Set up by Maisie and her partner Mollie, Oi Dumplings has spent most of its life so far popping up at various foodie markets across the North West and hosting workshops dedicated to perfecting the dumpling craft.
Now, the duo have announced the opening of their brand-new permanent restaurant, which will be located in the heart of the quaint Northern town of Marsden. Set to open on Saturday 23rd July Oi Dumplings will embody everything already wonderful about Mollie and Maisie’s venture, with tasty food, workshops and even dumplings for dogs available at the new site.
The venture began when the couple met whilst living and working in Vietnam and on returning back to the UK as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they wanted to replicate the traditional cooking techniques they’d fallen in love with on their travels.
“We became obsessed with dimsum whilst we were over there and that particular style of sociable dining,” began Mollie.
“We had to come back to the UK early because of the pandemic, so that’s when we started experimenting in the kitchen because during lockdown the only dim sum available to us was from the frozen section in the supermarket. We did a couple of courses with this amazing lady in Shanghai, too, which really allowed us to perfect our process.”
Mollie and Maisie explained that they were originally planning to move to Manchester, but found rent prices to be too high, so they began searching elsewhere and stumbled across the stunning picturesque town of Marsden, where they decided to permanently set up camp.
“It’s an incredible place surrounded by hills and mountains and we totally fell in love with it,” explained Maisie. “It’s only a 30 minute train ride from Manchester and it’s the perfect place to go walking and explore for the day, so when the cabin came up we just went for it!”
Oi Dumpling’s new restaurant is a small space that will only hold around 8 people for an intimate dining experience. Mollie and Maisie want to focus on outdoor seating, too, decorating the space with plants and lighting to give it a comforting, cosy vibe where people will want to dine out all year long.
The menu will have a big focus on dumplings, but Oi have also included other traditional Vietnamese dishes on the menu, alongside a list of famous Vietnamese coffees.
“We have traditional dumpling options like pork and the xinjiang lamb, but we’ve also put our own spin on flavours such as the burger-style dumplings and kimchi, peanut and tofu.
“Then, making up other dishes on the menu, are things like the Xôi xéo – Vietnamese yellow sticky rice which comes with pork floss peanuts and onion oil – and our own version of Vietnamese-style loaded nachos, which consist of deep fried wonton skins topped with sticky ginger chicken, pickled ginger and crispy chilli yoghurt sauce.
“We’ll also be serving Vietnamese coffees which are a huge part of the country’s culture. They have a really distinctive flavour, they’re very chocolatey and are usually served with condensed milk which you then mix yourself – which adds to the fun of it all!”
Oi Dumplings Marsden will officially open its doors on Saturday 23rd July and will be joined by a dessert trader serving Chinese-style bubble waffles, alongside a live band to christen the new space!
From then, it will be open Thursday to Sunday from 12pm – late. Follow Oi Dumpling’s Instagram page below for more updates.
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