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A welcome return

Customers, staff excited to have Gourmet Dumplings reopened

STEPHEN ROBERTS

stephen.roberts@saltwire.com

The doors are open once again at one of Amherst’s most popular spots for Chinese cuisine.

Restaurant patrons are happy to sample the delicious offerings of Gourmet Dumplings since it reopened last month. The restaurant had been closed from July to September.

Anna Wang, daughter of the owner/operator Wang Li, says business is going strong since the re-opening.

“It’s been going pretty good, busy,” she says. “Everyone, when they come in, said they miss the food so much, so it has been very busy.”

The popular destination was started by Wang Li in 2016.

Anna says her mother has always enjoyed cooking and, after moving to Amherst in 2013, quickly found her recipe for dumplings proved popular with locals.

“Everyone loved her dumplings,” says Anna.

“She started at the summer’s market I think, and it got popular.”

The family had some property available and everything fell into place to get it started.

The name of the restaurant promoted Wang Li’s specialty, the dumplings, but she also offered a wide variety of combos, from Kung Pao chicken to ginger beef to sesame chicken to sweet and sour chicken and a whole lot more.

Dishes recently added to the menu since the re-opening include shrimp tempura, crispy chicken and seaweed salad.

Despite the great food, the restaurant has faced temporarily closures since the COVID-19 pandemic. The business was first closed from November 2020 to March 2021. It re-opened from March until July, when Wang Li had to take time off again for health reasons.

They were able to re-open again in late September, with Anna now acting as manager, while her mother takes time off for her health.

Restaurant management is a completely new experience for Anna, who is responsible for preparing, serving and doing everything to ensure customer satisfaction.

She enjoys talking to customers and hearing about how much they love the food.

Anna feels what makes the restaurant unique is both the quality of the food and the service.

“When my mom was here, everyone loved her and she makes good, original, fresh Chinese food,” she says. “It’s different from other Chinese restaurants I think.”

Wang Li cooked all the dishes at Gourmet Dumplings, so since re-opening they have hired a new chef to handle all the cooking – except for the dumpings, which Anna now does.

She learned the recipe from her mother.

“That’s the hardest part,” said Anna. “Because it’s all handmade.”

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