Dumplings are a universal love language. Practically every cuisine wraps deliciousness in dough and serves up little packets of pasta-encased pleasures.

Not all of them are represented in Buffalo restaurants, to be sure. While I’d like to bring you news of tortellini en brodo and Shanghaiese soup dumplings, that will have to wait. What we do have going for us in the dumpling department is a solid foundation of handmade Asian dumplings, and a few standout exceptions.

Here’s a few of the offerings I’d recommend at local restaurants, and one manufacturer. (Please note that both pierogi and boiled dumplings like spaetzle and gnocchi are a separate matter, at least when it comes to this guide. If you’ve got a guide suggestion, please send it to me at agalarneau@buffnews.com.)

The lamb butter masala momos at Inchin's Bamboo Garden are deep-fried lamb dumplings covered in butter masala sauce, cream, tomato and spices.

Lamb butter masala momos at Inchin’s Bamboo Garden

5415 Sheridan Drive, Amherst; bamboo-gardens.com; 716-580-3032.

This Indian-Chinese cuisine specialist offers dumplings called momos (3 for $8) that draw on the traditional Tibetan and Nepalese version. Pick a filling (vegetable, chicken, lamb) and a treatment (steamed, fried, Szechuan, butter masala). The consensus winner at a table of adventurous eaters was the lamb butter masala, deep-fried and dunked in savory roasted tomato cream alive with spices.

Good Luck Restaurant in Niagara Falls carried over chicken momo in soup from the previous Taste of Nepal menu. It consists of momo dumplings stuffed with chicken in tomato-chile soup.

Chicken momo in soup at Good Luck Restaurant

431 Third St., Niagara Falls; goodluck1.com; 716-299-0002.

Another Nepalese-Indian restaurant took over from the Taste of Nepal folks, but the momos keep coming. Straight-up fried momos ($12.95) brings eight gingery chicken dumplings, noticeably bigger than Chinese potstickers. Jhol momo ($12.95) is a dish of simmered-in-chile-tomato broth redolent with spices. Sadako momo ($12.95) is a hotter edition, drawing on a diversity of spices for a rousing effect. A vegetable momo ($11.99) brings bigger flavor than most vegetarian dumplings, thanks to slightly bitter greens.

Beef pelmeni at Slavic Bazaar

Unlike others in this guide, the pelmeni at Slavic Bazaar are machine made. But they’re fresh, and pound for pound one of the greatest dumpling values in town. The Bazaar is a Slavic grocery store next to a pelmeni and pierogi factory. It’s got smoked fish, pickled vegetables and tinned goods, plus 2-pound bags of frozen beef or veal pelmeni ($6.99), a walnut-sized dumpling that only needs to be boiled in salted water before applying browned butter, sour cream and so on.

Pork dumplings at Home Taste.

Fish and leek dumplings at Home Taste

3106 Delaware Ave.; hometaste88.com; 716-322-0088.

The king of Kenmore Chinese offers housemade dumplings in usual (steamed pork-cabbage, 12 for $7.50) and less usual (pork-celery, pork-pickled cabbage, chicken-leek, $8 to $9.50), but it’s the only place in town offering fish-leek (12 for $10.50), and they’re terrific. This is a Northern Chinese restaurant, adept at the dough arts, so the noodles for some dishes are housemade as well.

Vegetable dumplings at China Taste are filled with chive, egg and shrimp.

Leek, shrimp and egg dumplings at China Taste

1280 Sweet Home Road, Amherst; 716-568-0080; chinatastebuffalo.com.

Pork lovers have no shortage of dumpling places to choose from. One of the best nonmeat examples I’ve found 'round these parts is the leek, scrambled egg and shrimp steamed dumplings at this takeout-only restaurant near the University at Buffalo’s North Campus. At $11.99 for 20, there’s plenty to share. Pork and cabbage ($10.99 for 20) and pork, shrimp and cabbage ($11.99 for 20) are more popular choices.

Khoshmazeh Afghan Cuisine's mantu is steamed beef dumplings topped with a tomato-based yellow split pea sauce, garlic yogurt sauce and chopped fresh mint.

Beef mantu with mint yogurt and split peas at Khoshmazeh Afghan Cuisine

Broadway Market, 999 Broadway; 716-901-4308.

Last year, a pair of Afghan cooks and their families started serving a small slate of dishes at noon Friday pop-ups in the Broadway Market’s commercial kitchen. Among them is the Afghan-style beef mantu (8 for $8). A savory ground beef filling is wrapped with fresh pasta and steamed to order. Before serving, the dumplings are dolloped with yogurt, a yellow split pea sauce and a dusting of pungent dried mint.

Send restaurant tips to agalarneau@buffnews.com and follow @BuffaloFood on Instagram and Twitter.

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Good Luck Restaurant in Niagara Falls carried over chicken momo in soup from the previous Taste of Nepal menu. It consists of momo dumplings stuffed with chicken in tomato-chile soup.

The lamb butter masala momos at Inchin's Bamboo Garden are deep-fried lamb dumplings covered in butter masala sauce, cream, tomato and spices.

Pork dumplings at Home Taste.

Vegetable dumplings at China Taste are filled with chive, egg and shrimp.

Khoshmazeh Afghan Cuisine's mantu is steamed beef dumplings topped with a tomato-based yellow split pea sauce, garlic yogurt sauce and chopped fresh mint.

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