S.F. restaurant Dumpling Time opening San Jose shop
Dumpling Time, the San Francisco restaurant popular for its oversize soup dumplings and other handmade dim sum, is opening its first South Bay location in December.
It will tentatively open the week of Dec. 13 at upscale San Jose mall Santana Row. There will be new dishes available only at this restaurant, such as spicy wings and crab-pork xiao long bao. Also expect hits from the San Francisco original, like that giant pork soup dumpling and several kinds of gyoza. Customers will be able to watch employees shape and fill dumplings through a glass window, like at the other restaurants.
Dumpling Time will be open for lunch and dinner daily, with both indoor and outdoor dining. In the dining room, booths are separated by ribbed glass dividers — a design element born of the pandemic. French doors open to a 60-seat outdoor patio.
The San Jose Dumpling Time will have a full bar, with cocktails focused on sake, vodka and gin. Think the High Time, made from Japanese whiskey, mint, and yuzu and lime soda; or the Type A, which features Japanese vodka, elderflower liqueur, Thai basil and lime. Like the other Dumpling Times, the Santana Row outpost will pour a range of loose-leaf teas in individual glass teapots, such as da hong pao oolong, which tastes of plum and red dates.
This will mark the fourth outpost of Dumpling Time and is part of a larger expansion push. In 2022, the restaurant is expanding to Berkeley (1795 Fourth St.) and City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon. Owner Kash Feng said he plans to eventually open locations outside of California.
Feng, a native of Xi’an, China, opened the first Dumpling Time in San Francisco in 2017, quickly growing a following for handmade dumplings and Instagrammable hits like the extra large soup dumpling, which comes with a boba straw for slurping. A new Dumpling Time recently opened at Chase Center. Dumpling Time is part of Feng’s Omakase Restaurant Group, which also operates the Michelin-starred Omakase and Niku Steakhouse.
Dumpling Time. Opening in December. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. 378 Santana Row, Suite 1035, San Jose. dumplingtime.com