After all the meat…meat…meat of the past few days, I went for something a bit lighter. Today’s Lunch is shrimp dumplings with wasabi dipping sauce and a side dish of chili-sesame noodles from Rickshaw Truck. The truck is usually on the west side of 57th St and 8th Ave on Wednesdays, as they were today. I’ve tried Rickshaw Truck before, and while it was decent, I didn’t see what the big fuss was about. Now that I’ve tried the shrimp dumplings, the picture is a little clearer.
There were 6 steamed dumplings, which I prefer over fried. I opened one up, and in addition to the pieces of shrimp, there were scallions, tiny bits of seaweed, the occasional piece of sweet yellow pepper, and some spices.
The wasabi dipping sauce was good, but not overpowering, and it certainly didn’t clear my sinuses like some wasabi’s do. Nevertheless, I preferred the dumplings without the sauce. More of the flavors came out eating them plain.
The chili-sesame noodle side dish was good, too. The noodles were firm, just how I like them. There were also some scallions, chili peppers, carrots, bean sprouts, small noodle-shaped cucumber pieces, and black sesame seeds. However, all these ingredients were accents to the noodles. It was still mainly a noodle dish. It had a little heat from the chili peppers, but not too much. This was a cold noodle dish, and I’m especially looking forward to this dish when the weather gets warmer.
All-in-all, Today’s Lunch was a tasty, satisfying affair. The shrimp dumplings were $6.50 and the side dish was $3, making it a $10 lunch after putting the change into the tip jar. Make sure you tip the truck workers because they’re working stiffs just like you and me.
