Dumpling Shack and Fen Noodles located in The Kitchens section of Old Spitalfields Market are part of the same group serving up as you may well have guessed dumplings and noodles.

I had come for Fen Noodles but once I saw the dumpling stall I knew I had to have those as well anyway I love both so I was happy to stand in line twice so that we could sample something from each place and perhaps that had been my cunning plan all along.

What did we eat?

Dumpling Shack are according to the market website ‘Known for serving some of the best dumplings in London’. I love dumplings so I was very keen to check them out.

In particular I wanted to sample some of their Shengjuanbao soup dumplings so when I found the stand and saw that the menu was offering 4 for £6.85 we had to order some to try

PAN FRIED PORK SOUP DUMPLINGS

I really wanted to fall in love with these dumplings but I just couldn’t. Maybe it was the overcrowded cramped table where I struggled to eat amongst the flying elbows and the jostling of the passers by, or was it that my chopstick skills were just not good enough on the day to pick them up easily?

More likely and closer to the truth it was that after years of watching various travel shows and celebrity chefs eulogize about this particular bite of food my expectation were just too high.

Before you eat Dumpling shack warn you that the contents will be hot and that you should be careful when biting in. What they don’t tell you is that even when you cautiously take a bite the soup just spills out all over and at best is lost in the tray in front of you or at worst all down your shirt.

Overall while I did like the flavour of the soup broth and the crumbly meat inside the dumpling the reality was that the dough was much thicker and more chewy than I had expected. This meant it was so hard to even take a small nibble to suck out the soup. I found that it was all far too much effort and I just didn’t enjoy the whole experience.

It wasn’t them it was me, It just didn’t work out for me on this day I was probably over-expectant and grumpy once I dowsed myself in hot fatty soup from eating them. Maybe another time down to the market I’ll try again, yeh I think I will for sure 😎🧐

FEN NOODLES MENU

Just around the corner on the same kitchen area lay FEN NOODLES the ‘little brother’ of DUMPLING SHACK offering bowls of hand pulled noodles with various toppings.

My choice was going to be the CUMIN BEEF NOODLES “Flank steak marinated in Cumin, Garlic and Soy. Stir Fried with Bell Peppers and red onions”

I had already seen diners gorging themselves on their food so I was ready to order with full knowledge of what I wanted and what I was going to get.

The market website says that “The whole menu is about the wide flat noodles and each portion is pulled by hand right in front of you”. That was very true and one of the highlights was that bit of theatre as you watched each set of noodles getting pulled and stretched out on the counter top.

Each time a portion got pulled and chucked into the boiling pot to cook you just hoped eagerly that they were going to be your noodles! I must have watched half a dozen portions being prepared before finally mine were ready and my name and number was called 😎

CUMIN BEEF NOODLES

There were two great elements to this dish, the meat and the noodles. The exceptionally generous portion of marinated flank steak was more than just a topping it was filling the bowl almost elbowing the noodle out of the way as it cried out for my attention.

I loved that it was heavy on the cumin, it was almost like a dry rub as it seemed to have permeated all through the meat. The garlic and soy almost counterbalanced the spice but I felt that they had to work hard to get noticed as much

The scattering of chopped scallion brought a little lightness and freshness to the dish while the stir fried slices of bell pepper added a bit of crunch and a bit of relief from the marinade on the meat

CLOSE UP ON THE NOODLES

The star of the show were the hand-pulled noodles. They were thick and chewy and yet light at the same time like well cooked pasta. If you told me it was the wrapper from a potsticker then I would have been better prepared in my mind for what was to come they were unlike any noodles I had eaten before.

I liked that they were flat and wide as then there was more surface area to collect the spice and juices from the rest of the stuff in the bowl. It also made them a whole lot easier to pick up and eat with chopsticks than the noodles usually encounter and do battle with.

Overall it was a mixed experience but one that I was happy to have had. The noodles were immense and were everything that I had hoped to find when I came here looking for the Fen Noodles stall.

The dumpling could have been great and I think as I said up top I got inside my head too much fantasying about them and then on the day they and I just did not make friends.

I’ll be back though to try more things from both Dumpling Shack and from Fen Noodles next time I am in London and visiting the market

MORE MENU ITEMS TO CONTEMPLATE

Dumpling Shack and Fen Noodles can be found at Spitalfields Market

Check Dumpling Shack out on their website, their Instagram profile, and Facebook page

Check Fen Noodles out on their Instagram profile and Facebook Page