Mom Dumpling House, East Victoria Park (again)
I first blogged about Mom Dumpling House a couple of years ago, and multiple visits later, it has become one of our ‘Old Reliables’ – especially handy that it’s open 7 days a week. While not all dishes have been winners for us, we always get a good feed here. The Northeastern Chinese dishes are home-style, comforting and delicious. When it’s date night, we order three dishes plus rice (AU$2 per bowl) and if we can’t finish it all, it’s never a problem taking the leftovers home.
The menu is extensive and we’re eating our way through it, but we’ve got favourites that we order again and again. I always want to start with spinach and meatball soup, a clear broth with pork meatballs bobbing with spinach, egg and slippery glass noodles. The small size is plenty for sharing between two people. We usually get dumplings too – plump handmade pillows with chewy skins – we dip them in vinegar and soy sauce. Watch out – some of the sauce bottles dribble when you pour.
We also like the eggplant with pork mince in brown sauce and the mapo eggplant. Although there’s sliced green chilli in the eggplant with pork mince and brown sauce, the mapo is spicier, littered with chilli seeds. Our latest discovery at a recent lunch was the stir-fried tender niblets of pork with egg and black fungus with the wonderful charry flavour of a hot wok. Although it calls itself a ‘dumpling house’, I think the best dishes here are the non-dumpling ones.
Every time we eat at Mom, we somehow end up ordering a porkfest. When we had dinner there with my sister Juji and her hubby, for example, we had the pork meatballs in the spinach and meatball soup (large size between four people), house special braised pork, salt and pepper pork and two kinds of steamed dumplings, both featuring pork – pickled cabbage and pork, and pork, chive and shrimp. I guess you can see why this is my kind of place.
Where’s your Old Reliable?
Spinach and meatball soup (small, AU$6) – the glass noodles are usually hiding at the bottom of the bowl
Panfried pork dumplings (AU$8) 
Pork, chive and shrimp steamed dumplings (small, AU$6) – Don’t come here expecting soup dumplings – they’re from a different part of China
Pickled cabbage and pork steamed dumplings (small, AU$5.50)
Mapo eggplant 
Eggplant and pork mince with brown sauce (AU$13). The brown sauce is quite salty – were salt fiends and love it, but it won’t be to everyone’s taste – you definitely need to eat this with rice
Stir-fried pork with egg and black fungus
Cabbage and black fungus
Spicy and sour shredded potato (AU$8) – a huge serving, even between four. It was served cold, the potato still slightly crunchy. Haven’t decided whether I like this or not; I’d like to try other versions for comparison, but haven’t found this dish yet in any other Perth Chinese restaurants 
House special braised pork (AU$18) – gelatinous, fall-apart strips of pork drunken with sauce
Salt and pepper pork (AU$18) – compellingly savoury, although on the dry side. I’ve probably had better versions of this elsewhere 
It gets pretty busy on Friday nights and weekends – I recommend booking.
Mom Dumpling House
On the corner of Albany Highway and Kent Street, next to the ‘jellybean’ roundabout and opposite a car yard.
687 Albany Hwy
East Victoria Park WA 6101
Telephone: (08) 9470 2088
Open 7 days 11am to 3pm, 4.30pm to 9.30pm
BYO
See my previous post about Mom Dumpling House (2012)