Dumpling Soup (mandu guk)

Yesterday, we wandered down Insa-dong looking for a dumpling soup place I had heard about. It's down one of the small alleys that has a half dozen or so restaurants and tea houses right off of the main Insa-dong street. I love exploring these little alleys because you never know what you'll find down them. Usually, if it's early in the day, there will be stacks of plastic trays holding all the empty beer, soda, and soju bottles from the night before, ready to be collected. And in front of some of the places that serve fish, there will be tanks with fish and other sea creatures, ready for you to pick your meal.

I don't know the name of the place we went to. All I know is it is off of Insa-dong 5, and that you can see huge trays full of dumplings in the window, with more being made all the time. The place does not take credit cards, or reservations, and was quite casual. We loved it.

From the top, clockwise: chopped onion in a soy sauce mixture, jap chae (potato noodles with vegetables and sesame seeds), soy beans with dried fish (possibly fermented), bean sprouts lightly pickled with some vegetables, and cabbage kimchi.


The dumpling soup was 5000 won for a bowl. Extremely reasonably priced, especially for what we got. Three fist-sized dumplings each, with all the various side dishes.

Dumpling soup, containing three dumplings, sliced green onion, bits of fried sliced tofu, one piece of red pepper, some bits of beef brisket, and several rice cakes. The dumplings contained a mixture of minced meat and vegetable.


After lunch, we wandered up and down Insa-dong window shopping and avoiding getting hit by cars as they drove up the street. The street vendors selling food were out in force, despite the chilly air. They have covered their carts now with thick plastic covers with zippered openings, so they can stay warm.

Out the back entrance to our building, on the corner of Insa-dong is the hoddeok (I think this is what they are) vendor. These are balls of dough stuffed with a brown sugar mixture that are then fried. And they are yummy! And very hot. I have to be very careful when I eat these because when I get to the melted sugar inside, it's still very hot, and it oozes out everywhere and can burn. And it's very sticky.