Tasty Ramens at Toki Underground

April 28th, 2011 [ Tags: , , ]

This poorly lit photo does not to justice to the tastiness contained within this magnificent bowl of ramen I had at Toki Underground in DC. This is a new Taiwanese style ramen joint that just opened this month in DC’s H Street corridor.

If you’re only going to serve one thing, it better be damn good. Toki Underground serves some great goddamn ramen. It’s a tiny place that has seating for 20 people. We decided to check it out on a Friday night. We waited an hour and a half to get a table which sounds like a long ass time, but there are plenty of bars in the area to distract you from the long wait times. It was 9:30 when we finally got seated. There were four of us and we were lucky enough to get sat at the chef’s table! This meant we got to spent the entire night watching Erik Bruner-Yang make bowl after bowl of amazing rameny goodness!

I got the Toki Hakata Classic which is pictured above. Audrey got the Curry Chicken Hakata. And one of our friends go the Masumi Vegetable. I’m a big fan of runny yolks so the soft boiled egg was very welcome. Now I’ve had a lot of ramen in my travels and I’m very rarely impressed with the pork that’s normally served in the broth. Nine times out of ten, it’s dry which makes no sense because it’s soaking in ramen broth. The pork at Toki Underground is freaking amazing! Very tender, very flavorful. Extremely delicious. The entire combination of the egg, pork, pickled ginger, nori, all of it makes for an amazing taste experience for your face. I got a sip of Audrey’s Curry Chicken broth and it’s a sure fire win. What was most surprising was the vegetarian broth. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but there were so many complex layers of flavor. It kind of stopped me in my tracks. I’m a meat head and can’t resist a good slice of pork, but the next time I go I might seriously consider the vegetarian. Left to try are the Miso Hakata and Kimchi Hakata which both sound dead tasty.

We had a wonderful time at Toki Underground. Chef Yang was quite personable and fun to talk with. You could tell that he has a fiery passion for his food. I wish I could remember what he gave us as an appetizer as a perk for sitting at the chef table. I remember it being very tasty. I’ll also have to explore the dumplings since we didn’t order any on our first visit. But I certainly plan to go back many, many times. There are ramens to be eaten, dumplings to stuff in my face. AND the bathroom is covered in giant robot manga pages (I believe the series is Dougram).

I highly recommend Toki Underground for anyone in the DC area who loves a proper bowl of ramen. Be sure to get there early to avoid long waits. It will probably thin out as weeks go by, but I totally expect at least an hour wait on the weekends. Sounds like a long wait, but it’s absolutely worth it.


  • http://togroklife.com greg

    I think you overstate the problems with H St. Especially the corridor between Union Station and 14th NE. But perhaps I’m biased as I live a block and a half south of H. South of H St is Capitol Hill, and that area is far from being a lower income population, though it is definitely mixed.

    I’ve been meaning to get out to Toki some time, but was definitely going to avoid a late evening or brunch weekend visit, which is when that area is busiest.

  • K. Benton

    Worry not, the Kimchi ramen was amazing too.

    We went on Saturday and can’t wait to go back. By the way, if all you got was a taste of the broth from the curry ramen (<3 <3 <3 curry ramen) you missed out… the chicken in there is unbefuckinglievable. There's no chance I won't get that next time. And a side of kimchi.

    :)

  • Aenya

    I love miso… I have yet to find a good place over where I’m at that serves it RIGHT.
    I hope it’s delicious. You have to tell me when you try it. And then I can be violently jealous at you.

  • Julia

    He gave us deep-fried asparagus shavings – I think they may have been tempura-dipped, but I’m not sure. There was also asparagus in the veggie ramen, along with mushrooms and other deliciousness.

  • http://ypcomic.com Jamie

    YES! Asparagus skins! I had no idea such a thing existed. But it was totally awesome. I want to go to there always now.

  • http://tokiunderground.com lizzie

    hey jamie!
    it seems that the link to your email isn’t working (sad face). so hit me up cuz we have a proposition for you!
    also, thanks for the kind words and support!
    xoxo
    lizzie from toki underground
    elizabeth@tokiunderground.com

  • me

    Your comments about “What H St. is like” come off as a bit glib, if not a tad ignorant. H st. was a thriving business corridor in Washington until the post-riot late 1960′s when, with much of the city, it fell into….well… it became really crappy…. until just a few (6 or so) years ago it was a totally and completely unsafe area to walk alone in, and because of a few great entrepenuers and a dozen or so businesses, it is slowly but surely becoming a destination again. So, I would hope someone would not travel to H st one evening thinking they were about to hit dowtown Bethesda…. because that just aint the case.

  • me

    PS- I’d rather have the neighborhoods in my city get better, not worse. This “gentrification” argument is absurd.

  • East H

    Thanks for including the requisite gentrifier hand-wringing before enjoying your ramen.

    Give me a break. I bought here because I can afford it and I love the community– the WHOLE community, not just the new bars and restaurants. I give back when I can, try to be a good neighbor, and patronize new and old businesses alike.

    If you don’t want to feel weird around here, it would help if you dropped your largely ridiculous notions of how dangerous the neighborhood is and embrace it as a truly diverse area of DC.

  • http://ypcomic.com Jamie

    @me and East H, thank you for your comments. I didn’t mean to be insulting to the neighborhood so I sincerely apologize if I came off as such. I am still very much an outsider when it comes to certain neighborhoods around town so I will watch myself in the future when making snap judgements.

    Thanks again for illuminating me.

  • East H

    Now I feel bad for coming down so hard. Sorry dude. I’ve read a few too many comments lately that suggest new homeowners like myself are taking advantage of something by buying on the H Street corridor, so I’m a little hyper sensitive.

    Gentrification is definitely a real issue, and the point I was trying to make is that most newcomers to the area seem aware of this and are interested in a meaningful discussion about what revitalization should look like, including how to not run roughshod over existing communities with residents who might be uneasy about changes.

    Thanks for the review, which was really about the excellent Ramen and the really excellent Toki Underground. Everybody should check this place out (I suggest the weekdays to avoid the crowds).

  • http://ypcomic.com Jamie

    No man, thanks for pointing it out. Words mean something and if I’m going to take umbrage against careless words against Asians, I should do the same when it comes to everything else including neighborhoods.

  • http://sparebrainsgames.com Wayne Zombie

    Jamie, have you seen the movie Tampopo? It’s a must for you. I actually have a subtitled DVD of it, pure awesomesauce.

  • John

    Thanks for the food tips, but I thought your second paragraph should be striked, rather than left for others to read. You’re a little naive about gentrification and whether the city really drives it. Also, plenty of my neighbors also own their properties and have made a bundle as their values have appreciated (despite national trends).

  • http://ypcomic.com Jamie

    Blargh, I think you’re right. De-published the offending paragraph.