‘Precious food’ becoming a popular menu item at evolving K Mandu golf courses and hotels
“The shade house dumplings were delicious.”
This is a line from the recently popular drama ‘The Glory’. It is a sarcastic remark about the golf course set as the highest grade in the play, but it is evaluated that it reflects the atmosphere in which dumplings are in the spotlight in the clubhouse or shade house of the golf course.
In fact, dumplings are becoming a popular menu item at high-end restaurants, including domestic golf courses and hotels. Over the past 5 to 10 years, as the quality of dumplings has generally improved, there is a trend that has established itself as a representative food of K-food. K dumplings, characterized by their thin skin and full filling, became very popular in the US, Japan, and Europe, with overseas sales exceeding 1 trillion won for the first time as a single food product. The strength of dumplings, which are minced meat and vegetables wrapped in flour, is delicious and nutritious, and can be easily eaten anywhere with chopsticks or a fork.
According to the food and leisure industry on the 16th, the Trinity Club in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do, is so popular that it is called a ‘mandu restaurant’ for its fried dumplings sold at the clubhouse. Trinity is a golf course affiliated with the Shinsegae Group, and the clubhouse is operated by the Chosun Hotel. Other golf courses, including South Springs CC (Icheon, Gyeonggi), East Valley CC (Gwangju, Gyeonggi), and Blue Heron GC (Yeoju, Gyeonggi), are selling dumplings at Shade House recently, and customer responses are good.
An official from the leisure industry said, “Shade houses where you can have a snack in a short time during a round of golf provide sundae, tofu kimchi, and tteokbokki that can be cooked quickly, but these days, more and more golf courses are serving fried or steamed dumplings.”
The emergence of dumplings as a popular menu at golf courses, a representative luxury sport, proves that the social perception of dumplings has changed. Major hotel restaurants serve a variety of dumpling dishes, including dim sum. The Westin Chosun Hotel Seoul’s Chinese restaurant ‘Hongyeon’ is often known for its jjamppong and sweet and sour pork, but there are many customers who actually visit it, ordering dim sum for more than 40%. Analysts say that the status of dumplings has risen along with dim sum as many conglomerates such as CJ CheilJedang’s ‘Mongjungheon’ and Samchully Group’s ‘Chai 797’ operate high-end Chinese restaurants.
In the US and Europe, Korean-style frozen dumplings, called K-mandu, are on the rise. CJ CheilJedang’s ‘Bibigo Dumplings’, the representative of K dumplings, surpassed 1 trillion won in overseas sales last year. Of the total sales of 3 trillion won of the bibigo brand last year, about 1.4 trillion won, or nearly half, came from dumpling sales. In particular, overseas dumpling sales alone exceeded 1 trillion won. CJ CheilJedang currently ranks first in the US frozen dumpling market. Dumplings were also the most popular at ‘Bibigo Kitchen’, which was set up at the site of the PGA Tour’s ‘The CJ Cup’ held in Ridgeland, South Carolina in October last year.
Bibigo uses the name ‘MANDU’ for its overseas products to position dumplings as a differentiated K-food from dim sum or spring rolls. Jang Jae-ho, professor of food technology at Seoul National University and a graduate of CJ CheilJedang, said, “Bibigo made dumpling skins thinner through research and development, and the identity of K dumplings became clear as the ingredients were sliced with a knife rather than ground to give a chewy texture.” 메이저사이트
Dumplings in the form of a wheat flour rind surrounding the filling are called various names, mainly in Asia, such as Mandu, Mant, Manti, Mantu, and Mantou. Depending on the region, the materials and appearance are slightly different. Pelmeni from Russia and ravioli from Italy are also similar to dumplings in that the flour outer shell envelops the ingredients. The food form itself of dumplings is familiar to people around the world.
As K-culture has taken the world by storm several years ago, interest in K-food has grown, and the analysis that dumplings, a type of food familiar to people around the world, has become the main character is persuasive. K dumplings are filled with lots of vegetables and are considered good for health and have excellent texture. Pork and chives are the main ingredients for dumplings sold in Korea, but chicken and coriander are added to the dumplings sold in the US to suit local tastes, which is considered the secret to K-mandu’s success.