Every time I come back home to the MD/VA/DC area, I end up going to the same places and most of them are in MD and VA. So I am thrilled when local friends recommend anything that is new, cool, or fun in DC proper. Luckily, my friend Dan is pretty up on these things and recommended that we meet up at a hipster-ish ramen place in NE DC, which is not a part of DC that I have been to frequently. The area is still developing and you would never know that tucked upstairs from a random bar/restaurant is a Williamsburg-like hipster ramen place the size of my bathroom. It's tiny but luckily when we got there at noon on Christmas Eve, it was still pretty empty. But by the time we left around 1ish, there was quite a line.
The menu is pretty simple - 5 different kinds of ramen and then some sides like dumplings, cold tofu, steamed buns, and seasonal vegetables. Louise, Dan and I split the fried chicken steamed buns ($12) and I opted for the red miso ramen ($12 for 4 pieces). The food comes out rather quickly, so be prepared to eat right away. The fried chicken steamed buns were freakin delicious and addictive. There were 4 Chinese style steamed white buns, a bunch of boneless fried chicken pieces, pickled cucumbers and mayo. The buns were perfectly soft and pillowy and were a great holding vessel for the pieces of fried chicken in sweet chili sauce and pickled cucumbers. The chicken reminded me of the Korean fried chicken variety at Bon Chon and it was every bit as yummy as those pieces of chicken. While I can't vouch that it's authentic or even mildly Asian in style, it was awesome and I would come back and order an entire plate just for myself.
On to the ramen. Despite it's name, the red miso is not spicy at all. It's just red in color and it comes with pieces of pulled pork, egg, pickled ginger and greens. It was a very solid ramen dish - the noodles were cooked just right and it was topped with sesame seeds, scallion and nori. I slurped up the whole thing pretty quickly, so I guess my only compliant would be that there could be a bit more noodles and toppings to go with the overabundance of broth. As for the broth, it was also solid, it wasn't too salty but still had strong flavor from the pork and miso. I did enjoy the bites of pork but I still prefer the pork to be more on the sliced side vs. pulled.
All in all, this was an adorable place that would fit right in with any city's hipster scene. While I do think the ramen craze is over with these days, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be able to still enjoy a good bowl of ramen - especially when it's cold outside. What nice about DC is that it's still mildly less expensive than NYC and it was great to enjoy a fun and delicious lunch for a reasonable price (in NYC a bowl of ramen at a good place like Ippudo will run you between $15-20 depending on if you add any extra toppings and steamed buns are $9 for 2). While I wouldn't say that Toki Underground is on the same level as Ippudo, frankly, it's not that far off. Total bill: $25/pp with tax and generous tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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