HoneyPig Izakaya - Good Local Japanese food

Good fortune hit a few weeks ago as HoneyPig Izakaya released a livingsocial deal just days after I heard about it from a friend.  After visiting Japan this spring, I'm extremely motivated to find good Japanese food here in the DC area. So off I went.

HPI is in Annandale, not too far from the DC beltway of Gallows road.  As I was walking in, I think I saw the owner outside talking on the cell phone.  I think she was the owner because she has "uniquely identifiable hair" and her picture is all over the restaurant and the billboard holding the front door open :)

We took our seats and perused the menu.  The menu is fairly large and has a variety of Japanese food items as well as some Korean ones, as well. I was hoping to find a really cool dish I had in Japan at an Izakaya called Monja but after checking with the owner and their "consultant from the kitchen, they definitely don't serve it.  The menu did feature a traditional Japanese comfort food called Okonomiyaki, which the Japanese call "Japanese pancake".  I tried this in Japan and while I appreciated that HPI serves it, it is a bit too eggy for me to want to order.

The presentation of the seaweed reminds me of something evil with the pools of brown and

 yellow sauce

We opted for some traditional items starting with some seaweed salad and dumplings.  The dumplings tasted fresh and not frozen and the seaweed salad was very large compared to what I usually am served. 

Next round was some traditional ramen and some skewers.  Ramen is so hard to screw up and HPI does a fine job of serving it as they do in Japan complete with egg, green onions, sliced pork, fish cake and a slice of dry seaweed on the side.  I'm still not sure what the point of one piece of dried seaweed is sitting in a wet soup but this seems to be how the Japanese do Ramen!  The skewers were well-cooked but while I love fresh grilled meats and veggies, it's painful how pricey these Yakatori items can be for such small morsels of food.

Very oily but authentic and good

Overall, the experience didn't do as much to remind me of Japan as my trip to Makoto did last month, but it was still good to get out and get some Japanese food.  The service and prices were nothing spectacular but I'll probably be back again if I'm in the area.

Rating - 3.5 stars out of 5.