Mandu's Korean Pancakes | City Vista, Washington D.C.
Mandu's pancakes are even better after breakfast
Pancakes aren't just for breakfast anymore.
At its new, City Vista location, Korean restaurant Mandu is serving several varieties of jeon–a family of savory pancakes and lightly battered, fritter-like snacks.
Pa jeon ($7) is the traditional seafood pancake, and it includes a mix of ground shrimp, mussels and squid with diced scallions.
The other jeon preparations are more like shareable finger foods, served as platters ($13 or $24). The fillings–including beef patties, shrimp and stuffed peppers–are rolled in a blend of nutty buckwheat and regular wheat flours, then fried in soybean oil.
In their fried shell, patties of finely ground beef taste like light burgers, while butterflied shrimp stay plump under their crisp coating.
The stuffed peppers are a distant relation to jalapeño poppers: Owner Danny Lee sources Korean long peppers from Asian markets whenever he can find them, scrapes out the seeds to lessen the peppers' intense heat, then slices them into thirds and stuffs them with ground beef.
Each order of jeon comes with a soy dipping sauce. Like many a dumpling sauce, it includes rice vinegar and a hint of sugar, but the special kick comes from house-made habanero paste.
Mandu, 453 K St. NW (between 4th & 5th sts.); 202-289-6899 or mandudc.com