Glenside’s Humpty’s Dumplings Now Has A Storefront

Humpty’s Dumplings has a storefront. And, in our opinion, one of the coolest names, like, ever.

“It’s kind of American fusion, if you will,” co-owner Patrick Doyle explains. Stuck in a daydream of the dumpling variety, I just barely caught myself before responding, “Uh, yes I definitely will.”

If you haven’t heard of them yet, you’re not alone: they’ve been working off word of mouth alone s0 far, and have served mainly the Glenside area for a while now. But Humpty’s Dumplings is making moves, and it’s about time you learn about them.

So here’s a little background: started by two lifelong pals, Doyle and Jack Craig, the business came about as they finished up college and decided to follow their affinity for cooking. The plan was to create something that took dishes from different cuisines and blended them into something approachable. And, seriously, what’s more approachable than a dumpling? (I’ve yet to meet a dumpling that hasn’t lured me in, if that’s any proof).

Thus came about the convenient, bite-sized package for full-bodied flavor that cleanly allowed eaters to sample many cuisines on one plate, one dumpling at a time. From the moment word started to leak out, the two were cooking like madmen for their catering business. And since then, they’ve only gotten busier. They were voted the best vendor at the Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival in April of this year, and moved into their first brick-and-mortar location just last month. Now located in the newly developed Keswick Commons (a block of retail stores and apartments that surround the Keswick Theatre), they’ve added noodle bowls to the menu, and they’re excited to start working on other items– think bao, which they’ve experimented with in the past, as well as pho.

Interested yet? Good, let’s talk flavors. The “favorites” that are staples on the menu include:

Doyle claims that the cheesesteak is a dead ringer for the sandwich we all know and love (filled with beef, their signature cheese blend, and sauteéd onion jelly). His favorite, though, is the roasted pork dumpling, which is filled with pork, broccoli rabe, and provolone.

Specials change weekly too, and have included flavors like edamame, Asian pork, sausage, pepper, and onion, chicken parmesan, mac and cheese, bacon and jalapeño, crab cake, bacon/sausage egg and cheese, tequila lime chicken, roasted vegetable, and even s’mores in the past. They’re experimenting with duck right now, and have an orange duck noodle bowl that sounds pretty awesome.

And they don’t totally know where they are going, but the hope is to bring these dumplings to us here in Philly, and even possibly keep branching out. For now, they cater through their website, as well as serve out of the storefront.

While they are much more cohesive now in their own spot, Doyle told us that, “it has been truly overwhelming” to make the move. They are selling out pretty much every day right now but hope to build up inventory as they go forward and keep expanding.

So that’s pretty much their story: bold flavors wrapped up in dough, and they’ve been remarkably well-received. We can’t wait to see them in the city; just talking to Doyle makes you crave them.

As a matter of fact, I’m calling dibs right now: I want at least six of the roast pork ones for myself.

Humpty’s Dumplings [official]