- How many of these dumplings
do you think you could eat in a day?
- Five?
- Just five?
- Ten.
(Gunnarolla laughs)
- Hey everybody.
It's Gunnarolla out here today with?
- Mom.
- We're in my hometown of London Ontario,
to take you through the dumping trail in Old East Village.
You hungry?
- Yes. - Let's go.
Yes, there is a dumping trail in London Ontario
and you can find it
along Dundas Street in the Old East Village.
This stretch of the city,
is undergoing a massive transformation
and we're super excited to explore the local dining scene.
Our first stop,
Somerville 630,
a new hub for food arts, culture and community.
We're starting at Momos At The Market
which serves up authentic Nepalese food
including their version of the dumpling, momos.
All right.
Mmh.
- I Like it.
- I love it.
The momos are packed
and inside you've got a choice of either chicken,
pork, goat, veggie or-
- Buffalo.
- So flavorful.
And then we kick it up
with this tomato, garlic, coriander sauce.
They use turmeric,
which is where we get this beautiful yellow color from.
- [Mom] This is my first time.
It's Nepalese?
- Never knew you could get Nepalese cuisine
in London, Ontario.
So this is pretty cool.
- I'll come back again.
(Gunnarolla laughs)
- Next, Bella's Acacia Catering,
specializing in authentic vegan
and vegetarian Korean food.
You've gotta try the dumpling fried rice,
a savory dish featuring vegetables
and Korean mandu dumplings.
Normally, when I think of Korean food,
I'm thinking of barbecue meat,
really iconic dishes.
Bella's menu is vegan
and vegetarian.
So it's a whole other side of Korean cuisine.
All right, dumpling fried rice.
Smells incredible.
- Smell good.
- Mmmh.
- It's hot, it's hot.
I love the crispiness of everything.
- Mmh the veggie. - It's good.
- Everything good, yeah.
- It's like everything you want in a bowl.
- Everything, yeah.
- Really filling.
But it doesn't feel like heavy.
We're heading next door to Unique Food Attitudes
where you'll find all the staples of traditional
Polish cuisine
and some new favorites.
All right, every culture has their take
on a dumpling
and the Polish have
- Piero, Piero, Pierogi.
- Pierogi, Pierogi?
Pierogi.
You love pierogis.
- Yes I do, they're small
and I can eat it a lot.
- You can eat a ton of them.
Here we've got a fusion of Polish cuisine
and Canadian cuisine.
We've got a pierogi poutine.
Oh, this is cheesy.
- Wow, look at that.
Can I put in my mouth now?
- Yes,
Mmmh.
- It's good - It's tender.
I love that it is drenched in the sauce.
Balances out with the salad,
carrots, cabbage.
I think this is how we should do poutine from now on.
So Inviting is our next stop on the dumpling trail.
It's one of the newer businesses on the block
but it's quickly become a local favorite
thanks to a delicious assortment of Chinese dumplings
and buns and the friendliest service.
You might say it's, 'so inviting.'
Perfect day, perfect snack for a perfect picnic.
So inviting.
Dumplings are the perfect expression of love
because you really have to do it by hand.
- Take your time, to prep the-
- Take your time to do each one, right?
- Yeah.
- We got chicken, we got veggie, we got beef
and we'll get some sauce here.
Mmmh.
The owner of So Inviting was so kind
and they offer free samples.
Free might be the best flavor.
- Not all the time though.
- No.
- You don't want the business bankrupt.
(Gunnarolla laughs)
- No, that's true.
A block over is Tony's Famous Italian,
an institution in the city of London.
This location is one of three in the city
and is one of London's oldest restaurants.
A trip to Tony's, is like a visit with family.
We define a dumpling by filling in a wrapper,
then I think, a panzerotti qualifies as a dumpling.
- Huge monster.
- Huge monster (laughs.)
This is a personal size.
- Big as my face.
- All right, you wanna see what's inside this? (chuckles)
- Here we go.
- Whoa! - Wow!
House made marinara sauce.
There are a lot of different ways to eat this,
how do you want to approach this?
- Cut it and you dip it
- Oh, it smells so good.
Made to order, with whatever fillings you want.
- I'm still working in that
because it's so big.
(Gunnarolla laughs)
Dip.
- All right.
- Yep.
- This panzerotti, feels very much like home cooking.
And you can see why they've been in business for so long.
This is like two lunches I think. (chuckles)
Our last stop on London's dumpling trail
is Vietnam Restaurant located just across
from the new 100 Kellogg Lane entertainment complex.
Their menu includes a diversity of Vietnamese cuisine
and our final dumpling dish of the day, wonton soup.
All right, we've got a very impressive spread
of Vietnamese dishes.
My favorite, vermecelli bowl,
your favorite?
- Crunchy chow mein noodles.
- And of course our dumping dish, a wonton soup.
It's not just wontons in here.
- That's shrimp.
- We've got a bit of crab.
Amazing.
- And a lot of green onions.
- Lots of green onions, love the green onions.
(Gunnarolla slurps)
- Oh.
That's very, very good.
Let me try a wonton here.
Love that wonton skin.
Mmmh, it's warm,
it's delicious,
it's nice and light.
it's so comforting.
Everything we had today was amazing.
And I love, that we got to experience dumpling
in every different form.
- Yeah.
Can I share your noodle?
I'm stealing your noodle, while you're talking.
- Tons to explore
and tons to eat in the Old East Village,
London, Ontario.
Thanks for watching.
And we'll see ya.
- A la prochaine.
(both laughing)
Check it out yourself.
We'll see you on the trail.
- A la prochaine.