With around a lot of pizza restaurants in Maple Valley, it was time for a bit of change.

Alaska N Dumplings opened up in Maple Valley a couple of months ago in Four Corners. The restaurant is owned by Victor Plavsky and serves authentic Russian dumplings.

Russian dumplings were originally engineered for hunters, he explained.

“In the winter time they put the frozen food in the backpack and if you have frozen dumplings like that and you have pot and you have matches, you can make a fireplace and cook the dumplings very fast,” he said.

Originally from Russia, Plavsky said he came to the Seattle area because he loved the views and the atmosphere of the area.

“When I decided to go to the United States, I chose Seattle because it has good weather and oceans, lakes, mountains,” he said.

He explained that the restaurant started out as a food truck, which travels around the Seattle area, but then he and the other owner decided to open up a stand up restaurant.

Plavsky said they have a dumpling factory in Auburn, which makes it easy to produce a fast and delicious meal for residents who stop by.

He said the main dish is dumplings because they cook fast, which is why he describes his restaurant as more of a bistro than a sit down restaurant.

“The idea is to serve people decent good food, and fast,” he said.

Restaurant goers don’t have many options to choose from as far as what is in the dumplings, but that’s OK because the options they do have are unique and filling.

According to a menu that was posted on Google reviews, there are four types of dumplings to choose from — the Alaskan Classic, Buffalo, Sweet and Spicy and Loaded. After you choose the type of dumpling you want, you can choose to have the dumplings filled with a meat of your choosing or no meat at all.

Plavsky said the location of Maple Valley was chosen because of the main roads that go through the city, there are a lot of businesses in the area and because there is not a lot of variety of restaurants in Maple Valley.

“So people are looking for something new. So we decided to go with it,” he said. “I haven’t seen any restaurant like (this) before.”

Plavsky said his restaurant is very family friendly and has an option for everyone who comes to enjoy the food.

As far as customer feedback goes, Plavsky said there have been a lot of positive remarks on Google reviews and the Alaska N Dumplings’ Facebook page.

One review on Google said, “Really enjoyed our dining experience. The dumplings were great. There were more choices of fillings than we were expecting. My favorite dumplings were the chickens and pork.We also enjoyed the puff pastry shell pierogis. The happy hour deal is incredible: buy a large beer and get a dozen dumplings free. My favorite item on the menu is the chicken and dumplings soup…. Wow!! Overall, we appreciated the friendly and fast service and the great food!”

Plavsky said he is looking to open up other dumpling restaurants at some point, but for now he’s going to stick with the Maple Valley location until the time is right to open another location.