Daikaya Team Locks Down High-Profile Pop-Up in Japan

Starting now through late September, jet setters headed to Japan can find an authentic taste of D.C. ramen.

The folks at Daikaya Group (Daikaya Ramen and Izakaya, Bantam King, and Haikan) are setting up shop in Hokkaido, considered a top ramen mecca in the world.

Sapporo-based noodle master Takashi Nishiyama, who supplies the D.C. restaurant group with noodles, invited the team—making Daikaya the first non-Japanese and American ramen shop to be asked to participate in the prestigious pop-up.

Expect to find the same Sapporo-style ramen served up at Daikaya and Haikan, as well as Bantam King’s chicken ramen. Ramen specials with American twists will include French onion soup ramen and New England clam chowder ramen.

The space inside Japan’s Pole Star Shopping Center is decked out with odes to the U.S., with posters of Michael Jordan, The Notorious B.I.G., the Beastie Boys, and a rainbow flag.

Hokkaido’s known for its seafood lineup of uni, squid, scallops, ikura, king and hairy crab, and hokke, which could make its way onto menus.

Katsuya Fukushima is the starting chef, and the pop-up will feature rotating chefs from each of Daikaya’s restaurants.

Kyle Schmitz