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Silky skins are the star of E-Jae Pak Mor’s signature dumplings.
Seattle’s paradisical dumpling scene leans heavily toward Chinese varieties, fitting for the birthplace of local-chain-gone-national Dough Zone and frozen xiao long bao dumpire Mìlà. But wrapping dough around filling is a universal language, stuffed with variations shaped by culture and geography. To keep things simple (and perhaps give ourselves the chance to someday do a follow-up on breadier enclosed snacks), we stuck with the classic concept of a dumpling as a little nugget o’ meat wrapped in a nice bit of dough as we scoured the Seattle area for places selling the finest renditions from outside the Sinosphere.
Capitol Hill
The Friday-night dinners at Dom Polski, the Polish Home, on Capitol Hill are a classic Seattle treasure. The room fills up with Polish-speaking families, big groups of friends toasting with bison grass vodka, and sometimes live music. Most important, there are pierogi. Sebi’s Bistro closed its Eastlake restaurant in 2022 and decamped to the Polish Home, where it took over the Friday-night dinners. The thick-skinned pierogi come slick from the frying pan and, depending on the filling, showered with bacon or caramelized onion confetti. For a full dumpling feast, snag some pyzy—round dumplings with a dough made of potato—and one of the sweet dumplings often available for dessert.
Pak mor means “top pot,” a reference to where the dumplings steam.
Chinatown–International District
TikTok sent the first waves of crowds to this bright counter-service Thai restaurant, but the wrinkled silky rice wrappers and cheerful service converted them into loyal regulars. Pak mor are a Thai specialty rarely seen in these parts because of the time and skill required to make the delicate dumpling skins, and that is also why they are so very worth going out of your way to try them.
Renton
The big green booths hint at the space’s past life as part of a suburban chain, while the ornate colored glass chandeliers make clear its present as a Turkish restaurant. The extensive menu of meze and kebabs is supplemented by a pastry case full of baklava and custard, but don’t start on dessert until trying the manti. The doughy, marble-size pyramidal dumplings stuffed with beef and onion come bathing in garlicky yogurt sauce, awakened by melted paprika butter.
Wallingford
In mid-2025, Seattle’s Central Asian restaurant scene (OK, restaurant; there’s just the one) shifted when Turkmen Fitchi House transitioned to the Uzbek Caravan. Among the changes was the addition of manti—which share little beyond a name and general “dumpling” category with the saucy Turkish variety at Cafe Sabah. The pinch-braid closure along the top of these dense ovals barely contains the juicy, onion-heavy golf ball–size lamb meatball inside. It’s a monster of a meal, but nothing that can’t be lightened up with a side order of carrot salad.
The colorful dumpling combo is the best way into the giant menu at Indian Nepali Kitchen.
Northgate
The dumpling selection at this Aurora charmer (now farther north, after a 2025 relocation) is as broad as the Himalayas are tall. Vegetarian and chicken momos each come in 10 different styles, including the butter masala ones: a dozen crescent-shaped, chicken-stuffed dumplings, deep-fried until crisp enough to resist the come-ons of the brick-red sauce in which they arrive. Rookies should start with the momo combo, a colorful sampler of the greatest hits.
Chinatown–International District
This descendent of storied sushi restaurant Tsukushinbo mainly focuses on onigiri—the stuffed rice balls that one could argue are a dumpling of sorts—but makes an excellent gyoza, too. The delicate skins and mild meat filling serve mostly as background dressing for the star of the show: the impressively crisp bottoms.
Federal Way
Gogi on the Go now stays put in the Federal Way location that was previously Mandu-Ya. The two businesses have become one, and, thankfully, the Korean-Mexican fusion menu still includes Korean mandu. The steamed dumplings, like the king beef bulgogi, best show off the restaurant’s housemade skins, while the fried versions show off its creativity. For some excellent noodle-on-noodle action, try the japchae dumplings; order the hot flavored mandu for some brain-shaking spice.
Korochka Tavern’s cocktails and Russian dumplings make a surprising and lovely combination.
Wallingford
The dill, the bold floral wallpaper, and the craft cocktails in vintage glassware all tie together to form an adorable little bar—and that’s before you get to the Russian dumplings. Quietly terrific and deservedly on our list of the city’s 25 best bars, Korochka serves both pelmeni—small and meat-filled—and vareniki, a larger crescent-shaped dumpling with potato-based fillings. Don’t sleep on the housemade adjika hot sauce.
Northgate
While Seattle has Vietnamese restaurants in spades—and plenty of excellent ones—Lotus Pond serves many lesser-known dishes that require more skill or time than the standards. That includes bánh bột lọc, the slender, chewy tapioca envelopes laid out on banana leaves and stuffed with shrimp and pork. Their mesmerizingly stretchy exterior makes them incredibly fun to eat, especially when softened and flavored with a dip in nước chấm—sweetened fish sauce and lime dip.