Photos: La Mezcaleria wins the 2015 Golden Dumpling Cook Off

Forget that Hollywood-thin Oscar statuette: a plump golden dumpling trophy resting atop a bamboo steamer is more coveted by some Vancouver chefs.

The team from La Mezcaleria took home the trophy at the Golden Dumpling Cook Off and Derby on August 9. 

A fundraiser for the Chinese Elders Community Kitchen, the festival brought together chefs from 17 restaurants, all competing to make the best "something wrapped in something". 

This year's festival took place in a fenced-off part of Food Cart Fest in the Olympic Village. (A liquor-licensing issue prompted a move from the originally planned location at Red Truck Brewery.) 

Dumpling passport holders wandered among the booths, sampling each restaurant's creations. By the end of the festival, the public voted for their favourite, as did four chef and media judges, including me.

The overall winner was Mexican restaurant La Mezcaleria, which was the judges' top choice and which placed second in the people's choice category.

Made by chef Armando Brown, the cochinita pibil dumpling was a corn-dough concoction topped with habanero-orange jelly and spicy pickled red onions.

It was stuffed with pork, which was first marinated in orange and achiote chili and slow-roasted in a banana leaf. Crisp and delicious, it had a nice contrast of textures and flavours.

There's a big fat world of dumplings out there, and its diversity was on display at the festival. Creative influences stretched from Japan to the Middle East and Indonesia to Peru. 

Peruvian restaurant Chicha placed first in the people's choice category.

Chef Shelome Bouvette gave a nod to Peru's significant Japanese population with her entry: gyoza made with ground pork, scallop, and shrimp. It rested on a bed of greens and a mesquite aji amarillo corn sauce.

Vegetarian restaurant the Acorn placed third in the people's choice category and second on the judges' scorecard.

Chef Rob Clarke's creative take on a dumpling used a squash blossom as a wrapper to encase herbed quinoa with garlic scapes, cashews, and cherries. Edible flowers dressed up the tempura-battered-and-fried seasonal treat.

Medina Cafe placed third in the judges' results. Chef Deniz Tarakcioglu made a hearty beef-shank manti dumpling in a rich beef broth and chili oil. A dry carrot pickle balanced things out.

There were plenty of other interesting combinations on offer. Maenam, the 2014 Golden Dumpling champion, for example, came up with a Don Jiaw egg dumpling made with a delicate egg wrapper. Chefs Mike Tuangkitkun and Justin Cheung stuffed these with braised pork cheek.

One of Vancouver's newest restaurants, Sai Woo, also got creative. Chef Keev Mah made a pork and smoked garlic scape dumpling set in a fior di latte laksa broth, and topped it all with sambal ikura. 

Now that's a mix of cultural influences!