Dumpling Haus is one of our favourite restaurants for asian food in Madison. It is located at a neat spot in Hilldale Mall and becomes a great option to regain some sustenance after some shopping trips. We love the space that is filled with light because of glass walls on both sides of the restaurant. The menu is very neatly hand written in chalkboard style at the entrance. There is a noodle bar kind of seating as well as tables of 4 and the decor is minimalistic.
You enter and order with a very genial older gentleman named William and then we usually grab our chopsticks and sit at the bar so that we can see our food get prepared. There is a wonderful rythm to this kitchen as stocks are prepared, noodles are boiled, dumplings are steamed and then vegetables are cooked and stir fried.
What we love about this place are clean and crisp flavors. You can see vegetables used are fresh and seasonal and cooked to perfection. Simplicity seems to be a running theme through all the dishes. The broths and stocks are flavorful and perfectly seasoned.
We always seem to order three entrees for the two of us. The food here make us feel like we are eating at home even though we have grown up eating homestyle indian food. Chef Jenny Yin has done a wonderful job to make this possible the way she has crafted the menu and the dishes.
We usually order the seasonal market vegetables, the tofu salad and one of the dumplings. The veggie wontons are our favourites but sometimes we also like the delicate shrimp dumplings. They always come steaming to the table and with a wonderful umami dipping sauce.
We love the vegetables here as we have said before so we always order something which will feature them. Believe me these are extremely comforting especially in the Madison winters. The seasonal veggies are sauteed with garlic to make this dish. Sometimes its also offered as a soup with delicious broth and featured as a special. We have seen napa cabbage, celery, spring onions, Moong Sprouts, Carrots, Young pea pods and the likes featured on this plate.
My personal favourite dish here which i have reserved for the last is the Haus Tofu Salad. It represents Jenny’s brilliance for me where she takes some good warmed up tofu, seasons simply with sesame oil, some garlic scented broth from what it seems to me, and it is heavenly. To add her most simple of homestyle touches, she tops it with some corn flakes for the texture. To me it’s brilliant and i find it always my go to dish here. The tofu is not fried, not coated with a ton of seasoning or egg and is not a afterthought of substitute in a dish where its out of place. Tofu is the superstar and the dish brings out the best of the mild soy flavor. Or rather Jenny is our superstar 🙂 This could possibly make a tofu lover out of people who haven’t taken a liking to tofu yet.
What Jenny creates here with basics like ginger, spring onions, garlic, fresh vegetables, sesame oil is magical. Do give Dumpling Haus a try when you go shopping. Sometimes we go here to satisfy our cravings and then end up shopping as an afterthought.
