Pow Pow: A Plant-Based Eatery That Will Blow Your Mind
I don’t know if you guys know this, but I went vegetarian for a few months a while back. I started eating meat again – because of my work with Thrillist – but Pow Pow’s still one of my favorite places to go for good yet affordable eats. They’re a plant-based fast casual restaurant located on H street corridor (right across the street from Toki Underground), and their food is seriously everything and then some.
Asian Fusion Done So Right
They specialize in what they call new asian fusion, and by “they” I mean Chef Margaux and owner Shaun Sharkey. They fuse different elements from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cuisines to create ridiculously delish plates that’ll keep your stomach completely and utterly satisfied. They’re known for their beautiful bowls, ginormous egg rolls, and more, but here are the dishes you NEED to get: their trolley fries, their taiwanese fried mozzarella, and their firecracker fingers (or whatever chicken fingers are available).
The Craziest Fries You’ll Ever Eat
So, let’s just go in order, friends! Their trolley fries are skin on french fries topped with kimchi, nori, spicy ketchup, togorashi mayo and cashew cheddar. You can top them with any protein for an extra $2, but it’s totally unnecessary IMHO. Those flavors sound like overkill, but trust me when I say you it’ll be love at first bite.
Vegan Mozzarella Balls That Are Actually Tasty?
Friends, meet Pow Pow’s mozz balls: fried cashew mozzarella croquettes drizzled with spicy korean ketchup. You’ll love these whether you’re vegan or not. I could easily eat 6 of these in one sitting! It doesn’t taste exactly like cheese, but it’s reallllly flavorful I love that you can really taste the gochujang (red chili paste) in the korean ketchup.
A 5-star dish that you and your friends will enjoy! And one order’s only $6 so it’s not like you’re doling out an obscene amount of cash for something you’ll potentially dislike…but you won’t because they’re delish, ha.
Can You Handle the Spice on These “Chicken” Fingers?
Anddd last but not least, their Firecracker Fingers. Holy mothereffin’ crap guys. These “chicken” fingers were straight up cray. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved eating these, like I would drive through DC rush hour traffic to get my hands on these babies. The sauce was FIRE, and I mean that in the best way possible. They really hit it out of the park with this one!
If you can’t handle spice, you may want to pass, but aren’t you curious to see if you can take the heat? Plus, it’s not like it’s JUST spicy for the sake of being spicy. The sauce is actually really flavorful, and YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT’S SEITAN! If I didn’t tell you this was vegan chicken, I 200% guarantee you never would’ve known. So, I’m curious to hear what you guys think of plant-based restaurants. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below! You get bonus points if you’ve tried Pow Pow before.
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