Cycle 16 – Item 68
14 (Fri) March 2025
Post 5,547
Mul Mandu, Literally
1.5
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
solo
Another afternoon visit to kill time (waiting for Louis Le Pieux to get his spa treatment), but still full from a heavy lunch, I ordered the lighest item on the menu: mul mandu. I can’t recall ever ordering mul mandu, or even considering to do so, or seeing someone else do it, at a Korean-Chinese restaurant. While gun mandu is commonplace, usually as a freebie (see for example 13.273 Gun Mandu), mul mandu isn’t really a thing.
I can see why. Just standard small Korean mandu, clearly from a package (see for example 7.046 Lava), which were okay per se, if I’d boiled them myself at home as a quick snack. Served in a soup, along with loads of chopped scallion + sprinkle of sesame seeds + dash of sesame oil, which at first glance reminded me of a wonton soup that I’d encountered in Fiji (see 10.189 Clouds in Sky), but no it turned out to be just plain warm water, garniture notwithstanding. The laziest “dish” that I’ve ever experienced at a Korean-Chinese restaurant.
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