Up-and-coming casual Chinese soup dumpling shop “Tiger Soup Dumplings,” based in Gravois Bluffs, has opened up a new location in Des Peres with a clean new look and a refreshingly revamped menu.
For those who have never visited either location, the basis of the menu is the coveted soup dumplings. They come as either steamed or pan-fried bao dumplings with a filling of your choice. But there’s a major difference. You can’t just immediately throw one in your mouth and start eating as they’re filled with fresh and hot soup. You’re given a plate, spoon and some chopsticks and, while following the instructions printed on the wall, open the dumpling and pour out the soup into the spoon to be cooled off and slurped while you dip the rest of the dumpling in your choice of soy sauce, vinegar, or a chili oil paste.
Have you been to the old location? My order during my visit to this new location consisted of some classics from the old menu: steamed pork dumplings and an order of the deliciously sweet and refreshing Lemon Supreme Tea along with a cucumber salad and both steamed chicken and pan-fried wagyu rice rolls from the new menu. The pork dumplings, made with a signature family recipe of sweet pork, were deliciously sweet and savory.
I personally am not a fan of dipping but the sauces I tried were a delicious and worthwhile addition, especially the soy sauce and chili oil to contrast the sweetness of the pork. The Supreme Lemon Tea is amazingly refreshing and almost candy-like with a slight bit of tartness from the fresh whole lemon slices. It was perhaps a little bit pulpy for those with similar texture tastes to mine but the cool taste makes up for it enough. As for the new additions to the menu, the rice rolls also either came steamed or pan-fried and each had a respective sauce–a sweeter soy sauce for the steamed and a savory peanut sauce for the pan-fried.
My personal favorite was the steamed chicken, the chicken tasted savory and worked well with the soy sauce. The pan-fried was not as satisfactory. The peanut sauce was savory and peanutty and I would much enjoy to have a side of that for possibly dipping the dumplings, but the beef and rice-sheet roll were a bit more lacking in distinct flavor instead tasting more of bok choy and the oil it was fried in.
Overall the experience was amazing. The new location is beautifully designed and feels very welcoming with ample seating for both big parties as well as singles or couples. The new menu has some great additions and the old items still have their iconic tastes. My meal as it came cost $8.99 for the dumplings, $4.85 for the cucumber salad, $6.75 for the chicken rice roll, $9.25 for the beef rice roll, and $6.95 for the Supreme Lemon Tea. I think the restaurant was a bit on the pricier side, especially if you’re very hungry as the portions are not the biggest (6 medium-sized dumplings per order and 3 rolls per rice roll order). But the taste makes up for a lot of that in my opinion and a little preplanning goes a long way if you’re expecting the portion size. The new Des Peres Tiger Soup Dumplings location can be found in the same plaza as Trader Joe’s, down the road from West County Mall and is a worthwhile visit for some quick and light Chinese casual cuisine.
