Midtown Lunch

3 weeks ago our Downtown Lunch correspondent Daniel Krieger wrote his inaugural post about Tasty Dumpling in Chinatown.  The purpose of the column is to make Midtowners feel the same jealousy that Downtowners feel every time they log on to this site.  And it worked.  (I want dumplings!!!)  The post sparked in me a craving for dumplings, and while we don’t have any stand-alone Chinatown style dumpling “houses” in Midtown, we do have a very righteous Korean alternative,  Mandoo Bar on 32nd btw. B’way+5th. 

If you have ever walked down the main block of Koreatown (perhaps to visit Midtown Lunch favorite Woorijip), then you’ve surely noticed the women in the window making fresh, perfectly formed, multicolored dumplings every day.  If it’s a thursday or friday, there was probably a line out the door.  “Oooh… that sounds good.  Are they 5 for $1.25?”  No.  They’re not, you snarky downtown lunch’er lucky enough to live walking distance from Chinatown.  They’re not 5 for $1.25.  The prices recently went up, making them more like 1 for $1.25.  But they’re good!  So stop raining on our dumpling parade.

Korean dumpling porn (with innards) after the jump…

A small sit down casual restaurant, you can sit and eat or take the food to go.  They have other non-dumpling items on the menu, but you don’t see them making Bi Bim Bap in the front window, so why would you order anything but the mandoo?  Pan fried, or steamed, they have a number of different kinds of dumplings, from pork to seafood, mixed vegetable to kimchee. 

Trays of dumplings waiting to be steamed or fried. White is pork, green is vegetable, orange is seafood

Goon Mandoo (Pan Fried Dumplings w/ Pork & Vegetables) 4 for $5.50

Steamed Seafood Dumpling Innards

Steamed Vegetable Dumpling Innards

Steamed Pork & Chive Dumpling Innards

10 for $9.24 is admittedly very expensive, and just makes it under the $10 cap for a proper Midtown Lunch, but what are you going to do?  We work in Midtown. They’re really tasty, and clearly made with care…

Alright, I admit it.  I’d rather be working in Chinatown!

Mandoo Bar, 2 W 32nd St (btw. B’way+5th Ave), 212 279-3075