Aarti Bansal

Review of Daikaya

I've been coming here for years, their veggie rame...

I've been coming here for years, their veggie ramen hits the spot every time! Although the cozy shop isn't fancy like it's upstairs Izakaya counterpart, the casual sit-down eatery reminds me of the ramen shops in Tokyo bursting with flavor. Although I was stoked about trying vegetarian ramen in Tokyo, to my disappointment the "vegetarian" concept didn't exist. To my delight, I found Daikaya.

The clear veggie broth is rich in flavor and not soy based. The ramen is stringy and chewy, I scarfed down all of the noodles in my bowl. Instead of tofu, there's a sea of grilled veggies in the broth: brussel sprouts, carrots, scallions, dry seaweed, sprouts, and best of...shiitake mushrooms. I ravenously devoured the ramen bowl, every lick of the veggies, broth, and noodles. Was stuffed afterwards, totally worth it!

To accompany this hearty meal, I ordered the $5 seasonal cocktail, which was grapefruit based. It was too sweet and not well balanced, I would skip it next time and just stick to the ramen. Need to save every last bit of room for those slurpy noodles!

As it gets pretty packed (I waited a 1/2 hour to get ramen solo on a weeknight) and 45 min on the weekends for a table of 2, head upstairs to Izakaya to grab a quick drink. The ramen at Daikaya is well worth the wait!