Los Angeles, CA (The Joy of Food) — I first heard about Myung In Dumplings in a Koreatown episode of Parts Unknown, where guest buddy David Choe describes the wang mandu (king dumplings) here as ‘prolapsed buttholes.’ Just the image you want in your head during dinner.
On that show, Myung In follows a stop at the all-you-can-eat Sizzler bar for David Choe and Anthony Bourdain, an apparent ‘splurge’ wonderland for Korean-Americans. There, Tony watches Dave chow down on a meatball taco covered in chunky pasta sauce, guacamole, sour cream, and nacho cheese, an image that still makes me weep a little to this day. But I digress.
Some of you may recognize David Choe’s name as the street artist whose work appears in a wide variety of cultural and entertainment contexts around L.A. and beyond. When he’s not painting, he tends to hang out with high-profile chefs and talk about food, like he did recently with David Chang for several episodes of The Next Thing You Eat on Hulu.
At Myung In, I like the steamed dumplings filled with pork and shrimp, essentially a Korean take on shu mai. The soy-vinegar dipping sauce that accompanies these adds some tang and zip. For something spicier, you might try the roll dumplings served with a chili sauce, also filled with pork and shrimp but different from the steamed dumplings thanks to some added kimchi. These have notes of acidity and spice.
The wang mandu here are truly giant and filled with a mix of glass noodles, pork, and vegetables. There are four to a serving and you can tell they’re fresh and made to-order. Compared to traditional bao, they are physically larger and the breading is also sweeter, fluffier, and airier, and the center pocket isn’t as condensed.
I’ve been impressed with the texture of the wrappers — not too thin or thick — but I’ve found the savory pork, celery, mushroom, and onion filling to be a tad bland and dry. This means I end up using a high volume of soy sauce to add dimension and keep them from wiring my jaw shut.
The food here straddles Korean and Chinese cuisines, and it’s hard to tell sometimes where one stops and the other starts, no surprise since Myung In’s owner is of Korean ancestry, but hails from Shenyang, China. Happily, you can enjoy a bit of both worlds in every visit. Coming in with a group is essential so that you can taste multiple things and get a feel for what you enjoy.
This tends to be a sleepy place so I’ve wondered over the years how they manage to stay in business. Once an expanding chain, outposts in San Diego and Orange County have since closed, so a few locations around L.A., including this original Koreatown spot, are it.
Written by Joy
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Those dumplings look good! Bummer they left San Diego.
I remember they had their own spot on Convoy but then moved to the Zion food court before closing for good. Honestly the quality wasn’t great from what I remember, particularly the filling which was even drier than the L.A. location.
Interesting story; on one of my meals at Myung In, the franchise owner came over to talk and he revealed that the type of dough they use was based on Jjin Bbang, or Chinese style steamed buns; not the typical Wang Mandu. That’s when he told me that the original owner was from Shenyang. By the time they moved to the Zion Market food court, they didn’t even have Mandu Guk on the menu anymore. They didn’t last much longer after that.
Hi Kirk thanks for the additional info. And now that you mention it I do recall the spot in Zion downsized quite a bit before closing, where they changed the menu and removed some key items you’d expect from a dumpling place – like dumplings! I don’t know how the L.A. store manages to stay open, there are better places than this and there’s never anyone there.