Mei Mei Dumplings

Mei Mei

TL;DR: We are so grateful to our community for all your support as we have pivoted over these last few years! For the next couple months, we’re limiting our cafe kitchen service for dine-in and takeout. But don’t worry! We’ll still have so many ways for you to join us and chow down on all the dumplings and Double Awesomes. On National Dumpling Day, we’ll host another Bottomless Dumplings all-you-can-eat buffet, and in late October when the farmer’ market season winds down, we’ll sta… (truncated)

Mei Mei

mei mei dumpling making classes a culinary journey

Mei Mei

Mei Mei and the Dumpling Factory Golden Ticket Giveaway!

Mei Mei

Thanks to our Matching Campaign Supporter, National Development!

Mei Mei

Our dumpling factory dreams are becoming a reality with our new headquarters opening this winter at Iron Works in South Boston!

Mei Mei

What’s Irene been up to? Late last year, Chef Irene launched a startup called Prepshift that was accepted into the Visible Hands incubator and earlier this month, into the MassChallenge US Early Stage 2022 startup program. She’s movin’ and shakin’ all over the place! (Btw, did you hear the news about her James Beard Leadership Award?) Read on to learn more about her latest project and the impact it’s already having on restaurant workers. But what exactly is the deal with Prepshift?… (truncated)

Mei Mei

With the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, we know more people than ever will be left vulnerable and without access to necessary healthcare. Many people have an abortion. Abortion is healthcare. Mei Mei Dumplings will be donating $1,000 across the following organizations crowdsourced from our staff. National Network of Abortion Funds The National Network of Abortion Funds builds power with members to remove financial and logistical barriers to abortion access by cent… (truncated)

Mei Mei

We’re so proud of our co-founder Irene Li! She is the youngest ever recipient of the award. The James Beard Foundation presented Irene Li of Boston with a 2022 Leadership Award in a ceremony hosted by Chef Bryant Terry on Sunday, June 12 in Chicago, IL. 2022 Leadership Award Honorees In a panel discussion with fellow Leadership winners, Li called for more transparency and guest education about what happens under the surface in the restaurant industry: “I hope we can love our communi… (truncated)

Mei Mei

(c) Michael Piazza Sometimes it’s fun to explore obscure and ignored cuts of meat; other times, we crave a classic cut like a beautiful, well-raised pork chop. We treat it like a great steak—high heat and flip often—but at about half the price, so you can put the money toward high-quality, sustainably farmed meat. Knowing you’ve got great meat, we’re all about cooking to medium-rare so it’s juicy and pale pink, and not doing too much to it. Our quick version of an apple hoisin sauce… (truncated)

Mei Mei · Recipes

The dressing for this dish combines two of our favorite flavors—miso for a rich earthy note and maple for a hit of sweetness and New England charm. Add in a bit of soy sauce for seasoning and touch of lemon juice for brightness and you’ve got a light yet surprisingly complex sauce that seems to melt into the potatoes. A garnish of fried shallots adds an extra-addictive oniony crunch that we can’t get enough of. While the dressing is pretty simple, the potato process might seem unnec… (truncated)

Mei Mei · Food for Thought

Meet Hal, our new HLT-700XL, a filling and forming machine Hi, everyone, it’s been a while! As the farmers’ market season winds down, we’re realizing that it’s November (!) and we’re pausing to take stock of the year we’ve had. As promised, we have doubled down on dumplings and are now producing 9,000-12,000 per week! This means that we can now produce a week’s worth of dumplings in a day. How, you might ask? Thanks to our NuMarket campaign contributors, we are now the proud owners… (truncated)

Mei Mei · Recipes

Ginger scallion lobster from a Cantonese restaurant—cut into shell-on chunks, deep-fried, and tossed with aromatics to be greedily torn apart at the table, elbow to elbow with your siblings and cousins. New England lobster rolls—to be consumed sitting on the weathered gray boards of a clam shack patio by the beach in Maine or on the Cape, your hair still rough with sea salt and sand wedged between your toes. But does anyone else get almost teary-eyed with the feelings of family, sum… (truncated)

Mei Mei · Recipes

Our take on borscht with its vivid magenta hue and Asian flavors always surprises people. We discovered there is a Chinese version of borscht similar to hot and sour soup, with cabbage and tomato instead of the classic Eastern European version with beets. Ours nods to both styles and also takes inspiration from Thailand and Korea, getting its “hot” from green chili curry paste and “sour” from kimchi or sauerkraut juice, but planting its foot firmly in the “borscht should have beets”… (truncated)

Mei Mei

We think our dumplings and soy aioli are the ultimate combo but sometimes you’re just in the mood for a more traditional dipping sauce. Consider this basic dumpling sauce a starting point for the sauce of your dreams. Elaine (aka. Mother of Mei Mei), who eats a low-sodium diet, leaves out the soy sauce in favor of some water and a pinch of sugar. If you have very fatty, meaty dumplings, try increasing the amount of black vinegar. If you like it spicy, add in more chili sauce or srir… (truncated)

Mei Mei · Recipes

This recipe infuses classic Chinese cucumber salad with a fresh, herby breath of spring. The smashing of the cucumber softens the edges and helps the pieces absorb more flavor; plus, it’s fun to whack things. We encourage you to play around with the ingredients; if you can find some green garlic or garlic scapes, they’re a wonderful seasonal substitute for garlic cloves. If you don’t have mint, try parsley or cilantro, and there’s no reason you can’t up the quantities of the herbs.… (truncated)