Mandu - Korean Food - DC

My friend Holly originally introduced me to Mandu when I was living in DC.  I have a great love for Korean food, especially bibimbap, it's delicious.

What is bibimbap you ask?  Well I'm glad you did, because you're going to want to run out to your closest Korean  restaurant and try it out.  Bibimbap is a bowl of rice with veggies, beef, and a raw egg cracked on top.  The dish is served with a hot sauce that you pour over the top and then stir everything around.  The hot food helps to cook the egg as you stir it around creating a kind of fried rice like dish.  

What I love about Mandu is that I can get a Dolsot Bibimbap which means they serve my bibimbap in a hot stone bowl.  This means that my rice is getting crispy on the bottom and it typically keeps everything a lot warmer for the entire time you're enjoying your meal.  You also get a side of a collection of Korean appetizers, accompaniments to your meal like: kimchee, spicy zucchini, bean sprouts, and a potato/bean combo.  The kimchee at Mandu is pretty good, not as spicy as I would have liked, but still delicious.

The restaurant is small, with a few tables outside so you can enjoy the weather when it's great.  (It was really hot and muggy while I was in DC, so I sat inside with the AC.)  The service is good, and the price is reasonable.  

If you're going to be up near Dupont Circle in DC you should definitely check out Mandu.  Get everything extra spicy, it'll clear your sinuses.

:)M

Korean Lunch - Tech Park Food Court

So the Mochi China office is across the street from an outdoor foodcourt area that has a lot of different places to eat, and we've typically eaten at the same places because, we like familiar things and don't like to be disappointed at lunch.  I decided that while I do like to know what I'm getting for lunch, we should also be trying out new things, and so has begun our adventure of the Tech Park Food Court.  The Tech Park is on the East side of the river in PuDong, where our office is also located.

The Tech Food Court:

The Korean Lunch Place:

We had Korean for lunch on Wednesday, November 10th, to be honest I have no idea what the name of the place is, because they didn't have anything in English.  Nothing on the menu was in English and the after ordering food I'm pretty sure no one who works there speaks English.  That's okay, because they have excellent pictures and Bob and I are familiar enough with Korean food that we were able to order something yummy.

DIY bibimbop:

We both had beef bibimbop for lunch.  The idea of the place is DIY (do it yourself), so they bring a giant stone bowl that's burn your face off hot and throw in all the ingredients in front of you at the table.  For those of you who have not had bibimbop, first, go find the closest korean place to your home and go try it, now!  It's delicious.  We had carrots, onions, sprouts, zucchini, and other veggies mixed in with rice and beef slices.  We each had a side of kimichi which we threw into our bibimbop, which made it even more delish.

Top view of my awesome food:

I will definitely be going back to this place, it was spicy but not too spicy and while the language barrier was there we had no problem ordering our food.  Plus, as usual the food was super cheap.  The meal was the bibimbop, side of kimichi and a miso soup for $4USD.  And it's a huge bowl.   Next time I'm going to get the bibimbop with egg, I love when they throw the egg on top and stir it around, but my favorite part is really when the rice has gotten a little burnt because then it's crispy.  Go have Korean now!

:)Margaret