Dale Talde’s Rice & Gold in Chinatown serves New York City’s best soup dumplings.

You may remember Talde as a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef (Season 4: Chicago). He runs a handful of restaurant in the New York City area, including Rice & Gold in Chinatown.

What makes Rice & Gold’s soup dumplings stand out is that they are filled with pho. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup with complex aromatic flavors. Rice & Gold dumpling broth was bright and fresh. It added an unparalleled depth to the dumplings’ taste.

Other NYC dumplings worth considering: Joe's Shanghai and Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao. For a no frills, no nonsense, and an unexpected frozen-to-go option there’s White Bear. Looking for a classy soup dumpling? Evidently Shanghai Cuisine 33 serves a black truffle broth. And then there are the trendy offerings like Drunken Dumpling’s jumbo dumplings.

Pro tip: when it comes to Drunken Dumplings you may want to stick with the standard sized items. The soup to filling to skin ratio is a little off on the jumbo ones and you can wind up with nothing left but an awkward amount of dough.