Chilli oil dumplings @ eJoy Asian Foods
1 Myrtle Parade, Liverpool, L7 7EL
For a city where siu mei are almost as important an icon of civic identity as the Beatles, the ferry or the Liver Birds, it’s surprisingly difficult to get decent dumplings in Liverpool.
One of the places where you’re guaranteed to find them is at eJoy Asian Foods supermarket, opposite the University of Liverpool campus on Myrtle Street. As you enter the shop on the right hand side there is a small collection of food stalls, one of which is called ‘Xiolongbao’.
Alongside their namesake soup dumplings, and a selection of other classics like har gow, the concession sells a piled-high plate of ‘chilli oil dumplings’ — steamed, filled with pork, prawn and chive and covered in a hot crispy chilli oil. About as good versions of these as I’ve had anywhere.
Next to the stand is a small bar with a few stools, but this is shared by all of the food stalls. Drinks have to be brought in or bought from the supermarket itself (I recommend the Chinese mandarin soda from Arctic Ocean)