Bantam King

Bantam King is a chicken ramen joint in Washington, D.C. The name comes from their location, in an old Burger King restaurant. They kept the shop looking very BK, and even designed their logo to match. Fun stuff.

My second time in D.C. The portrait museum is incredible. A must-visit.

Of course, you can’t serve ramen without cheap sake. I’m not so critical on my site, but most of these are ones I wouldn’t drink. Except for the Otokoyama. A sake from Asahikawa, Hokaido. I love the stuff. The price of $14 is a bit high, but this is coming from someone who lives near the source.

Totally a cool shop, design-wise.

The ramen is ok.

My opinion was affected heavily by what I saw near the door.

Delivery ramen. I understand that it is a business choice, but I could never order something like this. Microwave your ramen, drop in the partially boiled noodles. Microwave again. To me, it is as bad as taking half of your unfinished bowl home, something which many ramen shops in America allow.

So there you have it. I completely understand that it is a business decision, and quite normal in America. You do you, it’s all good.

At Bantam King, they also serve fried chicken. A quick google search shows it is both “the place to eat this weekend” and “an essential shop in DC.”

Ok, despite my rather blah impressions, this is a unique spot and worthy of a slurp if you live in D.C. I am 100% sure that my opinion was affected by the bags of delivery ramen sitting by the door, noodles becoming stale as they waited for the Uber Eats driver to arrive and deliver them to some senator who could care less.

Official site here.

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