Saturday, July 5, 2008

Mandu

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Mandu (Korean for dumpling) is a Korean restaurant on 18th St. NW D.C. This is my second visit, and again it does a great job. Located in the trendy district of Dupont Circle, and just south of Adams Morgan. The streets are pretty busy, theres always a hungry crowd here and I heard they can pack it in for dinner. Long-time Virginia native & owner-chef Yesoon Lee and her son seeks to introduce casual/upscale Korean fare to downtown.
I've tried the Bi-Bim-Bap, a traditional Korean dish that incorporates fresh vegetables with rice. Here it's a winner. This dish can always be used to gage the freshness of a multitude of the restaurants ingredients, because it contains just that. This time around I ducked in for a quick beer and some apps. I had the pork and beef Mandu $5, and the DooBu (pan-seared tofu with egg) $4. (my meal today pictured above for 9 bucks.) I have to tell you, very delish, very good portions, the sesame/scallion soy dipping sauce tasted very genuine, it hit the spot with a cold Sapporo. I grew up weened on these dishes and everything I taste will be compared to my mothers brilliant cooking, and I have to admit, I can strongly recommend the flavors here in the three dishes I've tried. But next time I'll try the Bulgoki, and if it's not up to par??, I'll burn this pompous Kimchi stand to the ground. Mandu has a very small menu, which I think is a good thing here, and the waiters I've had are very young, laid back and very, very knowledgeable of the dishes. The place is small, it's fun/chic, and the prices are great for the District.

,$$$$$ ,20 min lunch wait
Mandu. 1085 18th St. NW • Washington DC • a202.588.1540

3 comments:

Bernie Wolfe Fan said...

Great, I'll give it a try!

Jay said...

thanks bw fan, at the very least do the dumplings, huge, delicious portion for 5 bucks.

Erin S. said...

Thanks for stopping by my site! I will have to check this place out. When I lived in LA, my office was smack in the middle of Koreatown and I lunched on many a bowl of bibimbap.