Myungdong Kalkuksu Noodles and Shabu Shabu

This place has the biggest dumplings I've ever eaten.  I'd estimate them to be the size of my fist.  Filling has a lot of meat, and some cabbage.  Good balance I think.  I love the fact that the dumpling skin is so thin!

Korean Dumplings

But thats all thats good here.  Noodles were so-so.  We didn't try the other hotpot dishes.  And I don't think we would be going back again.  The service here is horrid.  All the waitresses look angry all the time, they all have permanent scowls on their faces.  We've tried this place twice.  The first time, when we ordered it seemed like they were very impatient with us.  Made us feel so uncomfortable.  This second time we went, it was with a very large group, 13 of us.  When we told them how many, they gave us a WTF look and walked away angrily.  A table for 8 opened up and they told us to sit down.  We politely told them that we have a total of 13, they said well they're not here yet and it's busy.  We just assumed that they would give us the table next to us when the customers leave.  The customers leave and they give the table to other people.  We ask the waitress and she responded, look how busy it is and left.

This is no way acceptable for customer service.  No matter how good the food at the restaurant is, I wouldn't go somewhere where they treat customers with such bad manners.

Myungdong Kalkuksu Noodles and Shabu Shabu
8194 Bayview Ave.
Markham ON, L3T 2S2
905-707-0168

Dumpling Restaurant

I find dumplings so comforting to eat.  Reminds me of the days when I was a kid and would help my mom wrap dumplings for dinner.  Mom's dumplings are always the best.  I try and make them at home now, but they never taste the same.  Every so often I will buy frozen dumplings from the supermarket because they're convenient.  They don't necessarily taste very good, but they will do when you're hungry and need something to put in your instant noodles.

Whenever I pass by Peachtree Plaza, I see this very plainly named restaurant, named Dumpling Restaurant.  We went on a Saturday night for dinner, restaurant was quite empty.  Which usually isn't a good sign, but there's so much competition in Richmond Hill/Markham for Chinese food, that I just ignored it.  I was just expecting to see dumplings and noodles on the menu.  Strange enough, there's a Korean food section.  I guess it may have something to do with competition with the Korean restaurant right next door?

I have to apologize, I didn't take pictures of all the dishes we ordered.  And because it has been a while since we ate there, I may not remember all the dishes we ordered either!  From what I remember, we ordered a cold Korean noodle, bibimbap, steamed dumpling, pan fried dumpling, and deep fried dumpling.

This was the very first time i've tried the Korean cold noodle.  My cousin has told me many times before how good it is.  But it's kind of strange to see a piece of fruit floating in a savoury broth.  I'm not a fan of the salty sweet combo, so I just avoided the shredded Asian pear.  It was so delicious and refreshing.  There was also kimchi, cucumber, boiled egg and some sort of meat in there.  The noodles were the sweet potato noodles, so it had a good chewy texture.

Cold Korean Noodles

The bibimbap was nothing out of the ordinary.  Just like any other bibimbap you order at a Korean restaurant.

Bibimbap

The dumplings were very good and seemed very fresh.  I think we ordered a pork steamed dumpling and a deep fried seafood dumpling.  The deep fried dumplings were so good!  The skin was nice and crispy.  We also ordered a pork and leek pan fried dumpling but I forgot to take a picture of it.

Steamed Dumplings

Fried Dumplings

For dessert we ordered a caramelized sweet potato dish.  The sweet potato is cooked and covered in a sugar syrup that is cooked to a hard ball stage.  You take a piece of sweet potato and dunk it into a bowl of cold water and the sugar becomes hard and crispy.  I've had it at other restaurants and it's usually pretty good.  But here, there were some pieces that were good, and some that seemed uncooked.  I'm still wondering if it was uncooked or if the sweet potato was bad.  Next time I come i'll probably just stay away from dessert.

Dumping Restaurant
8362 Kennedy Road, Suite A5
Markham, ON L3R9W5
(905) 604-7288