Namjatown in Sunshine city mall, Ikebukuro

I visited the Sunshine city mall in Ikebukuro and inside, you can find Namjatown (official website). In this amusement park, there is a special floor with gyoza stalls from some of the best gyoza makers in Japan and a floor with 300 kinds of ice cream. I tried to avoid eating so much ice cream that I would get sick, so I went to the gyoza floor instead. I walked around first to discover what kind of gyoza there was on offer and went for the ones that looked the most appetizing. You pay at the stall and take the food to your own table like in a food court. The gyoza cost about 400-500 per serving and you might need to wait quite a while before the gyoza is done. Some stores give you a buzzer that rings when your order is ready.

Entrance to Namjatown

Entrance to ice cream city

Entrance to the gyoza stadium

The gyoza I ordered at Ikebukuro Gyoza Stadium

6 pieces of pan-seared gyoza

Fried gyoza with a whole shrimp in it.

Another serving of pan-seared gyoza

6 round shaped gyoza in soup

Flat gyoza with melted cheese

Plain flat gyoza

My opinion:  The dumplings boiled in rich soup stock and the gyoza with grilled cheese on top were my personal favorites. The deep fried gyoza with the shrimp inside would be second best. The wrapper was a bit hard and there wasn't any other filling besides the one piece of shrimp, but the shrimp taste was excellent. The other gyoza were not very special. I have noticed that the Japanese gyoza have slightly thinner and harder wrappers than the Chinese dumplings that I am used to. They also have less filling and meat in them, but I must add that I have always been spoiled by the large and juicy dumplings that my mom makes.