Mother's Dumplings

What is Mother's Dumplings? Occupying 421 Spadina Avenue on the northern edge of Chinatown, Mother's Dumplings is a quintessential Toronto institution founded by chef-owner Zhen Feng. What began in 2005 as a tiny eight-table shop on Huron Street has expanded into a spacious, utilitarian dining room filled with sturdy wooden tables, booths, and a glass-paneled prep window where cooks roll and pleat dough by hand all afternoon.

Mother's Dumplings Menu & What to Order The house-signature boiled pork and dill dumplings are essential ordering, bursting with a distinct herbal punch that stands far apart from standard Cantonese dim sum. Round out the order with golden pan-fried pork and bok choy potstickers, juicy steamed pork buns, a crisp beef-onion roll wrapped in a flaky scallion pancake, and a garlicky plate of smashed cucumber salad. Vegetarians are well-covered with the bok choy, mushroom, and glass noodle dumplings, best enjoyed alongside pots of loose-leaf jasmine tea or cold Tsingtao.

Know Before You Go Tables are largely first-come, first-served with phone bookings reserved for larger gatherings, meaning lines routinely back up during Friday and Saturday dinner hours as well as weekday lunch rushes from nearby university crowds. Reach the restaurant easily via the 510 Spadina streetcar, and make sure to raid the front freezer for bagged dozens of pork-and-chive or vegan dumplings to cook at home. Mother's Dumplings operates daily from 11:30 a.m. on weekdays and 11:15 a.m. on weekends until 10:00 p.m.