There is a cupboard-sized snack bar in Potts Point called Dumplings and Beer. Currently it sells just one of those two things. But hang on for a few more weeks, and that liquor licence will have transferred over to new owner Alex Ly [update: the liquor license is in and the beers are chilled]. You’ll be able to order a Warsteiner pilsner, Bellerose blonde, a Konig Ludwig wheat beer or a Dunkel Belgian ale. The sign also tells a small white lie – they’ll also be serving wine.
The barbecue pork buns are reason enough to make a beeline for this tiny dumpling den. Soft pillowy buns come folded gently around a tender piece of pork with a brace of crackling along the top, strips of green onion and cucumber and a swipe of hoisin sauce. They come two to a serve and you’ll want to double down – so don’t make plans to share. Now is not the time to practice moderation, so order up your own serve of bite-sized roast duck pancakes, too. There are four dumplings on the menu. There are densely packed prawn and pork dim sum on offer, but we’ll go round two on the lighter scallop and chive variety next time. Here the soup dumplings are fragrant with ginger and they’re slightly thicker and sweeter than the silky little numbers you’ll get from Din Tai Fung.
We aren’t kidding when we say this place is tiny. Thanks to some clever mirror placement it feels fractionally bigger than it is, but we’re still talking only a handful of perches. Up the stairs there’s counter seats ringing the landing and downstairs there’s a bench and a couple of tables. Even late on a Wednesday, the place is almost at capacity so time your visit carefully.
The lockout laws might have clipped the wings of Sydney’s late-night party district but in their wake, we’ve also seen a spate of excellent restaurants move into the neighbourhood. We don’t need encouragement to seek out another serve of Kylie Kwong’s fried eggs in XO sauce or the king prawns with kombu butter from Cho Cho San, but being a regular gets expensive. For dinner in the Cross that’s as swift as it is cheap and delicious, Dumplings and Beer has the winning combination.
