Mandoo Bar

Mandoo Bar, at K-town on 2 West 32nd Street near Fifth Avenue, is a great place. I've been there a few times this year, so when I friend of mine was visiting from LA, I just had to take her there.

We came in at around 12 noon and there were only two other tables taken. By the time we had ordered, all the other (about 10) tables were full and there was a line going out the door!

The combo mandoo (combination plate with 4 pieces each of seafood, veggie, and pork Korean dumplings) was awesome. It tasted like a new experience even though I had had that before too. We also ordered the Beef Fried Rice - which was stir-fried and had chopped beef, veggies, and an egg - and the Bibimbop - a giant salad-like dish that had veggies and greens, some beef, and an egg. The bibimbop had a reddish sauce served on the side that you were supposed to pour into it and mix, but we just dipped our mandoos (the dumplings) in it instead - and it was tasty. A bit later the waiter told us that it was for the bibimbop, so I poured the rest of it in the bibimbop and mixed it...the sauce really did fit the bibimbop better, but by then there wasn't much of it left.

I really like the food. They're all so simple, but oh so delicious! Korean food is tasty and this place ranks as one of my favorite Korean places.

The decors were simple and plain. All the tables and seats were bamboo colored benches. Meaning no back rests. If you lean back, you lean on the person sitting on the table behind you. The had framed pictures on the walls that all had some slightly intellectual and witty sayings on them. The temperature was on the cold side, which it also was during my previous visits on the spring and summer.

My chopstick and tea rating: 5 cereal boxes out of a possible 6.

Bonus points: They have part of the kitchen on the front window so that you can see them rolling and preparing mandoos from the street.