This Chinatown stalwart has come a long way since its basement days and is best known for its baskets of handmade dumplings that really do taste like mama made them. Boiled, steamed or pan-fried, there are even frozen versions available to take home.

Living up to its motto of being quick, cheap, and delicious, this take-out spot in Dragon City Mall makes dumplings exactly as expected.

This bustling restaurant on Spadina Avenue is recognized by the picture window where dumpling chefs roll and pleat dumplings to order. Stop in for the delicate, Instagram-worthy lace skirts their pan-fried dumplings sport.

Head to this OG of soup dumpling restaurants for flavourful crab xiao long bao, soup-filled pockets surrounded by impressive thin dumpling skins. Choose from locations in Markham and Scarborough, but don't mistake it for the Taiwanese restaurant chain, Din Tai Fung.

This Junction-based Chinese restaurant offers a deep menu of casual eats but specializes in dumplings. Besides pork-filled xiao long baos, lamb and chicken dumplings, they also carry vegan and gluten-free options that can be steamed or pan-fried.

This nondescript basement space at Huron and Dundas serves made-from-scratch dumplings with a variety of fillings that are steamed, boiled or pan-fried to order. Note: this was the original location for Mother's Dumplings.

Trek out to Holmes Avenue for the city's best representation of pan-fried sheng jian bao. The satisfying buns may take up to 15 minutes to make, but the contrast of the juicy filling against the fluffy thick bun with golden crust is worth the wait.

Billed as having served soup dumplings in Wuxi, China since 1751, this first North American outpost located in Chinatown specializes in handmade-to-order soup dumplings, especially those filled with crab meat, and their pork and shrimp wontons.

Known for their eye-catching rainbow dumplings, this restaurant on Yonge south of Bloor uses all-natural colouring from fresh fruits and vegetables to differentiate between vegetarian and meat-filled options like beef-carrot (orange), chicken-mushroom (yellow), and sweet sticky rice (purple).