I went to SF Chinatown for dumplings and ended up on TV

My initial reason for visiting Fusion Dumpling in San Francisco was to catch the filming of chef Martin Yan’s TV show “Wok Around the Bay” on KTSF Channel 26. I eagerly agreed to attend, as I grew up watching “Yan Can Cook” on KQED in the 1980s and 1990s. Even as a kid, I always looked forward to Yan’s famous fast chopping that crescendoed as it sped up, followed by the live audience erupting in applause and gasps of delight. 

The plan was to taste signature Shanghai-style dumplings at the newly rebranded Chinatown restaurant. But I ended up sitting next to the world-famous Yan for the kickoff episode of the show’s new season — it airs Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m. — while eating, clinking glasses and sharing commentary on a panel of guests from the food and beverage industry. Have I mentioned that this Dumpling Report gig is awesome?

Fusion Dumpling sits on Jackson Street, nestled between a travel agency and a shipping company. To unwitting passersby, it could be just another tourist trap in Chinatown. Those familiar with owners Jiayi “Jenny” Wu and award-winning chef Truman Du’s restaurants know that the space was once Pot & Noodle, serving individual mini hot pots and modern takes on old royal Manchurian banquet dishes like black truffle-and-masago duck breast lettuce wraps. 

Like many restaurants that managed to survive the pandemic, Pot & Noodle pivoted to a more focused menu, warranting a restaurant rebrand to Fusion Dumpling. Wu and Du are no strangers to restaurant operations — they also own Chong Qing Xiao Mian (the SF Chronicle’s Soleil Ho lists it as a favorite Chinese restaurant in the Bay Area) and Spicy King in Chinatown, both with an emphasis on Du’s Sichuan Chongqing background. (The Chronicle and SFGATE are both owned by Hearst but have separate newsrooms.)

This time around, for Fusion Dumpling, which had its soft opening this summer, it was Wu who shaped the menu toward her Shanghainese roots and comfort foods of home — not least of all the popular xiao long bao (XLB). “They spent about three months working on the menu,” said Dana K.S. Lee, a real estate professional and friend of Wu and Du who does English translation for the pair. After intensely researching recipes, Wu and Du hired two chefs from Shanghai, both of whom have been specializing in XLB for nearly four decades each, starting when they were teenagers. While the owners did keep a few of Pot & Noodle’s dishes, like the lettuce wrap and signature Dungeness crab noodles, Fusion Dumpling’s emphasis is shown in its new name. A cartoon panda chef bearing a giant XLB is its mascot. The interior still has Pot & Noodle’s noble decor, with Chinese pavilion rooftops over the bar and side dining areas, and a stunning long table cut from the length of a single tree trunk.

Standing next to Yan, before filming began, he filled me in on the history of “Yan Can Cook,” which started in Canada in 1978 before hitting PBS and the Bay Area in 1982. To date, there are more than 3,500 episodes that continue to air in syndication. “Yan Can Cook” was groundbreaking; Yan was one of the few Asian faces on American TV at the time, cooking food that wasn’t as accepted in the mainstream as it is now. “Yan Can Cook” has since blossomed into a media empire, with headquarters in San Mateo, and spawning countless internationally popular cooking shows. Plus there’s Yan’s well-loved M.Y. China restaurant (co-owned by Koi Palace) that will soon reopen in the city.

“I could go anywhere, but I’m doing a lot more things to help Chinatown,” he said of his current mission, including spotlighting Chinatown restaurants on his show. The first season featured Pot & Noodle, and the crew returned on this day for the restaurant’s reopening as Fusion Dumpling.

I honestly didn’t know I was going to end up on TV. I thought I would be watching the shoot from behind the scenes, then would sample the food on my own afterward. Imagine my surprise when I learned that I was going to be on the show, in my loud-patterned overalls and ratty T-shirt. Each guest was first interviewed individually on camera about our backgrounds. Then, I heard, “You sit next to chef” from one of the crew members as I stood around the table with the other guests. I was in shock. Being a part of Yan’s show on KTSF brought me full circle with my early relationship to Asian American TV. 

