We were stupid impressed with Pow Pow. We’ve never been big into vegan food, but damn, they turned us into believers. Located on 1253 H Street NE in Washington, DC, they’re a trendy fast-casual “new asian” joint. They fuse Chinese, Japanese, and Korean flavors together to produce unique combos that’ll leave your tummy happy and full. Expect colorful salads, beautiful bowls, massive egg rolls, and more.
They source natural-ingredients from local farms whenever possible, and you can taste quality in each and every bite. We hit up their restaurant last week for lunch with our friend, DCFoodPorn, and got a bunch of plates to share. Here were our favorites:
- Trolley Fries ($6): skin on fries topped with kimchi, cheddar, k-town ketchup, spicy mayo and cilantro. We weren’t sure how we’d feel about kimchi on fries, but we actually really liked the combo! These were dangerously addictive, and we’re definitely coming back for more.
- Firecracker Fingers ($9): Taiwanese fried plant-based chicken tossed in firecracker sauce – comes with a delectable sesame dipping sauce. This dish is a must for those of you who love SPICY!
- Natalie Porkman ($9/$12): Made with sweet & sour vegan pork seitan, pineapple kimchi, tomato, carrots, bean sprouts, pickled onion and scallions. Um, we don’t even know where to start with this bowl. Their vegan pork tasted exactly like pork, like if they hadn’t told us it was seitan, we wouldn’t have known. Seriously. Chef Margaux Riccio is like the Dumbledore of plant-based food. We don’t know how she does it, but we never want her to stop.
- Purity Bowl ($9/$12): Made with sesame sweet potato, black beans, burnt broccoli, edamame, tomato, carrots, and cilantro, then topped with sriracha cashew and sesame drizzle. We’re suckers for sweet potato anything so naturally, this bowl is a do in our book. You honestly can’t do wrong with any of the bowls here though!
- Vegan “Mozzarella” Balls ($6, pictured below): Crispy balls of magical goodness topped with gochujang and sesame seeds. These were so, SO delicious. They’re not listed on their menu online, but definitely ask if they have ’em when you go because they’re amazeballs – haha, get it? AND THEY’RE GOOEY LIKE ACTUAL CHEESE! Mind. Blown.
Whether you’re vegan or not, you definitely want to check out Pow Pow stat! You can customize your bowl however you like so go wild. Get a signature salad, rice bowl or half and half if you want the best of both worlds. PS. They’re opening a second location in NW DC soon so be excited, friends. Very, very excited!