Bantam King

Reviews 5

AL

Alice Wang

I just got back from opening night, and I couldnt wait to spread the news. As to be expected from the Daikaya team, their newest creation in Bantam King is winner winner chicken dinner! Like Daikaya, their focus is on ramen but specifically chicken ramen. There are two types of chicken-based broths highlighted at this joint - paitran and chintan. Paitran is milky, emulsified, creamy, and on the richer side like tonkotsu style, while chintan is like a clear and light consommé. The chintan will be available on a limited basis each day. From there, you can choose the typical bases - shio ($11.75), shoyu ($12), or miso ($13). Each bowl is topped with shredded chicken, nori, broccoli rabe, bamboo shoots, sweet onions, and chili threads. You can add other toppings like butter, corn, extra pulled chicken, nitamago, onsen egg, and wakame for a few extra dollars. Bantam King also has vegetarian ramen in a kombu stock paired with house-made veggies. The other big feature of this new restaurant is their fried chicken dinner, a $24 meal that comes with a drumstick, thigh, breast, and fixings like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and biscuits with strawberry jam (yum!). Additionally, they have gyoza, bowls of steamed rice, rice with onsen egg and soy sauce, and rice with chicken drippings. Bantam King also carries a variety of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, many of which may make you use a throwback hashtag. I ordered the shio paitran ramen. The broth is perfect, very flavorful and strikes just the right balance of creaminess but not going off into the super heavy and super rich cliff. It honestly reminds me of my moms chicken noodle soup, which is always a comfort for me. The pulled chicken is very tender and delicious. The noodles, which are sourced from Japan, are chewy. The only thing I wasnt a fan of was my nitamago, which was surprisingly sweet. The interior has retained the previous occupants ceramic mosaic tiling, but theyve made it their own funky home with sundry patterns and bright colors. Plastic chairs reminiscent of elementary school days, communal tables, plastic laminate tables and royal blue benches, walls papered with Japanese comics, various lanterns and lights hanging from the ceiling. Everythings bright and fly. Everythings super whimsical. Currently, they are only serving dinner but will follow up with lunch in the future.

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EV

Everything Awesome

My first time to Kantam King, I ordered the SPICY MISO RAMEN. I was appalled by the price ($12.75) for a bowl of chicken noodle soup, given that Ive eaten and am a lifelong noodle soup fan. I still believe no chicken noodle soup should ever cost this much. But my curiosity won, so I also ordered two additional toppings (NITAMAGO and WAKAME) along with a side dish of boiled chicken dumpling (GYOZA). I was impressed with the presentations and the tastes of both dishes (Mind you, I was starving, so any food would taste good.) so much that another visit was planned. Next visit, I ordered the SHOYU RAMEN ($12.00) and the quality dramatically dropped. The chicken was chewy and the broth was very salty. Despite of the salty broth, I decided to place an order for to-go/take-out only to find out that Kantam King has a different menu with a different set of prices for take-out items. All the prices for take-out items are more expensive, and not all of the items on the regular menu are available to be made for take-out. For example, the SHOYU CHINTAN is not available for take-out because, as explained by a wait staff, they have only limited number of the dish, so they want to it "in house." When asked why the SPICY MISO RAMEN is $13.25 on the to-go menu but is only $12.75 on regular menu, the wait staff said he had no idea why. Of course, I canceled the take-out order. The whole incident seemed odd and confusing to me. I suspect that the take-out pricing might be Kantams way to recoup the packaging costs of take-out orders. In any case, given the salty chicken and the shady pricing that was designed to nickel and dime customers, only when hell freezes over will I eat at this restaurant again.

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TI

Tina Smith

I cant tell you how many times Ive stood around the corner at their sister ramen place Daikaya and been told Ill have to wait for over an hour to be seated. Bantam King, by comparison is a ghost town. For the life of me I dont know why. And this place is especially easy with a toddler. Corner your toddler in a booth seat where she can admire the fun, quirky, lunchroom decor. The restaurant staff from the hostess to the cooks have all made goofy faces at our toddler, much to her delight. Ive yet to deviate from my favorite, the shoyu ramen, I add an extra egg because theyre so dang good. The broth is flavorful, and they add dandelion greens to the soup, which Ive noticed no where else. Per the name of the restaurant all the ramen is chicken based. I usually give my chicken to my husband, I like dark meat and they dont have an option for which one tops your bowl. You get the meat you get and its always been the breast meat, of which Im not a fan. My toddler usually shares the ramen with me, using the chopsticks and wide spoon. (yes, this is as messy as it sounds- but this is her favorite food too) My husband has tried the miso and spicy miso ramen, which are both good. They have that complex depth of flavor you want in a bowl of ramen. I can appreciate these two, but for me its like drinking a beer thats not quite my style. Weve ordered the kitchen staff a round of beers before, which is a menu option. And when youre dining with a kid whom the staff treats great it seems like the thing to do. So, in summation. Come to Bantam and be seated and served quickly. Its also great food for toddlers if you dont mind getting a little messy.

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AU

Austin Graff

If Saved by the Bells The Max was in Tokyo, this would be it. Just around the corner from its mother, Daikaya (a popular DC pork based ramen shop), in Chinatown, this funky taken shop has a quirky school cafeteria/cafe feel to it with its 1970s booths and blue school cafeteria trays decorating the walls. If the back bar and booths are all full, youll be seated at one of the two long tables with complete strangers (a trend I hope more restaurants in the USA adopt). Youll sit side by side your dinner date as you browse their simple menu. This place only serves chicken based ramen but they do have a few veggie options too! They have three chicken ramen ranging from a lighter broth (shio trio) to more heavy (miso). I ordered the shio trio with an egg and corn. It was very tasty and the egg was the BEST egg Ive ever had (it tasted like candy). We also ordered chicken dumplings (youll get four dumplings). They were tasty too! The icing on my cake (or should I say ramen) was the Royal Milk Tea. I used to buy these in China for a few cents and even though Bantam King charged me $3.50 for it, it was worth it! Its sweetened, cold milk tea and its amazing! All in all, we had a great experience. There was no wait on a Sunday night, service was excellent, food was tasty, and the funky atmosphere is on point!

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DO

dodego dodego

Will NEVER return! I could have purchased a $0.25 package of ramen and it would have been better. The broth was not developed, the chicken was not seasoned, which would have happen if the broth was developed, and the little bitter green things with stems made it even worse. Then I asked for chili oil and was told to use the ground pepper on the table; however, they sale dumplings with chili oil so not really sure why i could not receive a side of it. Once again not a well developed broth so i asked for salt and the cook looked offended, LOL!!! just sad and really needs help. the waiter was very polite and informed us that the business has only been open for a few months and working through some things. Im guessing the things will include not having repeat customers. final thought! EVERY ramen should have chili oil on the table and offer offer a spicy miso

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