“Hello, everyone! I’m Martin Yan of ‘Yan Can Cook,’” said Yan as soon as we started rolling. I almost died hearing this familiar opening line in person, but tried to keep cool. The other tasting panelists were Yoshi Kobayashi, formerly of Ryoko’s, wine sales rep Jason Pimentel of Republic National Distributing Company, and Lee. It was a trip to see Yan’s well-practiced, professional-yet-amicable-personality unfold in real life, casually dropping knowledge about each dish’s cooking techniques, histories and flavors while also asking us plebeians what we thought. (Pro tip: Pimentel started us off with a sparkling wine, which generally pairs well with dumplings.)

A multitude of dishes on raised, regal red serving platters lined the Lazy Susan on our round table. I wanted to dive in right away, but waited for Yan’s lead. Fusion Dumpling’s XLBs weigh 40 grams before steaming, almost double the weight of the 21-gram presteamed XLB at the popular Din Tai Fung. The dumplings were hand-pleated, with “about 22 pleats per XLB,” said Lee (the bare minimum is around 12 to 14 pleats, and maximum 29). Made only of flour and water, the dumpling dough was actually rolled out via a machine by the front window. I had mixed feelings about this, but the technique yielded an impossibly thin dough that was strong enough to hold the soup while still being chewy and elastic. I focused on the fact that the dumplings were still hand-pleated by experts doing hundreds a day — something that I appreciated both in fine-lined appearance and taste. Pork skin is just one ingredient incorporated into the ground pork filling that makes up the soup, and adds a quality of freshness Lee referred to as “xian.”

As an emerging Bay Area classic combining the popularity of XLB with our local Dungeness crab culture, naturally crab XLB was also on the table, marked by a small bunch of orange fish roe in the petal of the dough.

Another dumpling highlight was the sheng jian bao (SJB), an additional Shanghainese specialty that Wu was eager to put on Fusion’s menu. This version of the juicy, pan-fried ground pork bao was on trend with the contemporary take on them — thinner, chewier dough, taller profile and fried almost all the way up the sides instead of just the bottom, topped with black sesame seeds and chopped scallions — much like Dumpling Home’s well-known version of SJB. “You see the texture is crispy and moist and soft. It looks more interesting,” said Yan of these nouveau SJB. If I hadn’t already been spoiled by Dumpling Home’s crowd-inducing version months before, I would’ve been even more impressed with the golden-brown exterior and hefty amount of soup-drenched meat that was still sumptuous.

Fusion Dumpling uses a specially formulated Shanghainese rice vinegar for the SJB and XLB dipping sauces. It’s darker and sweeter than a standard rice vinegar, lending a gentle acidic and aromatic balance to the fat of the pork filling, adding more “xian” to the eating experience.

Peking duck potstickers were a dish one may be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. In addition, “It’s not leftover duck put together. They actually roast the duck every day!” said Yan of the laborious process behind the potstickers. Gourmet treatment of humble food is a key part of Fusion Dumpling’s brand. A bonus to the quality filling that might actually be too meaty and rich for some (a good problem to have), was the presentation of the dumplings. The clustered potstickers were attached to each other by a web of thin, browned, crispy lace made of a simple flour-and-water mixture.

If one were to order only dumplings here, there still would be a photo-worthy array of shapes, colors and textures. On the table were more dishes than we had time to eat, but the Shanghai sticky rice shu mai caught my eye for next time — the dough purses teasing the eye with little bursts of savory-sweet sticky rice peeking out from the top of each dumpling. 

Non-dumpling dishes included decadent steamed garlic abalone, and a soft white fish filet topped with chopped pickled peppers, both over beds of thin cellophane noodles in a light broth. They were refreshing punctuation to the parade of richer pork and duck dumplings.

With a celebrity bucket list item checked off and a belly full of novel and decadent dumplings, having accepted the Fusion Dumpling invitation without knowing much about the itinerary was a reminder to stay open to opportunities. You never know down which delicious, star-studded road they may take you.

The Fusion Dumpling episode of Martin Yan’s “Wok Around the Bay” airs on KTSF Channel 26 on Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m., and will also be available to stream for free on VUit. Mostly in Cantonese with subtitles in English and Chinese.

Fusion Dumpling, 650 Jackson St., San Francisco. Open Thursday through Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.– 9:30 p.m.