House of Dumplings - Cantonese Free-Range Chicken Coriander Dumplings product reviews

It really does pay to read the full ingredients list before you dive into a new food. I have an unpleasant reaction to some fungii, and it appears Woodear mushroom is one of them. (I know its not Shiitake mushrooms - eaten them before without significant reaction.) None the less, it was so very worth the minor discomfort to nosh down these delightful morsels.

Having eaten HoD dumplings before - many, many times - one of the things I loved was the variety of shapes. This provided a unique visual 'key' to identifying what dumplings you are grabbing, so you know exactly what to grab. Thus, I was a bit surprised to find the shape of the dumplings to be the same across the range. It's not a big thing, but it did feel like a bit of a step backwards. Still, the price has come down, and they are even easier to cook because they are pre-steamed and ready to cook in the pan from frozen. That's a huge step forward and more than offsets the lack of shape-variation across the range.

I cooked half the pack - 5 dumplings - from frozen and the other five from thawed, to see if that made any difference in texture or taste. In this case, it actually did - texture. I found cooking them from frozen left the 'meatball' in the middle a little chewier than the 'from thawed' dumplings. I wouldn't say they were better or worse - that would be a very personal and subjective decision that I will leave to you. Personally, I kinda liked it. I dislike food that vanished as you bite, I like food that hangs around a bit and says "You really need to pay attention to me! Enjoy my texture, savour my flavour!"

Taste-wise, these were everything I could have hoped for, and a bit more. There was a rich, deep flavour and you could still taste the 'shrooms... well, I could at any rate, because of my sensitivity to fungal proteins. The Coriander came through well, but wasn't overpowering. You still could taste the chicken and the seasonings well enough to know you weren't eating a McNugget of some kind.

Overall, these were not my favourites - because of the mushrooms - but they were still very pleasant and well worth eating. I personally will not buy them again, but I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who likes the sound of something amazing with chicken and 'shrooms.