It’s been a while since I’ve posted about Korean food so why not do it now right? On our NYC trip, we stopped by Koreatown because we wanted to have something other than burgers or pizza for dinner. I mean those things are great in small doses but it was time to have some rice. That’s how we stumbled upon Mandoo bar.
Mandoo bar is located at the start of block long Koreatown. It features a variety of Korean dishes but it features Korean dumplings (Mandoo). Patrons can watch the cooks make mandoo dumplings from the store front window which is a nice touch. Even when there isn’t some one there, they have a video of the mandoo making process for you to watch.
Bibimbap
Old bean really wanted to have some rice so we decided to order a hot stone bowl (bibimbap). It had a variety of veggies including zucchini, carrots, onions and shiitake mushrooms as well as a good portion of ground beef. The portion was smaller than what we’re used to back in Vancouver but it was pretty tasty overall.
Mandoo
Since we were at a mandoo bar, naturally we had to order some to try! We decided to go with the mini mandoo so they were half the size of regular ones. We regretted this a little bit because the mandoo ended up being too much dough and you could barely taste the filling inside. The mandoo wrapper was very soft and chewy which was surprising since we are used to them being soft. It came with a soy based dipping sauce.
Seafood japchae
We got the seafood version because usually you only have the option of having it with beef in Vancouver. It had assorted frozen seafood, eggs, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, green onions and sweet potato flour noodles. The noodles were cooked on the softer side and since there was quite a bit of sauce on the bottom, the noodles soaked it all up. The noodles were on the sweet side which was surprising too. For $20, there wasn’t a lot of noodles to go around but it was pretty tasty.
Quick bites
- Pricy compared to Vancouver
- Good amount of selections
- Stick with the regular sized mandoo
Follow more of my NYC food adventures! Dominique Ansel Bakery, Rose’s Pizza, Bibble and Sip, and Oki Poke ramen.