Jonathan came to New York! His girlfriend Eunhae is a student at SVA, so we decided to meet up before he heads back to Korea at none other than the sad street that is Ktown.
Oh, the irony.
We settled on Mandoo Bar, a little place near the end of the block that invites passerbys to watch the mandoo-making process in the front window. But ultimately, Ktown, like any other ethnic representation (Little Italy, Chinatown…) is just that—a more realistic Epcot for New Yorkers to experience something that is subpar in every way imaginable. Like wearing faux fur after having touched a mink stole. Like having a cheap Chanel bag on which the double C is actually a Venn diagram.
Mandoo is basically the Korean version of a dumpling. There are many stuffing varieties: vegetable, seafood, pork, noodles and tofu, kimchi… the possibilities are endless. Mandoo Bar also offers traditional meals, like bibimbap, japchae and other rice and noodle dishes (ranging in price from $10-$24), but we decided to stick with its namesake and ordered the kimchi and mool mandoo.
Now, my first qualm is the price. Each mandoo calculates around $1, and that’s literally all you get. Yeah yeah, they serve the usual pickled radish and kimchi banchans (side dishes), but tell me what kind of meal a lot of dumplings and a few pieces of a radish make?
kimchi mandoo; $10
Mind you, this complaint is coming from knowledge that authentic mandoo from real Korea would probably cost not more than 5USD. Being the strapped-for-cash college student that I am, if I’m willing to spend ten bones on a plate of chichi dumplings sans soup, I might as well throw in a few extra dollars and get a more substantial meal at some generic chain restaurant.
But I get it, we’re going ethnic here and people are willing to pay more for that pretense.
kimchi mandoo interior
The mool mandoo ($9.24) tasted like meatballs inside a thick dough-basket. I like my steamed mandoo to be wrapped in thin dough, with the inside soft and pillowy. But these—and this brings me to my second and most important qualm—these were not a fluid combination of dough and meat. The dough was thick and tough while the meat inside was hard. I was very, very disappointed.
mool mandoo; $9.24
You can even tell by looking at it: there’s too much empty space between the filling and the dough, like a bubble.
But just because I didn’t like Mandoo Bar doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it… If you don’t mind subjecting your tastebuds to mediocrity. Jonathan and Eunhae weren’t as passionately dejected about their kimchi mandoos as I was about mine.
Reviews by some of my favorite foodie blogs aren’t as scathing:
New York City Dining and Travel Notes- David Lebovitz
NYC Dining: Mandoo Bar- Off the Broiler (check out Jason Perlow’s review to see some more photos too!)
Mandoo Bar
212-279-3075
11:30am-11pm
2 West 32nd St
New York, NY 10001
Hmm, this is really sad. I’m based in Seoul and Mandu is less than 2 dollars and it’s scrumptious.
I love Korean food, it’s texture, the colors, the variety and oh lord, the prices! I know it’s NYC but these prices are downright extortionant.
Girl, tell me about it. My eyeballs almost fell out of my head when I saw the prices—and it wasn’t even authentic-tasting!
And then, to think about how much 10USD worth of food could get me in Korea… *cries*