From Beijing to Seattle: The Story Behind Dumpling The Noodle
Beijing, China
I grew up in Beijing, a city where history and modern life stand shoulder to shoulder.
One moment you are walking through narrow hutongs, their gray brick walls lined with bicycles. The next you are on wide boulevards glowing with neon and surrounded by high-rises. That same contrast shows up in the food, with bold traditions alongside modern twists, all woven into one of the most diverse food cultures in China.
For me, Beijing tastes like home. The crisp skin of a Peking Duck shared with family. Dumplings folded on New Year’s Eve, dipped in black vinegar with garlic. Bowls of chewy noodles coated in fragrant sauce after a long day. These are not just dishes. They are memories that would one day inspire Dumpling The Noodle.
The Electrical Engineer with a Chef’s Certificate
My original plan was to be an Electrical Engineer.
In 2011, I was admitted to the University of Washington. With a half-year gap before leaving China, my parents worried I would not know how to cook or take care of myself abroad. Their solution was to send me to culinary school.
That is where I met Qu Hao, an award-winning master chef who taught food on national television every weekend. Under his guidance, I trained not as a hobbyist, but as if preparing to enter a professional kitchen.
Knife skills came first. We practiced cutting endless vegetables into precise shapes, because every dish had its own rules. To save money, the instructors told us, “Do not waste my potatoes, go cut newspapers.” I spent hours slicing newspapers into thin strips before I was allowed to touch real produce.
Then came the challenges. One day the chef declared, “You cannot graduate without killing the fish. Everyone must learn.” Each student was handed a live fish, and some faced crabs and lobsters too. I do not remember if my fish survived, but I do remember leaving with my chef’s certificate in hand.
The Entrepreneur’s Detour
I went on to study electrical engineering and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. But my entrepreneurial spirit was too strong to settle for a traditional job, so I decided to launch a startup instead.
My first venture was UncleCar, an online used car marketplace. It lasted one year. Next came EatDigger, a food delivery app focused on Chinese restaurants. Another year, another failure. By the end, I had lost everything. My bank account was negative, my furniture sold off, and I was down to three things in my apartment: a suitcase, a sofa, and a Bible.
In those difficult days, I asked myself a question. Who am I, and what do I know? I grew up helping my parents run a silk handicraft shop. I studied engineering. I had learned to cook. It was during this time that I realized the one thing I was truly good at, the one thing that brought me joy, was cooking.
Back to the Kitchen
With that clarity, I started small, making desserts in my apartment to sell online. Then I rented time in a commissary kitchen inside Julia’s in Wallingford, where I cooked dry hot pot.
My routine was relentless. I shopped for groceries in the morning, prepped food during the day, cooked and delivered orders at night, and scrubbed dishes until two in the morning so Julia could serve breakfast the next day. It was exhausting, but it kept me going.
Eventually I opened my first restaurant at Aurora Ave and 100th St, a neighborhood more known for crime than cuisine. There, I kept cooking dry hot pot, running between the front and back of house until I could hire my first chef.
Through Snowstorms and Setbacks
For five years I delivered food myself, sometimes in the worst conditions Seattle could offer. During the Maya winter storm of 2019, when snowdrifts shut down much of the city, I was still on the road making deliveries. Looking back, I might have been the only one.
Dumpling The Noodle: Bringing Beijing Memories to Seattle
In late 2019, it was finally time to bring my Beijing memories to life. I opened Dumpling The Noodle to serve the food I grew up with: dumplings, noodles, and Peking Duck.
The dumplings follow a northern tradition. They are plump little “fat balls” filled with both meat and vegetables, the way Chinese moms sneak more greens into their kids’ diets. Our lamen noodles are inspired by a tiny shop in Beijing that served just one dish, Chili the Lamen, but drew dozens of taxi drivers every day. And as everyone knows, taxi drivers always know the best food.
Building a Vegan Menu with Grace
From the beginning, we also wanted to serve the Seattle community. That included offering vegan dishes with the same care as our traditional ones.
Our first server, Grace, was vegan. She inspired us to create our first vegan dumpling so she could enjoy meals during her shift breaks. From there, she tested hundreds of recipes over six months, giving daily feedback until the flavors were right. Thanks to her, our vegan menu is not only intentional, but also truly approved by someone who lives that lifestyle.
Today
Dumpling The Noodle is more than a restaurant. It is a bridge between the flavors of my Beijing childhood and my journey in Seattle. Every dumpling, every noodle, every dish we serve carries a story of family, persistence, and finding a home through food.