Over my last three trips to Adelaide, I've slowly starred more and more places on Google maps to remind myself of things worth trying. The list (admittedly) tends to be Asian focussed. So far the list entails Ricky's Kitchen (for chicken rice) or Warong (for Indo-Malaya laksa) or the nearby non-Asian United Latino Cocina (Mexican, fish tacos) which I discovered are sadly all only lunch options. Then there is Chinatown's Ying Chow (for duck and some kind of beans dish) or Concubine (other Chinese) which were a little too far away to walk to. Lastly near the Royal Adelaide Hospital is Golden Boy (modern Thai) which has a great sounding menu and I was very close to ending up in, but strangely only has average reviews (due to flavours, serving size, price).
In the end it came down to well rated dumplings place called Mandoo. I must admit I don't think I've ever had Korean dumplings, even in Seoul. My staple Korean dishes in Australia tend to be bibimbap and the occasional BBQ. Given the reviews and very high ratings, my curiosity and dumpling-cravings drew me in. Funnily enough just down the road looks like another reasonable Vietnamese-based place called Sit Lo which has the widespread open baos and pho as their specialty. Maybe next time.
Openly on display inside Mandoo is a large number of stacked metal steamers with the large parcels being assembled on a small bench in front. I positioned myself directly in front to watch the skilled action. The namesake dumplings come in two varieties - steamed or fried. From vast experience, I know that steamed are usually the basics and the marker of true greatness whereas my palate prefers the flavour and texture of fried. Luckily since all the servings are in 8, there is an option for half-half for $1 extra.
I ordered steamed kimchi mandoo (for the difference), fried pork mandoo (because fried pork is always the best flavoured) and beef bibimbap to wash it all down. They asked it I was ordering for 2. No, just 1. I smiled.
One of the reviews on Urbanspoon opined the mandoo themselves have little intrinsic flavour and it is the dipping sauce that brings it to life. I have to agree. Firstly the dumplings are huge (compared with typical Chinese or Japanese) each one being having a rounded diameter of 4-5cm. The steamed skins are thin and not too gelatinous which is fine but also means once you bite or dip, the large size is difficult to hold together and the filling comes out. The fried version on the other hand holds much better as expected. Kimchi filling was very very mild compared to usual kimchi vegetables. The pork filling wasn't very seasoned either but was fine. The dipping sauce of vinegar, chilli, sesame gave the dumplings a huge kick of flavour and intensity.
Bibimbap was a well sized bowl of steamed rice, lots of vegetable combinations, flavoursome beef and an excellent gochujang sauce with a perfect amount of chilli. One disappointment was my hope of serving or cooking in a stone pot with the bottom rice becoming crisp and burnt. This is my favourite textural element of bibimbap but didn't detract from the other nice flavours and textures. It also came with a small bowl of nice fish-konbu soup that would otherwise serve the base of their menu udon dish.
Next time I would order the fried chicken mandoo (to see what if they had more intrinsic flavour than the pork) and try either the udon or mandoo dumpling soup. For a one dish dinner, the bibimbap was more satisfying to me than the fried pork mandoo. But ideally try both and prepare to package a bit for takeaway.
