Trader Joe's Gyoza Dipping Sauce, 296mL

This sauce comes in a 296mL glass bottle. It starts with a soy sauce and rice vinegar base, then adds sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, chives, crushed red pepper, and you guessed it: cilantro. The result is a thicker texture than plain gyoza sauce, with a balanced mix of salty, sweet, umami, and a hint of heat.

TJ’s knows how to sauce things up, and this bottle of Gyoza Dipping Sauce comes ready to flirt with your freezer stash of potstickers. But whether it's a flavour bomb or a bust depends on your feelings about one tiny herb: cilantro.

The flavour is bold. It's salty in a soy sauce kind of way, tangy from the vinegar, and the garlic and ginger give it depth. There's just enough sesame oil to make it feel rich and restaurant-worthy. The red pepper adds a slow, gentle heat that creeps up just as you go in for another dip.

It coats dumplings beautifully without drowning them. It also plays nicely with noodles, stir-fry, grilled meat, and even roasted veggies.

Now, the cilantro. If you're on team cilantro, you're going to love it. But if you're one of the many who taste soap instead of herbaceous goodness, this sauce will ruin your day. It’s not just a background flavour, it’s right up front and centre.