My dumpling habit didn’t really develop until I moved to Taipei.
There, in Taiwan’s capital, nights were for exploring the markets, sprawling mazes of vendors scooping fried cubes of stinky, squishy tofu from a vat of hot oil or dipping skewered pork intestines in vats of spiced, bubbling broth. Any other time of day was fair game for a dumpling run, even breakfast. (Especially breakfast.)
We had a potsticker guy. Two, actually, a father and son who crisped up fantastic vegan dumplings in a cast iron pan set up at a barely altered auto garage. But more often, dumplings meant shui jiao, literally “water dumplings,” boiled bundles of ground pork and just enough cabbage to convince you they made up a balanced meal. Wherever I was in the city, my nose could usually lead me to a place selling 10 for around $4, with rice staying warm in a cooker near a DIY sauce mixing station with soy, vinegar and chile oil.
There are many reasons to love Portland: the temperate weather, proximity to nature and movie theaters that serve beer chief among them. But it hasn’t always been a great place to pursue a dedicated dumpling practice. (That, and celebrating the dumpling’s many global forms, were the main reasons a colleague and I came up with Dumpling Week nearly a decade ago.)
Historically, most Portland dumplings have been of the Northern Chinese variety, with thick, dough-wrapped meatball fried to a hearty crunch. More recently, local chefs have turned their attention to perfecting pelmeni, connecting with winged gyoza and summoning blisteringly hot soup dumplings. But it wasn’t until Master Kong opened its second location off Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard that I found the everyday dumpling spot I was craving.
Let’s back up. The first time I visited Master Kong, the Southeast Portland restaurant had yet to be discovered by Yelp, let alone been the subject of a viral TikTok video. Located in a converted house next to the X-otic Tan lingerie shop (“for men”) on Southeast Division Street just east of 82nd Avenue, the restaurant’s menu was filled with an assortment of dishes from both Tianjin, the port city near Beijing where chef-owner Kang Zhu worked for more than a decade, and Taishan, the much smaller city west of Hong Kong where he and his family were born.
That blend, and the relatively early 9 a.m. opening hours (now 10:30 a.m.), interested me most. In our initial review, I pitched Master Kong as a breakfast alternative to nearby dim sum options Pure Spice, Ocean City and Wong’s King Seafood, describing Zhu as one of “Portland’s greatest chef chameleons” for his work here and previously at the dry hot pot restaurant Pot & Spicy. Dishes highlighted included Zhu’s takes on wonton soup, jian bing and goubuli, the rustic, relatively rare Tianjin pork buns.
Like many Portlanders, Master Kong became one of our family’s go-to takeout option during the pandemic, and the “Chinese potstickers” became a must-order. During one pickup, Zhu’s sister, Amy Zhu, sent me home with a tightly wrapped bag of frozen pork dumplings. A week later, I cooked them for dinner, and realized I had been missing a great dumpling restaurant for the dumplings.
Master Kong opened a second restaurant last November in the old Bazi Bierbrasserie, once Portland’s best Belgian beer bar. Visit now and you can pick from a half dozen different dumplings, wontons and buns either steamed, boiled or pan-fried (most $7-$9 per order), all listed on a large vertical touch screen like the ones found at McDonald’s. Start with those “Chinese potstickers,” thin, loosely pinched purses of ground pork given a light, golden-crisp base, or the regular “handmade” boiled dumplings, either chicken or pork, each equally juicy.
Master Kong offers stir-fried greens, braised meats over rice and noodle soups, but if you go, you should start with the dumplings, including the slender "Chinese potstickers."Michael Russell | The Oregonian
Portland has many more dumpling restaurants now than when I moved here 16 years ago, including outposts of Taiwan’s internationally renowned Din Tai Fung and the Seattle-based alternative Dough Zone, and good local options such as Chin’s Kitchen, Duck House and XLB. But right now, Master Kong is hitting the sweet spot of quality and price.
Master Kong doesn’t have the kinds of syrupy fried chicken or stir-fried noodles found at many American Chinese restaurants, but there’s more than just dumplings too. Zhu’s stir-fried snow pea leaves are nicely done, his buttery wonton soup is a contender for best in town and I prefer his jian bing to Bing Mi’s (though neither compares to the Taiwanese version I prefer). Other dishes are fine, but not special — the signature pan-fried buns at Dough Zone in South Waterfront are better. Ditto for the beef noodle soup at Wei Wei in Westmoreland, There are better soup dumpling restaurants around (there are worse ones, too).
Parents of small children should take note: Portland has never offered much in the way of kid-friendly restaurants, and many of the options that were here closed during the pandemic. The two restaurants closest to my house with play areas got rid of them permanently in 2020 (a nearby brewpub had already replaced one of theirs with an axe-throwing lane). Master Kong isn’t exactly child-proof, but it does have an under-utilized side room, spinning laser logos and sits a block from Sewallcrest Park.
That being said, if I had one suggestion for Master Kong Hawthorne, it’s to beef up the beer selection. When it opened, the restaurant offered a bottled tour of mass-produced Asian lagers, and has since added a few random cans of hoppy ales. But there are still signs of the building’s former tenant, including a long bar and a large Duvel chalice currently used for holding candy. What if this wasn’t just Portland’s best everyday dumpling restaurant, but its best Belgian beer bar, too?
A boy can dream.
What to order: House-made dumplings, Chinese potstickers, congee, wonton soup, goubuli, stir-fried greens, jian bing.
Details: Master Kong’s new restaurant is just off Hawthorne at 1522 S.E. 32nd Ave., 503-384-2184, masterkongor.com. Find the original location at 8435 S.E. Division St.
Read more:
Who needs dim sum? Master Kong puts a provincial twist on Chinese breakfast
— Michael Russell; mrussell@oregonian.com
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