Man-Doo's and Don'ts

o Mandoo Bar, you've been on 32nd street for so long, and somehow manage to survive serving thick-skinned dumplings like you would order from the local chinese chicken wing palace. thank goodness we got the joll-myun (another korean cold noodle preparation that tastes like bean sprouts mixed with cabbage, cucumber and go-chu-jang, the bean sprouts being an especially starchy and al dente clear noodle and the whole thing topped with half a hard-boiled egg. not bad) otherwise it would just be dumplings prepared 4 ways; 4 ways badly.

so on the list of Don'ts:

+ don't serve the mandoo soup; looked like a pack of ramen seasoning (the kind that comes with dried egg and seaweed) with 8 thick-skinned dumplings, nothing like a chinese won-ton. my friend ate the meatballs (pork and chive) and left a big pile o' skin on her plate.

+ don't serve the seafood dumplings unless you put actual seafood in. the ones we had (orange thick skin) were filled with a combination of fake crab meat, minced baby shrimp and maybe fishcake. not a go.

+ don't parboil all your dumplings; piled up in tupperware by the window so they develop a nice thick skin, these should be boiled to order and not left to dry.

+ don't charge $8.99 for 10 dumplings when the boiled dumplings at super taste are infinitesimally better, at $3 for a dozen. yes, that is almost 4 times more expensive for a dumplings that has skin which is at least 4 times thicker... wait, so maybe it is a good deal!

+ don't bother coming here for dumplings; if you want good mandoo, just go to the korean-chinese joint 3 blocks north, Hyo Dong Gak. Both their fried and boiled dumplings are amazing; not your typical chinese guo-tie dumplings, but big fat purses of delicious meat, wrapped almost like overstuffed tortellini.

+ don't believe the stagecraft at the front; just because they have a bunch of old korean ladies making them in the window doesn't mean the dumplings are any good. I've had Mrs. T pierogies with a finer skin than these warhorses.

so anyway, that's it; all Don'ts. granted, every culture has their dough-wrapped meat, but if korean mandoo continues to be represented by this place, then ya'll need another representative. otherwise, the samosas and empanadas of the world, the pelmini and the samsa, the gyoza and guo-tie, even the ravioli or agnoletti will kick its ass.