Tian Jin Dumpling House

The options at Tianjin Dumpling House are near endless: sea bass, beef, shrimp, chives, and egg. What you want, though, is the famous lamb and green squash dumpling, a juicy, boiled vessel for generous portions of tender lamb and light gourd. At $5 for 12 pieces, this meal is appetizing in more ways than one.

Meet my favorite dumplings in the world: the lamb and green squash dumplings from corner stall Tianjin Dumpling House. This northern Chinese stall sells about 10,000 dumplings a day in over a dozen flavors, but these juicy, aromatic dumplings with tender-yet-chewy skins are the best item on the menu. Also seek out the ace vegetarian dumplings, filled with scrambled egg, glass noodles, and garlic chives.

Located in the basement of the Golden Shopping Mall, this tiny stall serves up some of the best dumplings in town, including a dessert dumpling called Tang Yuan filled with black sesame paste. Other specialties include beef roll, lamb and green squash dumplings, and scallion pancakes. Look for the red sign pointing you to the right stall—it's definitely worth searching for in this crowded food court.

Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall is full of unexpected treasures, like the addictive potstickers at Tianjin Dumpling House. You can order these plump, juicy dumplings—either pan-fried or steamed—with dozens of unique fillings from sea bass to pumpkin, but the crowds line up for the thick-skinned, steamed version stuffed with lamb with green squash. (Pro tip: Grab a frozen bag to take home.)

These days my favorites include cold skin noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods, fu qi fei pian (aka ox tongue and tripe in chili oil) from the Sichuan spot at the bottom of the stairs, the seabass dumplings from Tianjin Dumpling House, and Nutritious Lamb Noodle Soup. Truth is I’m still exploring this underground culinary wonderland.

These made-to-order dumplings at Tianjin Dumpling House, in the basement of the Golden Shopping Mall, are a must. Serious Eats says they are the best in the city. They only come boiled, but that won't matter when you're chowing down on a plate of 12 vegetable dumplings that cost $5.

Arguably our favorite food court, though, is Golden Mall, home of the original Xi'an Famous Foods booth. Skip them, since you can get their food elsewhere. Tianjin Dumpling House, also mounting in popularity, makes the best dumplings in Flushing.

Tian Jian dumpling was the final spot on this Flushing Chinatown food crawl. I ordered 6 pan fried pork dumplings, and they were pretty darn tasty. Super juicy with a nice soy, onion, and cilantro flavor.