Incredibly Cheap Eats -- Dumplings

The name on the sign is Dumplings; the name on the menu is Chinese Food

Dumplings is perhaps the ninth dumpling cafe to open in Manhattan's Chinatown, and it's certainly one of the best. As usual, the prices are a step below rock bottom. A friend and I enjoyed a $5 lunch (that's for both of us!) that included four fried pork-and-chive dumplings, a bowl of sweet-and-sour soup heavy on the cloud ear 'shrooms and bamboo shoots, a bowl of wonton soup graced with eight steamed dumplings, and a complimentary plate of the establishment's homemade northern-Chinese kim chee, which contained apples, was quite spicy, and glowed a flourescent shade of orangey-pink. The menu also offers bowls of lamb soup for $3,50, and something called "Shanhai shepherd's parse & pork wonton soup." And I thought only my third grade teacher could parse! 25B Henry Street, 212-608-8962

Clockwise from upper left (click to enlarge): Homemade kim chee, sweet-and-sour soup, wonton soup, fried dumplings