The search for the world's best dumplings

Department stores in Korea have amazing food courts in their basements, not like a mall in the U.S., but more like at Harrods in London.  The Lotte Department Store has a food court that includes a high-end grocery store, prepared foods to-go and sit down stalls selling Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese meals.  The grocery store has a lot of tasting stations where they give away free samples, they almost always have samples of little fried crab in spicy sauce, which are delicious.  You should try the kimchi counter where they have dozens of different styles of kimchi and lots of samples and another must taste is the Hong Kong style Jerky counter where they have an amazing Bacon Jerky.

In the food court, the dumpling stall sells excellent dumplings to-go, perfect for a break from shopping, or if you are staying at the attached Lotte Hotel, perfect for an afternoon snack.  The food court is really crowded during lunch and all day on weekends, so finding a seat can be a bit of a scrum.

The Dumplings:  the dumpling stall sells pan fired pork/leek and kimchi/pork and steamed vegetable and steamed shrimp dumplings.  The kimchi/pork dumplings are the best ones they do, just the right amount of spiciness and a great pork flavor.  The dumplings are relatively large and flat, the dumpling wrapper is simply folded over a layer of filling, with very little crimping of the open edges, and then is pan fried on a griddle.  The shrimp dumplings have a large, whole shrimp as the filling, with the tail of the shrimp sticking out of the end of the dumpling.

The Dipping Sauce:  To-go packets of soy sauce.

Location:  Basement of the Lotte Department Store in old down town Seoul, near Myeongdong.