Fried Dumplings (Gyoza)

Gyoza is fiendishly difficult to get right. All Japanese know when the dumplings are cooked a little too much or too little and aren’t afraid to comment on it. The perfect balance should be a crisp, slightly burnt bottom with a hot, soft dome on top that bursts as you bite into it (wait a little while for the soup inside to cool down!). The “skin” also should be not too thick so as to dominate the taste, but not so thin that you can’t taste it at all. Very difficult to get right and many professional restaurants do not.

If you want to guarantee a variety of perfected fried dumplings to sample, then the dumpling capital of Japan, Utsunomiya, is your best bet. There is also a well-known chain called Gyoza Ohsho that you can find everywhere in Japan. The style of everything else on the menu is more Chinese and every single store in Japan only has around a 3.5 rating on Google Maps, so try to sample your Gyoza somewhere else.