if you want a meal that is a) quick, b) a generous serving size and c) excellent value for money then Star Dumplings is for you. it is not fancy but it is clean and bright. It serves two of my favourite things - dumplings and handmade noodles. I couldn't resist ordering both even though I could see from other tables that it was going to be an enormous amount of food. The hot and spicy chicken noodles were great - springy, tasty sauce and chicken with skin and on the bone (they warn you on the menu that it is going to come that way). it wasn't as spicy as I would have liked but the jar of chilli on the table fixed that. The pork dumplings were great. They were large with a juicy filling. for less than $20 I waddled out full and couldn't eat for the rest of the day.
I was wandering around Grote street with an old friend of mine, who was pointing out a lot of Asians restaurants that he had visited (and since he is married to a Hong Konger he tends to know the authentic ones). Well, this wasn't one that he pointed out, however we were looking for a quick bite, and I wanted some place in Chinatown, so we settled on this place pretty quickly. Actually, this place, in a way seemed to be more authentic, at least it's character, than many of the other places he showed me (which tend to lean towards the classier end of the spectrum. The prices aren't bad, and it's standard noodles or rice. They did mix up our orders, though they gave me his and him mine (not as bad as some places). It wasn't bad, but certainly wasn't the best. Still, it's a nice place if you want some standard, not too authentic, Asian food.
