Dine at Dumpling Hours in Auckland CBD and you’ll be surrounded by pastels, with pale blue walls, glowing pink neon signs and three-dimensional flower motifs sprawled across one side of the room.

It’s a bright and cheery place to have a meal; during the day the light pink and white chairs are filled with students and city workers on their lunch breaks.

They’re ordering steaming dumplings, chilli oil-drenched wontons, bowls of braised beef noodle soup, and crispy popcorn chicken – all of which have one thing in common: the price. Every dish at Dumpling Hours is $12, no matter what it is.

The menu includes a lot of Shanghai- and Jiangsu-style dim sum, along with stir-fried dishes and more. The idea is that they’re quick and easy to enjoy during a lunch hour or for a casual dinner.

There are several varieties of handmade xiaolongbao (Chinese soup dumplings), which is one of the chef’s specialties. Another chef, originally from the Jiangsu province, knows his way around great buns and noodles.

Order cucumber salad and bang bang chilli chicken with peanuts, several varieties of steamed buns or sauteed vegetables. $12 will get you 10 pork and cabbage dumplings, a big bowl of pork wonton soup or dan dan noodles, egg fried rice or mapo tofu.

For a quenching and refreshing finisher, try the chilled mango sago pudding – almost like a tropical smoothie in a bowl.