Daikaya

10.20.14: Ramen, DC, and Us.

Hello, dolls!! It’s almost the weekend again. Time really flies when you are busy! This month has been really good to me. I am learning a lot at work, my sister is here, A and I gets to spend time together and go on adventures — I couldn’t ask for more. Just one more day until I get to enjoy another Sunday — Sundays that are more meaningful now because we get to do what we have always wanted for the past 2 years, go to church – brunch – and spend the rest of the day holding each other’s hand! I prayed for this for a looong time! To have decent days off with A and now it’s happening!!!

So anyway, back when A and I could only have Mondays together (and if we’re lucky some other random weekday) we would make sure that we visit a new place. A couple of days after A’s birthday, we were still on “ramen high”. Since we do not have a lot of ramen places in Baltimore,we decided to go to Washington DC — our go to place when we are feeling adventurous. We decided to go to Daikaya, one of the restaurants in DC that we’ve always wanted to go to.

Daikaya is a Sapporo ramen shop located at the first floor, and Izakaya a Japanese restaurant at the second floor of the building.Both restaurants are owned by 3 Japanese men.What’s also interesting is that they also serve Filipino inspired dishes in Izakaya (which we have to try soon!)

Find me

“couple shot”

Blending

We had to wait for a couple of minutes to be seated. They were pretty packed for a Monday lunch, and no..they don’t take reservations.

Finally!!! We were seated at the ramen bar..my favorite spot!!! I love watching ramen Chefs work on the line.

I took about a million pictures of the ramen station alone. It’s so neat!!! It made me want to work at a ramen shop in Japan

My date

this guy has mad wok skills.

There’s a corner table beside the stairs going to Izakaya. I had this feeling that I want to go back and just stay in this corner.

nori box

Ramen in the making: First he pours broth to the bowl #YUM

Then adds the noodles…THE delicious perfect ramen noodles.
He stirs in miso (with chopsticks) for the miso ramen #DoubleYum

Lastly, for the final touch. Cha Siu and wok seared vegetables. YES!

Before we stuffed our faces with ramen and dumplings

perfect lunch

My spicy miso ramen

I have this thing for spicy miso, A is not a fan of miso. So whenever I order spicy miso, I am afraid that A won’t be ale to help me.

This was so good (and huge) that I finished it! Even A liked it. The smokiness from the vegetables added flavor to the broth. The broth has the perfect balance of saltiness and creaminess from the miso. Aaaaah and the noodles…phenomenal.

Our gyoza took a while because they do it to order.

Their gyoza is perfect and delicious! A and I kept saying that it’s worth the wait.

A’s shio ramen

Chicken based broth flavored with dried seafood and seaweed.

A loved it…so much that he inhaled the entire thing in 5 minutes (pretty much)

Ramen game on

The line was small but efficient. With only 3 cooks and a full house, they did a hell of a job. What also amused A and I are the kitchen equipment that they have.