Food is my love language. Sure, it’s necessary for survival, but it’s also a way to bond with your loved ones and show someone you’re thinking about them. Some of my favorite memories involve holiday feasts, but I also love sitting down for a warm, feel-good meal with my cats and the perfect background TV show on.
Unfortunately, my cooking skills are limited and I can’t afford to dine out every night. I grew up eating Italian meals, so my red sauce is top-tier, which means I’m confident in anything I pour it on—spaghetti, lasagna, stuffed shells. But I’m left with few great options when I’m hungry, impatient, and in the mood for something other than my normal rotation of dishes. The recipes I’ve tried to make rarely come out perfect (especially Chinese dishes), leaving me craving the real thing even more.
Enter MìLà, a husband and wife team crafting authentic Chinese dishes that can be enjoyed at home with very little effort. You can even subscribe to get dumplings delivered automatically.
Photograph: MìLà
Dumplings usually taste best in a restaurant. You’ll find an array of frozen dumplings in just about any grocery store, and I’ve likely tried most of them. They’re usually OK, but like a lot of frozen meals, they don’t taste anything like their freshly made counterparts. MìLà has somehow figured it out, and with soup dumplings, no less—the most difficult dumpling to master. The company is able to freeze authenticity into its pork, chicken, and shrimp and pork soup dumplings.
The wrappers are perfectly tender and the filling warm and flavorful. The trio of sauces pairs perfectly. I tested all three but particularly loved the ginger and scallion umami oil.
Founders Jen and Caleb began this journey with a restaurant in Bellevue, Washington—Xiao Chi Jie, which is what MìLà was first called—to share the love they had for the recipes they grew up with. When they started freezing their dumplings for the freezer aisle, they chose to keep them authentic. Their soup dumplings have the same ingredients and flavors, and they’re flash-frozen while still raw. When you steam them in your kitchen, even if it’s weeks or months later, they taste fresh.
You do have to closely follow the instructions to ensure you don’t overcook them and accidentally evaporate the soup inside; I used a steamer basket over a pan for 11 minutes and got perfect dumplings each time. If you don’t already have a steamer, I recommend adding their $30 bamboo Steamer Basket to your first order—or try one of the “experience” boxes (more on that below).
Steamer liners are included in every bag of dumplings you buy. However, MìLà also provides instructions on a few other ways to cook the dumplings, so you can avoid purchasing more than you really need.
The dumplings may be my favorite, but MìLà’s noodles are also delicious and comforting. Each bag includes the portioned noodles and a bag of sauce, and some include veggies or other toppings. They make dinner easy, but not disappointing.
The only thing I don’t love is the serving size. Because there are five steamer liners and 50 dumplings in each bag, I did some math and thought that serving sizes were around 10 dumplings. And because the noodles are separated into small portions as is, they had to be a whole bag. The correct serving size, I have learned by actually checking the Nutrition Facts label, is three dumplings and a half bag of noodles. I will not disclose how many dinners I had that were three times the recommendation of dumplings and noodles. Apparently, my stomach knows no limits when the food tastes this good. If you follow the labels, 50 dumplings should work out to a lot of meals or snacks.
Food makes a perfect gift, and MìLà should satisfy anyone on your list—good cook or not. If you want to ship directly to their door, consider one of the featured boxes. The Full MìLà Experience ($149) comes with one bag of pork dumplings, a noodle variety box, three dipping sauces, a bamboo steamer, and rose lychee ice cream. The Soup Dumpling Experience for the same price includes one bag of pork dumplings and one bag of chicken, two dipping bowls, three sauces, a bamboo steamer, and jasmine green tea ice cream.
There’s no need to spend that much, though. You can choose a few add-ons from MìLà or make your own gift box. To make your own box, start with a bag or two of dumplings and add in accessories like a porcelain soup spoon and a nice bowl. Look for a local Asian grocery store, as you’ll likely find the best options there.
MìLà isn’t cheap, but for me, the cost is worth it. The company is run by a small team using quality ingredients to craft delicious foods in facilities they own themselves. The dumplings are made outside of Seattle, where the founders live, and the noodles and sauces are made in Monterey Park, California. If you happen to live near the restaurant, you can pick up orders and skip shipping costs. If all you want is the dumplings, check the MìLà store locator, as the brand has expanded to some grocery stores. You get bigger bags online, but I picked up a few 10-piece bags from my local Target.
So much of the food we eat is grown and made by conglomerates that don’t have our best interests at heart. To me, MìLà still feels a few notches closer to a friend sending you some food to cheer you up.