First Timer at Mokomandy

Posted by rebecca / Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

This past Sunday, I decided to try Mokomandy with some friends for dinner. I knew that it was Korean and Cajun foods (not a fusion as I had originally believed) and that the owner Thaddeus Kim (or Thad– he called himself as he was greeting and checking in with customers) had grown up with both, as his father is Korean and his mother is Cajun.

If a new restaurant opens, specifically a Korean restaurant, I naturally have higher expectations as I grew up eating authentic Korean food cooked by my mother. This often screws me (and my Korean friends) over as we don’t even wonder what the Korean food is going to taste like: usually bad or mediocre bulgogi and soups that taste like MSG. Thanks to our mothers, we opted to order more of the Cajun side of the menu. For example, we saw “Ssam” (Korean style lettuce wrap) and “Bulgogi Beef” on the menu, and automatically skipped over it because our mothers can make it anytime of the week at home.

We decided to order the snapping turtle gumbo, foie gras dumplings, shrimp etoufee and the boudin balls. After our tapas-style shared meal, we had coffee and dessert. We ordered the chocolate, caramel chicory and the beignets.

Here are the pictures:

It was my first time trying turtle anything. I was kind of nervous because the thought of eating turtle is exciting, but I couldn’t get the image of a nonchalantly swimming turtle or the mouth of a snapping one out of my head while trying this dish. It was interesting. The texture of the meat was kind of like a sausage, very chewy, with a rough outer texture. The taste, however was very different. Turtle meat is no chicken meat. It has a distinct flavor and aroma of its own. It is smoky, intense and smells kind of funky, like a stew of shrimp, beef, chicken, rabbit all mixed together, if you can imagine. I think the flavors of the gumbo really masked the taste of the turtle meat, but the smell was definitely distinct.

The foie gras dumplings were delicious! The waiter warned us that the foie gras used in the dumplings were cured, so they’d be pretty salty. I’d say they were more like foie gras quiches. They were perfectly crispy with a tint of sweetness on the outside and piquant and creamy on the inside. The house-made plum sauce was yummy as well.

The shrimp etoufee was very rich and buttery (in a good way). The side of rice seemed necessary and it reminded me of Thai panang curry. There were rice-cake-like shrimp crisps that came on the side of the dish. These shrimp crisps, in a more french-fry form is a popular Korean snack. I would definitely order this dish again, I just wish the portion was bigger.

The boudin balls are to die for. No, the boudin balls with the mustard sauce is to die for. We were convinced that the house-made mustard sauce was mixed with wasabi since the spiciness (similar to horse radish) filled our nostrils, but when we asked Thad, he said it was a spicy mustard mix (without any wasabi).  The boudin balls are filled with rice, pork, and chicken and fried to perfection. Without the mustard sauce, they would taste bland, but with with a touch of the syrup and mustard, the flavors were just right. I would definitely order this again.

I had heard the the coffee here was rich and decadent so we decided to order a pot of coffee in a french press which makes all the difference. The rumors are all true, the coffee here is worth coming back for a coffee date with someone. The cups are very modern as well, the base of the cup is a square shape which fits perfectly in its square cut saucer specially cut out to fit the cup.

We ordered the beignets (pictured above) and the chocolate, caramel and chicory pudding (no picture). Both were divine. The beignets were served hot right out of the fryer. Even though my friends thought the pudding was way too sweet, it was my favorite. If you like chocolaty, coffee flavored pudding with chunks of soft caramel, be sure to order this.

The ambiance of the restaurant was everything I imagined it would be; innovative, sleek and clean. It felt like we were in a restaurant in NYC; my friend who had lived in NY for a couple of years also agreed. It is weird and unusual that the restaurant is all the way out in Sterling.

The food was  delicious and I will be coming back here to try more of the banchan and other innovative items on the menu.

Mokomandy
20789 Great Falls Plaza, #176
Sterling, VA 20165
571-313-0505

-Rebecca Kim

Tags: beignets, boudin balls, Chicory, foie gras dumplings, Gut Check, Mokomandy, Northern Virginia Magazine, Rebecca Kim, Shrimp Etoufee, Snapping Turtle Gumbo