Manpuku

enban gyozaManpukuFukushima CityManchuriasince 1953

Fukushima · Fukushima City

37.7550°N, 140.4703°E

After the war a great many people repatriated from Manchuria settled in Fukushima City, and some of them opened shops making the dumplings they had learned there. What emerged is enban gyoza — disc gyoza. Instead of a row on a plate, thirty or so small dumplings are packed in a circle to fill the pan, fried together, and turned out onto the plate in one piece, still in the shape of the pan.

Manpuku opened in 1953 and is generally credited as the origin. Everything is made by hand, the skins are kneaded rather than bought, and the shop serves no rice and no noodles — dumplings and beer, that is the menu. It is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, opens at half past four on weekday evenings, and at lunchtime on weekends sells until it runs out.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

4:30 PM – 9:00 PM Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays | 11:40 AM until sold out on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays

Closed: Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays | Open when those fall on a public holiday

Entrance Fee

¥1,000–2,000 per person | Banquet courses from ¥2,200

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

60–90 minutes

Getting There

Access Information

1-24 Nakamacho, Fukushima City. Open 4:30 PM – 9:00 PM, last order 8:30 PM, on Monday, Thursday and Friday; 11:40 AM until sold out, usually around 6:00 PM, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but open when those fall on a public holiday. Telephone reservations are accepted except on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; banquet courses from ¥2,200. Phone 024-521-3787. No rice or noodle dishes are served.

Insider Guide

Premium

**No rice, no noodles.** The shop makes gyoza and nothing else. Ordering a set meal is not an option and asking for one marks you out. **Weekends are first-come and sell out.** Reservations are taken on weekdays only. On Saturdays and Sundays it opens at 11:40 AM and closes when the dumplings are gone, usually around six. **A disc is one order.** Roughly thirty small dumplings arrive as a single circle. Two people can finish one disc; a group should order by the disc rather than by the piece. **It came from Manchuria.** The repatriation of settlers after 1945 is why this city has a dumpling culture at all, and this shop is where it starts. The skins are hand-kneaded for that reason. **Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.** Which catches out a lot of visitors, since those are the days people passing through Fukushima tend to have free.

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