When I was growing up, frozen dumplings were always a backup food somewhere in the back of the freezer. Like many other Asian families, we only had these when my mom didn’t feel like cooking but needed to get dinner on the table. The dumplings were always fine, but nothing to get too excited about. As a kid, I was always excited because it was one of the very few things in the kitchen our mom would entrust us to do for dinner, other than turning on the rice cooker. The dumplings were usually the large bulk purchases from places like Costco or Ranch 99 and varied in filling, from chicken and cabbage to beef and mixed vegetables. Sometimes, we even got a “treat” and had mixed shrimp and pork ones. The texture was always very uniform and not particularly interesting.

When I moved to New York, I realized that almost every hole-in-the-wall dumpling shop I liked, whether it was in Elmhurst, Flushing, or Manhattan Chinatown, sold their own dumplings to take home — in frozen form. You could get a bag of 50 pre-frozen dumplings for somewhere in the ballpark of $9-14 depending on the filling (and what year we’re referencing). Because of this, I could “vet” how good the dumplings were by buying them freshly made, whether it was boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. And if I liked them, then I’d be comfortable committing to a bag of 50. Some people are wary of the frozen dumplings from little dumpling shops, but I can say, after buying many frozen bags from my favorite shops, that they cook up exactly like they do by the restaurants as long as you treat them properly.

Bibigo beef dumplings were a frozen brand that we found at Costco years ago that was on sale, so we got it a couple times and enjoyed them. So when HMart opened in our neighborhood, I picked up the Bibigo frozen chicken and vegetable dumplings, also on sale. I steamed some of them to supplement dinner tonight, and while we ate them, I was reminded of all those frozen dumplings I ate growing up and how… they all paled in comparison to my favorite dumpling shops here in New York City.

That’s when I realized how lucky I am to live in a city that has literally endless excellent dumpling shops (and with so many different styles!) that can be bought in bulk, frozen, and made at home. I am spoiled for choice here, and when one shop doesn’t have the dumplings ready frozen, then another one will just a few blocks away. Sometimes on Instagram, I get messages from people around the world, people I do not know personally, who tell me how envious they are that we live in such a cosmopolitan city with so much variety for cuisines — and at approachable price points. Some people tell me that they have to drive at least 50+ miles just to get the most basic Asian vegetable, or a good Indian restaurant, etc. We really are so lucky in so many ways to live in this great city.