Why would a chef who trained in sushi, and already runs Oyama Sushi at Bon Air Center, travel to four cities in China to learn dumplings from 20 different chefs? Peter Wang and his wife, Jessica Li, made that trip before they opened Tipsy Dumpling in August 2026. The restaurant sits at 340 Bon Air Center, on the outer corner of the center along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Just past the entry, a glass window fills almost a whole wall, and behind it Li and her team knead the dough, fill each wrapper and pleat it into one of three dumpling styles. The steamed and boiled dumplings share one short list of fillings, so for those two styles the choice at the table is about cooking method rather than filling. Soup dumplings have their own lineup.
One set of fillings, two ways to cook it
The Marin Independent Journal's opening story put it plainly. The four steamed dumplings are filled with vegetables, beef and onion, or Kurobuta pork paired with either corn or shrimp and chives. The same fillings come boiled, which the IJ describes as having a softer, more tender texture than the steamed version. Both styles arrive eight to an order with the house dumpling sauce, made with soy sauce, Shanghai vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil and garlic.
Xiao long bao, the soup dumplings often shortened to XLB, follow different rules. They come six to an order in a steamer. Their thin skins hold broth along with Kurobuta pork on its own or paired with crab or black truffle.
Here is how the three styles compared when the IJ's reviewer visited in September 2026, with the prices printed in that review:
| Style | Per order | Fillings and prices at the time of the September 2026 IJ review |
|---|---|---|
| Xiao long bao | 6 | Kurobuta pork $13; crab and pork $16; black truffle and pork $32 |
| Steamed | 8 | Vegetables $16; pork with chives and shrimp $18; beef and onion $17; corn and pork $17 |
| Boiled | 8 | Kurobuta pork, chives and shrimp $18; corn and pork $17; beef and onion $17 |
The table shows how the menu works. Corn and pork costs $17 steamed or boiled. Beef and onion costs $17 either way. With the price held steady, the only thing being decided is texture. Menu prices can change after a review runs, so treat these as a snapshot from September.
The window doubles as a lesson
Soup dumplings are the one style that needs instructions, and the restaurant hangs them right over the window. An animated story plays on a large screen above the dumpling station: a girl makes dumplings with her granny and learns how to eat one. Rest it on a wide spoon and gently break it open so the hot broth spills into the spoon instead of onto your tongue.
In her review for the Marin IJ, Ann Walker asked for a table right in front of the glass. She watched three staff members rolling, filling and pleating each dumpling. She described the XLB broth as "delicate and flavorful" and the dough as "light and silky," with pleats that held their shape "without being dense or too chewy." That review also spells out how the couple splits the work. Wang runs the kitchen, and Li oversees dumpling production.
Tables near the window are the obvious choice for families with kids who want to see how dumplings are made. Walker called the room a place where "families as well as adults on a date would feel comfortable."
Where the plainest style came out ahead
On the steamed side, Walker picked corn and pork as the standout. The pork is slivered rather than ground and mixed with whole corn kernels, which gives it a gentle sweetness she called "more intriguing than sweet."
Her favorite of the meal, though, was boiled. She noted that boiled dumplings are usually the least pretty of the three and can turn out soggy. She called the beef and onion "my favorite dumpling of the meal," with "the pronounced flavor of perfectly seasoned beef and onions." They came with their own sauce, close to one of the three already on the table but with a distinct ginger kick.
That matters for anyone ordering. Since the fillings repeat across the steamed and boiled styles, a table of two or four can order the same filling steamed and boiled and taste the difference side by side. The beef and onion is $17 either way.
The rest of the menu, past the dumplings
Most of the menu is built for sharing. The IJ's opening story describes a mix of traditional and Americanized Chinese dishes:
- Starters such as cucumber salad, chilled wood ear mushroom salad, Sichuan chili oil wontons and hot and sour soup
- Fried rice, chow mein and stir-fried vegetables
- Entrées including mapo tofu, braised pork belly, black pepper beef short ribs, orange chicken, General Tso's chicken, Mongolian beef and honey walnut shrimp
Two dishes stand out. The sweet-and-sour squirrel fish comes whole. It is butterflied and scored deeply, so the flesh curls outward into a crisp, pinecone-like shape in the fryer, and the head and tail stay on. The September review listed it at $48.
The Chongqing spicy crispy chicken arrives buried under dried red chiles and Sichuan peppercorns. Walker ordered it at $25 and found it less fiery than it looked. The numbing Sichuan peppercorn came through more than the chiles, and the chicken stayed moist and tender under its crisp coating. Little red chile icons on the menu mark the spicy dishes.
When pea shoots are in season, they are among the stir-fried vegetables. Organic cauliflower and string beans are on that list too.
A bar with a sushi chef's accent
The Japanese side of Wang's training shows up at the bar. According to the IJ, the cocktails use Japanese spirits and flavors:
- Sakura Sour: Roku Gin, Aperol, lemon and aquafaba, a chickpea-based stand-in for egg white
- Lucky Lychee Martini: Haku Vodka, pineapple juice, lychee and lemon
- Moon Gate: Suntory Toki whisky with honey, lemon juice and a chili ginger syrup
- Aloe and Jade: blanco tequila, Chareau, lime juice, mint, basil and simple syrup
Walker had the Aloe and Jade at $15 and found it went well with the dumplings and the spicy dishes. The drinks list also covers wine by the glass and bottle, six beers, hard kombucha and a range of nonalcoholic beer and wine.
The opening story said a daily happy hour would start in September. Tipsy Dumpling's OpenTable page now lists it daily from 2:30 to 5 p.m. That window falls between the lunch rush and dinner, which makes it an easy time to sit by the glass and watch the dumpling team at work.
Inside the old Patxi's corner
Longtime Bon Air shoppers will know the room. The Marin IJ's 2021 year-end roundup reported that Patxi's Pizza closed there in spring 2021. Tipsy Dumpling kept the backlit liquor shelves and the three televisions above the rear bar and redid nearly everything else. The 100-seat dining room now has dark green leather chairs, curved banquettes and a large sculptural light fixture hanging from the exposed-beam ceiling.
Outside, a fenced patio adds 45 seats around a fire pit. By the reviewer's September visit, it had heaters and shade, and a wooden fence screens out the traffic on Sir Francis Drake. On a cool November evening, the heaters and fire pit make the patio usable. Walker rated the noise level "loud when full," so the patio is also the quieter option.
The restaurant joins some long-standing neighbors. According to the Marin IJ's coverage of Bon Air's 70th anniversary, Victoria Bakery opened at the center in 1985, Mollie Stone's has been in the former Petrini's site since 1996, and the center finished a major refurbishment in 2017. Squared Pizza, a Detroit-style pizzeria at 140 Bon Air Center, is a more recent addition. The IJ reported its grand opening in early May 2025. With Oyama Sushi a short walk away, Wang and Li now run two restaurants in the same center.
Tipsy Dumpling is open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Online ordering is at tipsydumpling.com, and the phone number is 415-886-8909.
New places like this are a big part of what makes everyday life in Greenbrae and the Ross Valley feel like home, and our team follows them as closely as we follow the market. If you're curious which nearby streets put Bon Air within walking distance, or you have any other North Bay question, the Kristie Martinelli Team is glad to talk it through over dumplings or anywhere else. Work With Us.
