We spent another overnight in Richmond this month with family, and between painting and eating enormous amounts of charcuterie, we still had time to visit a few spots.

As with our March trip, we stopped at Ugly Dumplings for soup dumplings. The pork soup dumplings were great, while the (red) chicken soup dumplings had some structural issues and were definitely drier.

Saturday evening we stopped in to the The Answer brewpub. I got the excellent Rum Passionfruit Painkiller, a cocktail like smoothie beer. Leandra went for Blanton’s German Chocolate Cake, an Imperial Chocolate Stout with Belize cacao nibs, toasted coconut and Tahitian vanilla beans. They were out of the toasted coconut stout but this still had enough of a coconut profile for her. We tried to sit outside but the mosquitos chased us back inside.

On our way out of town we stopped in Carytown for chocolate at For the Love of Chocolate. Realizing we should eat some lunch before our 2.5 hour drive back home we tried Dumpling and Noodle Cart. The steamed Pork Bun was just OK, not as stuffed as I would prefer, but the sauce was nice. The fried pork dumplings were excellent, crispy and delicious, and a good value at $7. We would definitely get them again. Finally, the cold sesame noodles were good but a little on the sweet side. A nice side for the summer heat. Next time we would probably do takeaway and go to the nearby Garden Grove Brewing.