Saturday 17 April 2021

Dumplings.ru – Flavour of Russia [MEDIA INVITE]

Dumplings 12pcs Combo Platter 

Dumplings.ru is an authentic family-owned Russian restaurant, brainchild of Russian Owners Vadim Zoubovski and his wife, Alena Zubovska. Dumplings.ru serves dishes from Vadim and Alena family-owned recipes that have been passed down over 100 years. In short, you can expect to taste authentic home-cooked Russian food, Russian drinks together with Russian hospitality.

Dumplings.RU
LD and I were there on Friday afternoon and the place are buzzing with lunch crowd. The restaurant is cosy, with industrial design flair and without a doubt, the bar is the centrepiece of the restaurant. It can also fall under the classification of Gastropub.

The Bar
We started our tasting with Kholodets (Chicken Jelly Terrine, $8.90). Our first-time trying this and we just loved it. These mini jelly chicken cups are light and wobbly. The initial taste is very neutral almost bland like it is not seasoned at all. However, once you eat it with the mustard and spring onion, the flavour of the chicken, egg and dill just burst. Awesome.

Kholodets
Kholodets is served with slices of Rye Bread, also known as Black Bread in Russia. The Rye bread is a staple of the Russian household and always available on every dinner table. Rye bread is normally made with sourdough, but this version served by Dumplings.ru is soft, moist and neutral in flavour, slightly different from the rye bread we tried before.

Kholodets
Shuba (Salted Herring Salad, $9.90). Nicely plated salad filled with chopped potatoes, carrots, onion, hard-boiled egg, salted herring, chopped beetroot and topped with mayo and spring onions. We like the medley of flavours in the salad as it works well together, in between you get the surprising salty flavour from the salted herring that perk up the salad. A refreshing salad indeed.

Shuba
Pork Chebureki 2pcs ($12). I called this the giant fried wanton. It has a crispy exterior (like Malay curry puff) filled slightly with pork fillings. The fillings are a bit salty, however, they can be offset with mayonnaise dip. Suitable for bar bites during drinking.



Pork Chebureki

Pork Chebureki - The Fillings
Okroshka Cold Summer Soup ($8.50). A quick sip of the soup tasted like watery yoghurt soup. Ingredients consist of potato, cucumber, egg, dill, sour cream, vinegar and served cold. It is refreshing, suitable for summer and also helps to balance the carbo-loaded dishes.

Okroshka Cold Summer Soup
We finally reach the star dish of the restaurant, Pelmeni (Russian Dumpling). We ordered the Dumplings 12pcs Combo Platter ($19.90). It comes in multi-colour; each colour represents one type of fillings. Black for beef, green for lamb, orange for hog (pork), yellow for chicken, white & pink for salmon. For the complete guide, see Dumpling 101 photo below.

Dumplings 12pcs Combo Platter 
Unlike the Chinese version of the dumpling, Pelmeni skin is thick, dense and chewy. The colouring does not influence the flavour of the skin, instead the flavour come from the fillings.

Dumpling 101 - Your Dumpling Guide
We like the black (beef) and orange (hog / pork) flavour most. They are moist and tasty. Surprisingly, the dumplings with potato fillings are moist and delicious, like mashed potatoes fillings.

Dumplings 12pcs Combo Platter
The lamb fillings are very gamy and best eaten with the sour cream that serves with every order of the Pelmeni. If you don’t like strong gamy flavour, you might want to give the lamb a miss.

To end the meal, we choose Medovik (Honey Cake) and Napoleon Cake ($7.90 each) as desserts. Medovik is a traditional honey layer cake, well-loved by the Russian. It is fragrant, sweet and just melts in your mouth. The unique flavour comes from honey and browned butter and sugar. Think of it as Russia’s version of Mille Crepe. As the Medovik came out straight from the fridge, it is best to let it thawed for about 5 to 10 minutes. Once it’s thawed, you can enjoy the dessert melts in your mouth with each bite.

Medovik
Meanwhile, Napoleon cake is another multi-layer traditional Russian cake. It is made from filo pastry and cream. It is light, fluffy and easily melts in your mouth. For Napoleon, you can eat this straight away, no need to let it thawed.

Napoleon
Dining in a Russian restaurant will not be complete without the alcohols. I shall not mention their world-famous vodka, instead let me cast the light on their beer, wine and non-alcoholic drinks.

Kompot & Khvanchkara
LD tried their red wine Khvanchkara ($17 per glass), also known as ‘Joseph Stalin’s favourite Georgian red wine. The schuchmann is semi-sweet, smooth and easy to drink. I tried Kompot, a non-alcoholic fruit punch made from cooking fruits such as strawberries, apples, rhubarb with sugar or raisins. It tasted like cranberry juice with reduced acidity and sweetness.

Khvanchkara - The schuchmann 
Dumpling.ru also serve bottled Russian Beer ($16 per bottle). From the size, it will give the German beer a run for their money.

Russian Beer
Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience at Dumpling.ru. The food is tasty, hearty, delicious and homely. The kholodets, schuba, pork chebureki and dumplings are a must-try. Not forgetting sweets offering or Napoleon cake and Medovik. Cheers!

Thank you very much Protegie Consultancy and Dumpling.ru team for hosting us.

Food & Drinks: 7.5/10
Value: 7.5/10
Service: N/A (Tasting Invitation)
Ambiance: 7.25/10
Budget per Person: $11 - $25; $26 - $50

Dumplings.ru
32 Maxwell Road
#01-05 Maxwell Chambers
(Tanjong Pagar MRT Exit B)
S069115

T: +65 8875 7033
IG: @dumplings.ru
OH:
Mon: 17.30 – 20.30
Tue – Sun: 12.00 – 14.30; 17.30 – 22.30

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