Mandu Restaurant

Mandu is a bit of an outlier as far as Korean restaurants in the DC area go.  As anyone that lives in or very close to a major metropolitan city, all great ethnic restaurants are found out in the ‘burbs.  The city is usually is generally comprised of cafes, bars, or uberhaute coutre types of places, where trained koalas drop eucalyptus leaves into your ice cream at the end of the meal.  But Mandu, which means dumpling in Korean, is the only Korean focused restaurant in the city.  For the longest time, I thought it stood directly across the street from the only gas station in DC on 18th St. in NW (now I know there are actually three gas stations, and you must go to an underground lair to access the other two), which makes it perfect for when you want to get down and busy with a giant bucket of kimchi and get your gas on afterwards.

One of the great things about Korean restaurants is the fact that they always bring a wide array of free appetizers.  We were treated to a sampler of pickled radishes, tofu cakes, kimchi, sauteed eggplant, pickled potatoes, and pickled zucchini.  Tons of probiotics!  Everybody’s a winner!

Since the restaurant is named after, in my opinion, the world’s most perfect food, how could Jen and I go wrong with two plates of them?  We ordered one vegetarian and one pork.  Mandu adds a nice little touch of using green skins to clearly differentiate the types of dumplings here.

Vegetable Dumplings

I inhaled my six pork dumplings while she was taking a sip of a wine, and well on to eying hers just as she put down her glass.  You have to watch those things when I’m around, as well as stray fingers near a dumpling plate. Suffice to say, they’re absolutely delicious here.

Pork Dumplings

Doobu

The Doobu, or egg-dipped pan fried tofu, is reasonably tasty here, but given the fact that you get two for free, I’d say you might be better off ordering another set of dumplings, instead. OM NOM NOM NOM.  Still, I felt better knowing that Jen had gotten enough protein having ordered the Doobu.

For our main courses, Jen ordered the vegetarian Duk Bok Gi on my recommendation, and I ordered the Dwejee Bulgoki.

Duk Bok Gi

The Duk Bok Gi is comprised of thick rice cakes simmered in a chili paste with mushrooms, onions, and meat or tofu.  Jen opted for the latter, naturally.  It’d be worth noting that these rice cakes aren’t the puffy, light rice cakes you’d nomally think of picking up at the store, but rather, thick, chewy, pasta like cakes.  Think of a nice gnudi or gnocchi, and you have a much better comparison.  I loved these things growing up, they have such a great texture and really absorb whatever you’re cooking with them.  Mandu also takes presentation into consideration, as we could see the faint remnants of chili paste streaks around the outer rim of the plate.  Nice one.

Dwejee Bulgoki

The Dwejee Bulgoki is a uberspicy (and yet sweet) pork dish, served with rice and mixed vegetables.  Absolutely fantastic, and very highly recommended.  The portions are large, and the spice burns your tongue enough to make you have to make the decision to eat another bite to drown out the taste of burning or have a sip of water.

The wait staff is courteous and always appearing at just the right times.  Dining here is casual, so it can get loud at times when you’ve got large parties in attendance.  The downstairs has a well staffed bar with great sojutini (soju, a Korean wine, mixed as a martini) specials, and the upstairs dining area has a nice, cozy feel to it.

There’s nary a bad thing I can say about Mandu.  The dumplings, were on point, and very satisfying.  The tofu well prepared, as well as tofu can be, and the bulgoki just barely stops from crossing the line of being unbearably spicy.  The price might be a little bit steep for some people, but I’d say that’s something you have to factor in for living in the city.  The dumplings are very reasonably priced for the quality, and I’d happily join anybody for an all out dumpling double happy extra special good time bonanza.

Check out Mandu on a map here.

Recommended for:

• Dumpling champions
• Casual diners
• High stakes riverboat gamblers
• Chariot riders

Not recommended for:

• Penny pinchers
• Kim Jong-Il (the Il-matic)
• Retiree tour bus cross country travelers
• Carbophobes

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