First Look: Hong Dumpling House Brings Fresh, Colorful Mandu to Dallas

KP Hong opened Hong Dumpling House on Royal Lane near Interstate 35 about three months ago, serving fresh, made-to-order Korean dumplings in a rainbow of colors called mandu. Almost every ancient civilization has its version of dumplings, and Korea is no exception, though there are conflicting origin stories. The most popular theory is that mandu were brought to Korea by the Mongols, not the Chinese, in the 14th century. Others believe that they were brought by the Turks much earlier via the Silk Road in the 7th century, an offspring of Turkish manti. All this is very interesting, sure, but we wanted a tasty meal, not a history lesson, and Hong provided it.

The menu is uncomplicated, consisting of six types of dumplings — all served six to an order and all under $10, along with a couple of special dishes for a bit more. Because the dumplings are made to order, it's best to call in advance to avoid any wait time. We arrived early during lunch service and learned that only the first three dumplings on the menu were being served that day, so we ordered a plate of each.
Each type of dumpling is created using wrappers of different colors, and Hong showed us the various powders he uses to create these colors: for purple, sweet potato powder is added; for fuchsia, hibiscus; yellow is created using mango powder; and for green, it's matcha powder.
Our first selection was called simply mandu. These dumplings were made with a purple wrapper and were stuffed with pork and vegetables; one could taste ginger as well, along with green onions or chives. Next up, an order of kimchi mandu, which arrived in a yellow wrapper and were filled with chopped kimchi, ground pork, tofu and vegetables. These were a bit more piquant and vinegary, of course, thanks to the flavors that kimchi brings. Finally, we had an order of shrimp mandu. These little lovelies were served in a green dumpling and had an opening at one end from which the shrimp tail protruded. The tails had been removed for us, but based on some Yelp photos it appears that this is not always the case. A couple of bowls of seasoned soy sauce were also provided for dunking, or in our case, splashing, when one of our dumplings fell out of the grasp of our chopsticks and tumbled into the bowl. Clearly more practice is needed, and we are up for the challenge, because these dumplings had a wonderful texture: not too thick, not too thin and steamed just the right amount with delicious flavors. They were the pot of gold at the end of the dumpling wrapper rainbow, as it were. One of the specials, squid mandu, at about $20, consists of a full squid filled with ground pork and vegetables. There were no more squid the day we went, but one imagines that the squid fills in for the dumpling wrapper. All well and good, but what of the rainbow colors? Clearly, more research is needed (wink, wink).

1901 Royal Lane, No. 105, Dallas. Open 10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Monday - Saturday.