Vegan ramen in DC (part two, kind of)

We previously posted a comparison of a vegan ramen shop in Tokyo (T's Tan Tan) compared to vegan ramen from Daikaya, which is in Chinatown, DC. We've also visited Sakuramen in Adam's Morgan, which has a vegan ramen. Both Daikaya and Sakuramen have pretty good vegan ramens, which are tasty in large part because of the awesome mushrooms included in the soup (if you like that kind of thing.) But today we tried out the vegan ramen from Taan Noodles, also in Adam's Morgan, and it's definitely my favorite of the three DC options we've tried.　本当においしいよ！

I'll lay out my reasons for giving Taan Noodles top place in vegan ramen below:

1. The tofu. It's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and actually has a nice tofu flavor (some people say tofu is flavorless by itself; I've found that to be untrue!) This was maybe the best part of the soup, and 3 pieces is enough to fill you up.

2. The atmosphere. Sakuramen and Daikaya are fun to hang out in, and I do like the 90s hip hop they play in Daikaya, but Taan just felt really gentle and neutral compared to both of those. This might be biased because we were there for lunch and not dinnertime, but I have been to Daikaya for a late lunch & I still like Taan better in comparison.

3. More sake -- Daikaya izakaya upstairs probably has a better selection, but they don't have ramen upstairs, so it doesn't count! Taan has a good selection of drinks & some drinks that aren't too common outside of Japan. We didn't order any, but if we go back, I probably will. (Bonus points for the "It's not a milk, it's Nigori Sake!" quotation under a junmai nigori description!)

4. Toppings - This is actually tied with Daikaya and Sakuramen, since I like their toppings too, but they have unique toppings like pickled ginger and a small boiled tomato. Plus that tofu. Yummm!

5. The broth. It's soy milk based and super spicy! (If you can't do spice, definitely ask them if they can tone it down or serve another type of veggie broth...) The soy milk was interesting, I never would have thought of putting soy milk in a ramen broth. Whoever came up with this, whether it was the chefs at Taan or some other soup they borrowed from, it's a good idea.

The noodles themselves are also great, about equal to the other shops', and the price is about the same as Daiyaka/Sakuramen at $14. So, all else held equal, Taan wins out for me. The other two just have a really overpowering grill flavor throughout the broth, and I prefer my grill-flavor to stick to the veggies and not permeate the soup. Taan did not have grilled toppings, but that's fine with me, they didn't skimp on veggies & used great ingredients.

We also got the veggie gyoza, which was delicate and yummy:

The filling was cabbage, carrots, and onion; I'm not sure what the sauce was, and was a bit wary that it might be honey, but it didn't taste like it at all.

We used an Amazon Local coupon and got a deal, but even without the deal the meal would be worth it. I definitely recommend any ramen-loving vegan in DC to check Taan out and have some vegan ramen and sake!