Cycle 16 – Item 162

Post 5,641

16 (Mon) June 2025

凤城鲜肉饺

3.5

at Mongjungheon

-Munjeong, Songpa, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with DJ

A casual Monday-night dinner for 2, the bill came out to 138,000, yet another blow-out (see most recently 16.154 Pork Soup Dumplings (Xiaolongbao)).  The dimsum are excellent, among the best in the city, but not worth the price, especially with everything else on the menu so absurdly expensive, like fried rice for 18,000.  Even if I were to come by myself and have a simple meal comprising a basket of hargao (14,000) + a bowl of jjajang myeon (16,000) + a glass of water (free), it would still come out to 30,000.  As much as I will miss the food, I don’t think that I’ll be returning anytime soon, at least not without something to celebrate.

凤城鲜肉饺 (Fungshing Sinjukgao) is a Cantonese-Chinese dish.  A type of dumpling (gao) featuring “fresh meat” (sinjuk) (typically minced pork), wrapped in a thin wrapper and steamed.  Originating from Fungshing, a district in Guangdong.

Another thing that bugs me about this place is their insistence on using the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for dishes, a major pet peeve of mine (see generally 14.341 Luseongyo(?)).  Exacerbated here because the menu has more options, often with longer names, like 凤城鲜肉饺, which becomes “Bongseong Seonyuk Gyo” in Korean.  If I order dishes by their original Cantonese pronunciation (or as close as I can manage) (“We’ll have 1 hargao, 1 shiumai, and 1 xialongbao.”), they’ll repeat the order in Korean (“To confirm, you’re ordering 1 hagyo, 1 somae, and 1 sorongpo.”) – easier to pick up on those short ones, but I should ask for Fungshing Sinjuk Gao and see how that fucks them up.

(See all GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See all RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)