These days you can find a farmers market everyday of the week in San Francisco. One such market is at Fort Mason on Sundays. I do some volunteer work in the area on that day so I usually wander through and gaze at the organic fruits and veggies, cheese and assorted meats and other what nots. It's kind of like shopping at an outdoor Whole Foods except you have to bring your own bags. Also at this market are a handful of places to nosh and one such is Happy Dumplings. They aren't so much a food truck as they are a food tent with a semi-regular spot. I've partaken of their dumplings on several occasions and for the most part it's good, but it can be hit or miss.
The menu is limited and usually one of their dumpling choices is vegetarian but my taste of these wasn't the greatest so now I just stick with the meat one. This day I chose chicken and cilantro and the pork and cabbage. The go for a $1 each--you can mix and match and as you can see they are larger than average. Most days they are decent this particular day they fell into the "not the best I've had there" category.
The problem is one they have every now and then and it's when the dumpling comes out tasting doughy and thick as if they haven't fully cooked or made the dumpling shell too thick. All dumplings are made fresh each day and some days they are quite busy and trying hard to keep up with demand and sometimes not so busy and things may have sat for awhile. Not sure what this days issue was but the outside was a bit thick for my taste. The fillings, however, are done quite nicely. The meat is plentiful and compacted like a meatball. The pork and cabbage has a hint of either cardamom or possibly nutmeg (my palates not quite refined enough to tell just yet) which gave it a slightly sweet taste but not in a cloying way. I like cilantro and there is more than enough here for me, but some folks may not be a fan thus I tell you now this won't be for you.
San Francisco is a town full of dim sum both really good and well, not really good (and at cheaper prices) but if you happen to find yourself down at the farmers market at Fort Mason on a Sunday (they also do Friday nights Off The Grid) it's still worth a shot to give this place a try. 3 out of 4 times what you get will be decent, unless you aren't lucky and it will be like the 4th time you go and not so much. For a food gambler like yourself those are still pretty good odds--much better than you will ever get in Las Vegas.
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