12.127
12 (Wed) May 2021
Modeum Mandu
2.0
from Byeolnan Mandu Café
at home
-Godeung, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with IZ
Byeolnan Mandu Café (별난만두카페) is a Korean restaurant chain. Countless branches across the country. Specializes in various types of mandu. The term “byeolnan” generally refers to something that’s strange (in a pejorative sense) or extraordinary (in a positive sense).
Thursday and Friday, the company is holding yet another book fair at an international school, this one in the city of Dongtan.
After overseeing the set-up this afternoon, I was driving home when I saw the mandu restaurant and stopped by to get takeout for dinner. I was surprised to find so many options, mostly newfangled items that I had never heard of. The woman behind the counter suggested that I try the modeum – “modeum = everything” – which came 16 types.
As covered numerous times on GMTD (see generally mandu), traditional Korean mandu come in 2 styles: gogi (meat), typically ground pork + tofu + bean sprouts + noodles; and kimchi, which is pretty much the same as (i) but with kimchi. These styles can be made either (iii) with thin skins or (iv) as buns.
The mandu were okay. Ultimately, they were variations of the basic gogi or kimchi mandu, but with, say, skin infused with squid ink (the black one), or skin made of potato starch (the transparent ones), or no skin (the naked ones), etc.
(See also FOODS)
(See also PLACES)