Jongno 3-ga soybean kalguksu with fried and boiled mandu: Jongga Mandu

Jongga Mandu is a handmade dumpling restaurant located between Jongno 3-ga and Euljiro 3-ga stations. Every day they hand-fold plump dumplings you can get either fried or boiled. Signature dishes include mandu jeongol (dumpling hot pot), bibim kalguksu, soybean kalguksu, and mandu-guk. Filling meals at fair prices mean it's always busy. Great for group gatherings or a solo meal in Jongno 3-ga.

Where is Jongga Mandu, and where can you park?

Jongga Mandu, a Jongno 3-ga Station favorite, is a 5-minute walk from Exit 15. Parking is available at the nearby paid Sejong parking lot. It's a triple-transfer hub for lines 1, 2, and 3, so coming by public transit is your best bet.

How long is the wait at 6:30pm on a Friday?

I visited on a Friday evening at 6:30pm, and thankfully it wasn't completely full (though nearly full once you exclude reserved seats). Seeing a waitlist sign-in sheet tells you this is a Jongno spot with real waits. Lunchtime must be packed with office workers.

Dumplings folded by hand at the entrance

Near the entrance, staff were folding dumplings by hand. With so many customers, they kept making dumplings nonstop even in the evening. Boiled mandu are coiled in a ring shape, fried mandu are half-moon shaped. It all looked clean, so I felt reassured about hygiene. And the owner was so friendly!!♡

I couldn't take photos of the inside because it was so crowded, but there were tons of 4-person tables and it was much more spacious than it looked from outside.

There's also a self-serve bar. The kimchi was really tasty. They kept refilling the side dishes like crazy haha.

Jongga Mandu's menu and what one person ordered

Here's the menu at Jongga Mandu, a Jongno 3-ga favorite. There's mandu jeongol, bibim mandu, soybean kalguksu, and mandu-guk, plus sides of boiled mandu, fried mandu, and shrimp tempura. Bibim mandu turned out to be a dish where you mash up the dumplings and mix them with noodles. I ordered the soybean kalguksu + fried mandu set along with boiled mandu. I was being a bit greedy... but it was so good I finished it all.

First up: the soybean kalguksu and fried mandu set. If you come to Jongga Mandu, definitely try both the fried and boiled mandu. It's genuinely amazing.

What does the soybean kalguksu taste like?

This dish has chewy kalguksu (knife-cut noodles) in a nutty domestic soybean broth. I wondered if the noodles would feel off since they're thicker than the usual kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup), but it turned out really great, beyond my expectations.

The steaming boiled mandu also arrived. If you asked me to pick just one, fried or boiled, I'd go with boiled... it's genuinely moist, soft, and glides right down. Like cotton candy... handmade dumplings really are the best.

Fried mandu or boiled mandu: which should you order?

First, the fried mandu. Crisp outside, juicy inside — the textbook definition of crispy-outside-tender-inside. The spicy kimchi filling isn't greasy at all, and I kept wanting more. Could be the mandu of my life. Actually, thinking it over, if you asked me to pick between boiled and fried, I couldn't. I recommend trying both^_^

Next, the boiled mandu. There are meat and kimchi versions, and while I'm usually team kimchi, at Jongga Mandu the meat mandu was really clean-tasting and delicious. You could really taste the meat??? Anyway, it's good.

The soybean kalguksu was also bursting with nutty flavor, and it's really good with a piece of kimchi on top. There's a reason it's the best-seller.

Because it's domestic soybean broth, it was even nuttier and richer. I drank down every last drop of the broth.

I wondered if I could finish it all, but the mandu were so good I demolished everything. If only I lived closer, I would have packed some to go — a bit of a shame.

The mandu keyring at the Jongga Mandu counter

At the counter, I noticed you can also buy a mandu keyring. A dumpling wearing sunglasses, fitting for hip Jongno (Hip-jiro), was so cute. The fried mandu tucked in a little plastic bag — so cute♡. It was cheap too, around ₩3,000, and you can also get one by joining a review event.

That wraps up my visit to Jongga Mandu, a Jongno 3-ga favorite. It's a place where you can enjoy handmade dumplings made fresh every day, prepared in a variety of dishes. Next time, I want to come with a group and try the mandu jeongol — everyone else seemed to be eating the hot pot. If you're looking for a great Korean restaurant in Jongno, I recommend this place.