Anju
Anju sends out its fried chicken under two sauces at once, Korean gochujang and Alabama's white barbecue sauce.
Why go
Danny Lee and his mother, Yesoon, opened Mandu on 18th Street in 2006. The house calls it DC's first full service Korean restaurant
(Anju). It burned on the night of 4 July 2017. Lee and his partners Scott Drewno and Andrew Kim opened Anju, Korean for food eaten with alcohol, on the same site in August 2019 (Washingtonian). Yesoon Lee's home dishes are still on the menu: the MICHELIN inspectors point to her dak jjim (sweet chili-braised chicken with potatoes and onions) or dolsot bibimbap, blending crisped rice with tofu and grilled veggies
(MICHELIN Guide). Angel Barreto runs the kitchen. In 2019 Tom Sietsema wrote that Above all, Barreto wants to show the breadth of Korean cuisine, its lightness as well as its rich palette
(Washington Post). In his last Post dining guide, in October 2025, he wrote: I'm also inducting longtime favorites Anju, Centrolina and Fiola into my Hall of Fame
(Washington Post).
Sietsema found two of Barreto's kimchis in 2019, one aged 30 days and one aged 100. The older batch packs a punch that combines tang, heat and a hint of fruitiness.
That year the servers offered it only at the table. Washingtonian's critics ate here for their 2026 list and wrote: Don't skip the intensely flavorful panchan (Korean side dishes), especially Barreto's fiery 30-day kimchi, and another ferment made with collard greens
(Washingtonian). They credit him with dishes both understated (rice cakes and vegetables glazed with sweet soy) and over the top (gochujang-fried chicken drizzled with Alabama white barbecue sauce).
The chicken is where people who ate here disagree. Sietsema's came in 2019 in a batter of roasted soybean powder, fried twice. In 2023 Omnia Saed of The Infatuation found it pretty darn good, even if it isn't the best thing on the menu
(The Infatuation). The same spring, the Korean-background couple behind the KenScale blog paid for a meal and gave Anju 6.5 out of 10. They wrote that the chicken simply lacked the delightful crispy texture
, found the galbi overcooked and called the bibimbap nothing special
(KenScale).
Saed's pick in 2023 was a bowl of noodles: Get the jjamppong, a thick noodle soup made with a rich and spicy seafood broth and roasted clams that will have you slurping at the table without shame
(The Infatuation).
Order this / avoid
- Order: the panchan and the 30-day kimchi, Washingtonian's first instruction in 2026.1
- Order: the pork mandu (dumplings). The MICHELIN inspectors call them
the perfect pork mandu
, and Sietsema in 2019 found themplumped with ground pork yet surprisingly light.
72 - Order: the kimchi pancake. Sietsema in 2019:
thinner than most, crisp throughout and red with kimchi brine.
2 - Order: the jjamppong, Saed's pick in 2023.5
- Drink: makgeolli, poured from a kettle. KenScale glossed it as
a type of rice wine
and liked it in 2023, when little else on the table pleased them.6
What locals & experts say
- Ann Limpert, Washingtonian, reviewing the opening (2019):
if there's a restaurant of the year, this is it.
4 - Rose Previte, chef of Maydan, to The Local Palate (2025): a
neighborhood and industry favorite
for Korean food.9
Good to know
- Booking: book well ahead. Saed in 2023: "You're more likely to win the lottery than get day-of reservations at Anju, so plan in advance."
- When: dinner every night, and brunch on weekends. The brunch menu in July 2026 carried a smash galbi burger and gochujang chicken on a corn-cheese waffle (Eater).
- Price: Washingtonian put dinner for two at $101 to $200 with tax and tip in January 2026.
- Where: 1805 18th St NW, between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan, on two floors. In 2019 a ramp served the step and about 10 ground-floor seats, and the second floor was up a flight of stairs.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: Looks fantastic - want to visit. featured on somebody feed phil
Verdict
should-visit — Go to Anju for Angel Barreto's Korean bar food and his kimchi, on the corner where the Lee family's Mandu stood until it burned in 2017. Tom Sietsema put it in his Hall of Fame in 2025, though two Korean-background diners found the fried chicken short of crisp in 2023.