Korean dumpling bar offering dishes on a short menu that are good, tasty, and light.
The name is not misleading. Here, you'll enjoy mandu sitting at a bar, watching the two cooks prepare your order with precision and care. Some mandu are filled with a mix of pork and beef, tofu and spring onion (our choice), others with Asian cabbage and tofu, or a chicken-fennel-carrot mix. A fine start, followed by a delicate tartare, the other house specialty. For us, it was sea bream, but we could have chosen chicken, tuna or mackerel. Subdued atmosphere in the evening, in a loft-style setting. Pleasant service.
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Members' reviews on MANDOOBAR
The ratings and reviews below reflect the subjective opinions of members and not the opinion of The Little Witty.
Carte courte mais qui permet de tout goûter !!!
Excellente expérience ! Nous reviendrons !
My friend and I found this restaurant on a list from Vogue France about the best Korean restaurants in Paris. We were very excited for our meal because we were missing having Asian food on our Europe trip and saw Mandoobar had great michelin reviews. Our expectations were high because of how this restaurant prided itself in being "authentic" and the chef's upbringing in Seoul.
We ordered the Korean side salad, gougi mandoo, shrimp mandoo, kimchi mandoo, and the sea bream tartare. All of these dishes stated they had sesame oil, vinegar, gochugaru, and/or gochujang (all staple Korean ingredients) in these dishes. This could not have been farther from the truth. The dishes were ridiculously bland, leaving my friend and I to drown our mandoo and sea bream in the sad "soy sauce" (which isn't even Korean) dish they gave us on the side.
Aside from the five-year-old level taste profile of our meal, to make matters worse, our kimchi mandoo DID NOT EVEN HAVE KIMCHI IN IT. We had to open up our dumplings after eating the first one to check if there was kimchi in it because, once again, the taste was not there at all. We were met with two red pepper flakes in the filling that were supposed to "mimic" the flavors of kimchi (which it absolutely did not).
Not a single dish lived up to our expectations, nor should any of them be considered Korean food -- let alone AUTHENTIC Korean food. To validate my review, I am Korean, have grown up eating homemade Korean food made by my immigrant aunts/grandmother/mother, and have visited Korea multiple times. We were furious when we had to pay $80 for the food we did get and we were still hungry when we left the restaurant. We were happier to leave the restaurant hungry than continue to order more food at this establishment.
If I am ever in Paris again, I will never spend a single euro at Mandoobar and would strongly advise anyone who is craving and looking for a delicious Korean meal to NOT go to this restaurant. Save your money and time and visit Shin Jung (7 min walk away from Mandoobar) instead. My friend and I went here immediately after leaving Mandoobar and were pleasantly greeted not only by Korean restaurant staff and chef but also with delightful Korean aromatics.
Tldr; DO NOT GO TO MANDOOBAR -- scam, NOT authentic Korean food, go to Shin Jung instead.
Qualite des produits est excellente, tout comme l’ambiance et le concept.