving for juicy pork dumplings for awhile (siu long bao; yes, i'm canto... for you mandarin ppl "xiao long bao").

The restaurant itself is small and everything is very clean (tables, chairs/ booths, plates, spoons, etc)... no sticky feeling on the table that you might get at some chinese restaurant.

The menu is simple. One sheet of paper - both sides (i believe someone posted a picture of their menu). So of course we ordered the siu long bao; and i must try their shanghai style chow mein to determine how much, as cantonese ppl would use, "wok hay" (aka the flavor that eludes from a very very HOT wok when stir frying; or see here for definition: http://www.practically...) they have. We also ordered pan fried dumplings (we asked it to be extra burnt), and lastly we ordered the crab dumpling.

The shanghai style chow mein (http://static.px.yelp....) = eh. it was very pale looking. Unlike many shanghai noodles that i have had before, where it's normally dark brown and very saucy. This one, it's pale and i think it tastes better when i added chili oil. I saw another table who have ordered shanghai style rice cake, yeah, it's also pale looking. And no, the noodles have no "wok hay". At this time, i started to ponder whether the dumplings will be good. If the shanghai chow mein arent, then.. hmmm...

so out comes the Pan Fried Dumpling (http://static.px.yelp....). surprisingly these are pretty good. Of course we have asked for more burnt / which made the skin more crispy..i like it! the meat, it's okay. not bad, but not awesomely good. The meat compared to other places are a bit darker..it's probably the way they marinated the pork.

Finally, what we've been waiting for, the siu long bao (http://static.px.yelp.... ) and the crab dumplings (http://static.px.yelp.... ) came out at the same time. We all picked up a siu long bao and tried our first bite w/ no hot sauce, just to see how the flavor is like on it's own. The skin, very thin - kind of reminds me of Din Tai Fung's. It's definitely thinner than Dragon Marks, J & J Restaurant, and Mei Long Village. The pork, it wasn't the same as i normally have, even the color is darker than what i normally have at other places..but still good. The soup, yes, it's enough flavor and there were a lot of soup too. The 2nd dumpling, i put the whole thing in my mouth just to let the soup burst out...mmmmm it was very tasty. And for $4.50 for 10 dumplings...what a deal!! cannot complain!

Moving onto the crab dumpling..though it looks fancy and all, in its own little tin foil dish.. the taste.. it was okay. I think i will not order this again if i were to come back. For those who dont like fishy taste, i would not recommend it. Yes, there were soup inside the dumpling. And crab? where's the crab meat? i see no crab meat! i just see brown pork. and two baby baby strands of crab meat, i guess. For ~$9 = not worth it. no need to order it, nothing special.. you might as well order two siu long bao.

Overall i enjoyed my dinner. It was cheap too. And the food was not bad. I will definitely come back for the siu long bao and pan fried dumpling. But i will not order the shanghai chow mein or the crab dumpling. I do want to try their noodles in soup though, i saw quite a few ppl ordering it.

Oh and i do want to try their "sang jeen bao" (Fried Pork Bun)..if i enjoyed their Pan Fried Dumplings, then i think the Fried Pork Bun shouldn't be too bad. Recommended Dishes Juicy Pork Dumpling Pan Fried Dumpling

Mama's Lu Dumpling

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