I’m so behind on these write-ups, so I’m going to try to catch up by doing the most recent excursion every week and also a “flashback” post. We’ll see.

Dorjee Momo is a tiny pop-up in the Bullfrog Bagel space in Eastern Market. I fully expect them to have their own storefront with more seating soon.

Dorjee Momo
317 7th St SE
http://www.dorjeemomo.com

Cost: $75 per person

I came here with one goal, and that goal was HOT POT. There aren’t that many places in DC that do hot pot, because it’s a pain in the ass–the complex broth takes a long time to prepare, and unlike ramen it’s not meant to be eaten alone, or quickly. It’s a communal experience meant to be savored.

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The split pot comes in handy if some of your party wants meat, or to make the broth extra spicy.

Dorjee Momo’s version was fantastic. The broth was exactly the right level of spicy for me, and they had options to make it extra spicy upon request. The add-ins start out vegan, with an optional meat platter–obviously we got the meat because we know what’s good.

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The tables could have been larger – we had approximately 4 inches left for our drinks, rice, and dipping bowls. 

The veggies were heavy on greens and mushrooms – lots of bok choi, spinach, and napa cabbage; enoki, shimeji, and wood ear. I don’t care for mushrooms, but after soaking up the rich broth these were surprisingly delicious. Broccoli and sliced potatoes were unexpected but equally good; the clear sweet potato noodles weren’t as absorbent and damn near impossible to fetch with chopsticks.  The tofu was a predictably amazing sponge.

The meat was sliced very thin, making cooking time very fast despite it coming to the table frozen. The tiny dumplings took longer but were my favorite; I would have been pleased to have a double portion.

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This is about half of the meat – belated picture.

We each got a bowl of rice, and a dish of salty sesame dipping oil that was particularly good with the meats. There are lots of other dishes on the menu, but the hot pot is generous enough that you won’t need to order anything more unless you’ve been running marathons. If we’d skipped the meat, we might have been able to share an appetizer – but as it was, we left some of our spinach uncooked.

Drinks

There were four cocktails on the menu when we went; we each got one. I knew immediately I wanted the bourbon cocktail – their Moonpeak is basically a manhattan (vermouth, bitters) garnished with a slice of blood orange and accented with clove. It was delightful.

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Moonpeak on the left! 

Unfortunately I can’t remember what the other three were, and their cocktail list has changed a bit – one of the drinks served up below is the #bosslady (I think the clear one), one is the Lychee Martini (probably the purple one), and the orange one isn’t on the menu anymore.

I fully recommend Dorjee Momo hotpot. It’s not cheap – even if you skip the cocktails, the vegan pot costs $140 for the table or $180 with meat. They won’t decrease the price if you only have 2 or 3 people, and they only have 9 hotpot seatings a night. But hotpot is a fun experience for a small group and this chef is definitely going places.