“Haikan – 2nd Sapporo-style Ramen Shop from Daikaya Team to Open in Shaw Saturday”

Photos by FARRAH SKEIKY

From a press release:

“Haikan (805 V Street NW) – the 2nd Sapporo-style ramen shop from the talented team behind Daikaya including partners Daisuke Utagawa, Chef Katsuya Fukushima, and Yama Jewayni – will open at the Atlantic Plumbing Building on Saturday, August 27th at 5pm beginning with dinner service only. Haikan will be the third restaurant to open in Washington DC from the Daikaya team – following closely on the heels of recently opened Japanese chicken ramen shop Bantam King – and will serve as the team’s second eatery to open offering up a variety of traditional Sapporo-style ramen. Haikan will be open 7 days a week for dinner, with plans to launch brunch and lunch service in the future.

Featuring 2,120-square feet on the interior ground level of JBG Companies Atlantic Plumbing Building, Haikan will offer a completely new selection of traditional Sapporo-style ramen, different from the variety of ramen currently offered at both Daikaya and Bantam King including Shio, Shoyu, Miso, and Vegetable. The Shio showcases the delicate and complex chintan stock providing a hint of seafood flavor. For the shoyu ramen, the team at Haikan decided to go back to the taste of the classic Showa period, which served as the first golden age of ramen in Japan. Haikan’s complex stock is brightened by fresh soy sauce flavor. Invented in Sapporo, miso ramen uses a lighter, gentler miso with sesame seeds to match the stock. And Haikan’s vegetable ramen is 100% vegetarian. The team uses vegetable stock and miso as the base for the soup, which is slightly spicy and extremely rich in flavor.

And in addition to ramen, Executive Chef Katsuya Fukushima will be sharing a playful selection of Japanese-inspired small plates, priced between $8 to $10 each, such as Mapo Tofu Poutine, Smashed Cucumber Salad, Crab Rangoons, Kakigori, and a Pea-sar Salad, just to highlight a few dishes. The ramen shop will offer seating for 99 with 59 seats indoors, and 40 seats outdoors. Haikan’s bar program – a collective team effort – will debut an inventive collection of Japanese-inspired handcrafted cocktails, and a concentrated selection of Japanese sake, shochu, beer, whisky, and more. The outdoor patio area will feature a large communal table and during nicer weather pivot doors can be opened connecting the interior of Haikan to the large patio area.

More including the menu after the jump.

“With over 1,000 ramen shops in the city of Sapporo alone, we’re excited to share a completely new line-up of traditional Sapporo-style ramen with our guests through the opening of Haikan”, said Daisuke Utagawa, one of three partners at Daikaya. “Through Haikan, our goal is to further connect, educate, and transport our guests to Japan through offering authentic Sapporo-style ramen. At Haikan, we’ll offer a shio, miso, and completely original vegetarian ramen, as well as a unique shoyu ramen paying homage to the Showa period focusing on flavors from when Sapporo ramen was first developed and became its own distinct style of ramen in Japan. We will also be sharing a new twist on miso ramen celebrating some of the team’s favorite miso ramen enjoyed during our research and development trips together in Japan.”

Brian Miller, Design Director at Edit Lab at Streetsense and designer of Daikaya and Bantam King, worked closely with the partners – especially Yama Jewayni – to design Haikan. He joined the team on a research trip to Tokyo in 2010 to find inspiration for Daikaya and an additional research trip to Hokkaido in 2015 that provided the foundation for both Bantam King and Haikan.

“The vision for Haikan’s design grew out of a link between design in Japan and Washington, D.C. from the late 1950s to 1970s, the time ramen first exploded in popularity and the Sapporo style of ramen was developed” said Yama Jewayni, partner at Haikan. “In Japan the Metabolism movement looked to modular design and crystalline forms to steer postwar growth, while in D.C.”, said Brian Miller, Design Director at Edit Lab at Streetsense. “Brutalism led to massive forms achieved with humble materials, a step away from the city’s neoclassical roots. Today the heritage of Metabolism and Brutalism is disappearing, and Haikan claims the corner of the muscular Atlantic Plumbing building paying homage to both. Deeply fluted concrete block walls, an old design brought back into production for this project with a new mold, line the bar and West wall. A plywood triangular coffered ceiling stretches through the space, directing light and controlling acoustics. Colored tile fields and brass accent the wood and concrete, and the long ramen line sits directly across from a 20’ door that pivots open in warm weather. The ramen counter and bar are thick solid oak, made to patina over time and show the life of the space. Under the overhang of the building, the patio holds a long communal table and bold signage, marking the corner of 8th & V St for year-round ramen.”

Haikan Menu 2016 (PDF)