Dumpling House, San Martín 875, Retiro – While I don’t recall my mother ever saying it, received wisdom is that if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say it. On the other hand, if a picture is worth a thousand words, the following five photos are spewing out a 5k monologue that ought, at least in brevity, be stood up to. This place is dedicated to the world of dumplings, and offers up a quartet of different ethnic types, plus a few random other dishes. It was the 48th outing for the Roving Ravenous Horde, a last minute substitution, when it was noted that three of the four of us confirmed had to be in Retiro by 3pm and Caballito, our original destination, wasn’t going to cut it.

Anemic, flavorless, oily, chicken wings, and hey, only 40 pesos for 3 of them.

Chinese – they look pretty, they’re folded beautifully. They belie the unseasoned pork and green onion filling. The mound of shaved raw cabbage with some sort of creamy dressing drizzle has more flavor. Actually, the cabbage without the dressing has more flavor. 180 pesos for 8.

The Thai style have almost no filling. What there is, does taste of ginger. There’s more cabbage. Oh, condiments… they have soy sauce, and salt. 180 pesos for 8.

The Korean “spicy”… surely there will be… no, no there’s not. Did I mention that all the dumplings are undercooked so that the edges where they’re pinched together are basically raw pasta dough? More cabbage. 180 pesos for 8.

Perhaps the vegetable momo, which doesn’t list an ethnicity, but that would typically be somewhere around Tibet or Bhutan. The filling here, of mushroom and tofu, actually has some decent flavor, but there’s so little of it in relation to the whopping steamed bun – maybe two tablespoons inside a 5″ ball of dough tastelessness, that it may as well not be there. Again, more cabbage. 180 pesos for 1.

With four of us, we were still hungry, and, at least, keeping in the same general theme, I suggested we head a block north to Bao Kitchen, San Martín 960, where I’d been, but the others hadn’t. One of our number suggested that it would at least get the taste of the dumplings off our palates – I beg to differ, there was no taste to get rid of. ’nuff said about Dumpling House.

Here, for a mere 140 pesos apiece, we feasted on absolutely delicious gua bao, coming in choices of pork belly, pork shoulder, chicken, egg, and prawn. A side of excellent kimchi to share. This place has gotten better than when I first reviewed it – they fixed the one thing that I, and others, pointed out in their early days – and the steamed buns are now packed with filling. They’ve also far expanded the menu and include a good array of Taiwanese dishes.

On my way walking home, I happened to pass by this new(?) little café, Nataría Portuguesa, Vicente Lopez 1628, Recoleta, and couldn’t resist going in for an after lunch double espresso and hey, the house treat, a traditional pastel de nata – a Portuguese custard tart. Perfect bite size to go with the coffee, and only 30 pesos for the two bite size or 15 for the one bite size. Only a few blocks from home, and good coffee too, I’ll be back. They also have another location at Carlos Pellegrini (9 de Julio) 867 nearby in Retiro.