Chinaman Dumpling

Chinaman Dumpling is almost oustanding. Just off of Military on Ranger in Cremorne, this is a small restaurant with an open kitchen (rather unusual for Chinese) and a cool décor. Service is good and friendly by a guy that looks passably like Jackie Chan — no kidding. When I asked him (complimented him?) on this, he did agree he got that a lot.
Food is a tale of two cities. The choice of dumplings was not particularly innovative and they tasted like they’d been sitting around for a while. You can tell this when the wrappers are tough chewy and dried out. Disappointing. But happily for Chinaman Dumpling, the rest of the food was outstanding. Duck wraps were very good, the Kung Pao chicken (always a bit of a bell weather test for a Chinese restaurant since you can find it almost any menu) was superb. It had a unique combination of flavors and was suitably spicy. The black pepper beef (we also got prawns) were also nicely done. Even the fried rice (which my kids like) was a little different and tasty. Each dish was artfully presented, making the feel of the place a bitter higher in the pecking order, and reflected the attempt to be a bit more upscale than many Asian restaurants.
But… you do pay for it. Chinaman’s Dumpling is expensive, reflecting its Cremorne location, but not any more so than many of the higher end Asian restaurants in the NB/​C/​M triad of towns.
So all told, we’ll be back, but not for dumplings.