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| Inside Namjatown was Gyoza Stadium. It's basically a food court of 9 gyoza restaurants, though it is marketed like some sort of Iron Chef type competition where each chef brings their own special gyoza recipe to compete. Here you can see a list of the gyoza (center). |
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An amusing thing is that all the tables in Gyoza stadium are made from old Asahi beer cartons. |
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| The challenge with picking the best gyoza from each restaurant was that I didn't always know what to order. This first place knew some English so it was easy to get a recommendation for the fried Gyoza with cheese sauce. ¥500. Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed as the cheese sauce wasn't very tasty and quite un-noticeable. Gyoza total: 4. |
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The second place offered pan fried gyoza with lime and pepper for ¥550. The first one was a bit odd b/c lime isn't used in oriental style cooking much. But after that I liked the contrast in flavors. Gyoza total: 9 |
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| By this time, I had decided to start using, "ichiban oishi" to order, which translates literally to "number one delicious." This third shop offered a very tasty gyoza and the chef made it clear that I was not to use any sauce with these. These were almost like shiaulong bau which are Chinese steamed buns filled with soup and meat. When I bit into these Gyoza, they dripped with flavorful broth from the beef and pork filling. I only got three for ¥500 but these were the best so far. Gyoza total: 12. |
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This is a special soy sauce that has been flavored with shiso, a Japanese leafy herb (called Perilla in English) that almost tastes like ume (Japanese pickled plum) and is served in certain types of sushi. It's the same leaf you sometimes see with Korean foods, referred to as sesame leaf, even though it's in the mint family and not at all related to sesame. |
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| Niniku (garlic) is common in gyoza b/c it originally came from China (jiau-tsu) but in Japan garlic is not used as much as other oriental cuisines. When I found this extra garlicy gyoza for ¥500, I had to try them. Honestly, I didn't notice that much garlic, but these still ended up being my favorite because the skins were really tasty and crispy on the browned side. Gyoza total: 18. |
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This was an interesting variation for ¥550. Pickled daikon and tons of green onions on top of 5 gyoza and a special sauce. Alas, I do not like raw green onions. I decided to be bold and try them but they were just too much for me. I couldn't taste the gyoza or the daikon and eventually had to remove most of the green onions. Gyoza total: 23. |
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| By this time, I was getting pretty full and had a little food coma so I don't remember much about these gyoza. They weren't particularly special except that they came with bean sprouts for ¥500. Gyoza total 28. |
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These were Chinese style gyoza because they have a nice thick skin. Personally, I like to eat the meat stuffing of pot stickers first, then eat the skin afterwards. Typically, gyoza have thin skin which makes this difficult, but these thick skinned were perfect for that. A small order of 3 cost ¥304. Gyoza total: 31. |
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| These interesting gyoza are served in a pan pizza style dish that has been super heated so that the gyoza are sizzling and nicely browned. Otherwise, they weren't particularly crispy or tasty, but a good deal at ¥500 for 8. Gyoza total: 39. |
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There was a gyoza shop where you could buy frozen versions of everything in gyoza stadium. The stuffed gyoza were very cute, but not for sale. |
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By this time I had hit the wall but since it was the ninth and last restaurant, I pushed forward for my loyal reader(s). This was the most expensive gyoza for ¥600 but they did have whole shrimp. The sight of the mayonnaise was pretty sickening at this point so I had to get rid of it. The gyoza were crispy and tasty but I was so full that I wasn't really in my right mind and can't provide much of a review. Gyoza total: 42.
And in case you're wondering, those 42 gyoza were eaten in just over two hours. |
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