Ramen is one of our favorite nomnoms, and we are excited to introduce you to the tasty world of Haikan in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The drinks are on U, and the ramen is on V! This delicious place is tucked away between U St. and V St. in Shaw. Even if you haven’t heard of Haikan, you probably heard of its sister restaurant, Daikaya in Chinatown, which operates under Executive Chef and Co-owner Katsya Fukushima. Many things make Haikan one of the best ramen places in D.C., including the custom-made ramen noodles from Sapporo, Japan. Another thing that sets this restaurant apart is its seasonal dishes. They often have unique dishes like Japanese Deviled Eggs, Kitamaru Poutine, and more. Here is our full review from the recent visit. We will update it with more nomnom dishes after our next visit.
Kitamaru Poutine
These nomsters can’t pass up ordering a fusion version of Poutine from Haikan. This dish combines three different culinary worlds: Canadian, Chinese, and Japanese ingredients come together to make a perfect appetizer. Mapo Tofu is a popular dish from Sichuan province found in most Chinese restaurants. Haikan combined this popular dish with a Canadian poutine and a Japanese spin. It is for a great price of $8, which is rare to be this low for so much nomnom. This poutine has standard french fries, mozzarella curds, and ground chicken. What makes it extra special is adding the Japanese version of Mapo Tofu and freshly ground Szechuan peppercorn—an excellent dish for us meat lovers but not so much for vegetarians. We asked if we could order this without chicken for our Chief Vegetarian Officer, but sadly, the tofu and chicken are already mixed. It just meant there was more for us to eat.

Fried Brussels Sprouts
We are about to eat a whole lot of Ramen. This means we need to get some veggies to feel a bit healthy. Nothing beats the taste and healthiness of Brussels sprouts. It may be slightly less accurate if they are fried, but it’s veggie time. Meat lovers don’t always say a veggie dish might be better than a meat one. From the menu, this didn’t sound like a complex dish. Flavor-wise, it delivered an unexpected punch of deliciousness. Maybe it’s all that frying? This dish comes topped with pickled red onion and sesame sauce. Fried Brussels Sprouts are nothing new to D.C. ramen restaurants. These are the best in town and might have to be our new benchmark for rating similar dishes. These are available only briefly, as they are part of Haikan’s Special Dinner menu for $6. Don’t walk; run to order them.

Japanese Deviled Eggs
Holy nomster, you haven’t had deviled eggs until you’ve tried this steamed egg version at Haikan. These just blew our taste buds away with their punch. These little bites come packed with deliciousness and far more ingredients than expected. The central part is a perfectly steamed egg (Nitamago), Kewpie, a Japanese rice mayo, salmon eggs, jalapeno, and scallions. This is a seasonal special appetizer that sadly is no longer available. Please bring this back! It was so amazing we wanted to eat it again. It lost a point because I wish it had 4 or at least 3 deviled eggs per order since it cost $5.

Smashed Cucumbers
As Mom says, eat your veggies! And eat them before a big bowl of ramen. The smashed cucumber salad is a popular Asian dish that is simple yet delicious. It’s a perfect bite-size nom to enjoy with a few drinks while waiting for the main course. The smashing part makes this dish different from a regular sliced cucumber salad. Cucumbers are smashed until they crack open and release the seeds and juice. You get much rougher and more texture. At Haikan, the salad is prepared with Rayu Shoyu Dressing, a popular condiment in ramen shops. It combines spicy chili oil with Japanese soy sauce and comes with a nice kick in every bite. The relatively low flavor profile goes well with drinks and other appetizers. Plus, for $5, I expected a more significant portion of a salad.

Crispy Pork Belly
We love pork belly dishes and were so happy that Haikan made one mean and delicious nomnom. This marked the first time we tried one of our favorite meats with one of our favorite fruits, watermelon. It’s such a perfect combination of savory and sweet! This dish comes with cucumber and cilantro in Korean hot pepper sauce. We just fell in love with every bite of the soft, fatty pork. The only thing we wished for was more pork belly. It’s a relatively small dish for $7, so we might order two more next time.

Spicy Shoyu Ramen
While we can choose small or large, we are size queens and always go with the large. The ramen at Haikan is very hearty and filling, so don’t go crazy with extra toppings as we did. Then again, we regret nothing! We just had to add our favorites: extra pork belly, steamed egg, and a new addition, Wood Ear mushrooms. Typically spicy, Shoyu does not come with a steamed egg, which must be considered a crime! The egg is one of our favorite parts. Every slurp was simply perfect. The pork has just the right amount of fat to make it nomnom. Unlike many ramen places where pork is on top, it’s buried under all the noodles. You can’t go wrong with this Ramen at a reasonable price of $15. Because in DC, that is a very reasonable price.

What is Shoyu?
Ever wondered, “What is Shoyu?” but were too embarrassed to ask? We’ve got you covered. When soy sauce was introduced to Japan from China, the recipe went from whole soybeans to 50/50 soybeans and wheat. Shoyu has a different taste profile, with sweetness and less bitterness than regular soy sauce. There are five types of Shoyu: Koikuchi, Usukuchi, Tamari, Sai Shikomi, and Shiro. Like most soy sauces, Shoyu is not gluten-free, so keep that in mind if that’s important for your dietary restrictions.
Shio Ramen
As a respected size queen, we always go large with a bowl of Shio Ramen. Out of four familiar ramen flavors, Shio is considered to be the oldest and lightest. You can taste that here with the lightness of chicken broth and a hint of seafood. This dish delivers a solid taste, highlighting other ingredients like meat, Nori (seaweed), and ground pork. While Shio Ramen for $14 is excellent ramen, it can’t beat our favorite Spicy Shoyu.

Fruzu Frozen Yuzu Lemonade
You can’t have ramen without some drinks, and Haikan is serving some fun cocktails, including an alcoholic lemonade called Fruzu for $6. Fruzu is an adorably named drink made with Yuzu citrus fruit from central China and popularized in Korea and Japan. Taste-wise, it has a much higher citrusy profile than even a lemon. So, if you like that sourness, this is your fruit and drink. You will want to enjoy this sipping drink throughout your meal. One tip: don’t drink it with your dessert. The flavor combination will be pretty weird for us.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t like cookies and ice cream? Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich for $5 is a great way to end your nomnom adventure at Haikan. This dessert is not overly sweet, with a chocolate cookie and vanilla ice cream. After enjoying some very hot and maybe spicy ramen, it will give you a pleasantly cool, refreshing taste. The cookie is quite complex, making it difficult to share with friends.

Delivery
Great news: a delivery option exists for those who want to stay in on a cold day. Haikan is available through their delivery or carryout and with Caviar delivery service. The lunch menu is available from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and the dinner menu is available from 5:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Sadly, this service is only available within Washington D.C. proper and not in Maryland or Virginia suburbs.