Weiran Cheng

in Student's Blog, Summer 2015, Washington, DC
August 20th, 2015

Dining in DC—Good Japanese Food

Weiran Cheng
Summer 2015

Before I came to DC, one of my friends who had visited DC told me it was a really boring city. She said, “It’s just a city where people go to work and you’ll find there’s not many good restaurants.” Since I like dining out and exploring good Japanese food, what she said really disappointed me. However, after two months of searching and trying new food, my friend in this program and I have both found special and very good Asian dining places in the city. The restaurants standards and modern style really go beyond my expectations.

In the following paragraphs, I will introduce some good Japanese food in the Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle area, which are convenient and close to the Debonair.

• Donburi: In Japanese, Donburi means “rice bowl dish” consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice.  This Donburi restaurant in Adams Morgan is a relatively small one with only 14 seats and serves eight type of rice bowls. Of all these rice bowls they offer, the mixed Katsudon with shrimp and chicken is my favorite. Besides these fried food in a rice bowl, you can also order a rice bowl with sashimi or add raw fish sides, which also have good flavors. (2438 18^th St. NW)
  

  Sushi Taro

• Sakuramen: An amazing ramen shop in the Adams Morgan neighborhood mainly offering seven types of ramens, three varieties of buns and other types of appetizers. I’ve had ramen in Boston, NYC, and many Asian cities, and Sakuramen is definitely a decent ramen shop that you could not miss in DC. The buns are very delicious, and Chashu buns are the best buns I have had in years! A MUST TRY! You can choose the ramen according to your preferences, and they have the special ramen offered for meat lovers. (2441 18^th St. NW)
  

  Sakuramen

• Izakaya Seki: A family-run Japanese restaurant offering authentic Japanese food that goes way beyond sushi and sashimi. The chef Seki has a fifty years professional experience as a chef and served in the best Japanese restaurant in St. Louis. Sitting in the bar, you can watch the chef prepare the food and you can see how he cuts sashimi and cooks fish. The fried vegetable tempera, shrimp, and crab are all really good. And you cannot miss the hot Udon noodle soup; the noodles are so soft and delicious! (1117 V St. NW)
  

  Donburi

• Sushi Taro: Finally, we come to Sushi Taro, which claims to be the best Japanese restaurant in DC. It has an excellent location near Dupont Circle. I went to Sushi Taro three times, twice for the lunch special and once for the dinner set. For those students who intern around the Dupont Circle area, Sushi Taro is an ideal place for lunch. The price is affordable and they serve food very fast. The Udon noodle soup is very very good, and you can choose the toppings either tempera or beef—both are very good. Also, I ordered fried chicken separately for lunch, which proved to be a good choice. Japanese style fried chicken has quite a different flavor than American fried chicken. Worth a try. For lunch, they also offer lunch boxes, sashimi sets, or a collection of sushi. (1503 17^th St. NW)
  

  Izakaya Seki

These are my dining suggestions for Japanese food in DC. I hope you can stop by any of them when you have time and enjoy a good meal of authentic Japanese food!

Weiran is a rising senior majoring in international relations and interning with GWU.