There are reasons these urban teahouses are packed during the lunch rush—the food is fast, healthy, cheap, and tasty. And don’t forget those salty oat cookies ($1.95) that devotees can’t leave without.
But first eat your veggies. Bento boxes ($8.75) have everything you need for a filling lunch. The fried-chicken version arrives with sweet potatoes, rice sprinkled with nori and sesame seeds, and a cucumber-ginger salad, while the lighter salmon box trades the sweet potatoes for edamame.
Beef ochazuke ($7.75) is a refreshing green-tea soup poured over brown rice. Thai chicken curry ($8.50) is another delicious bet. Wash it all down with one of the many flavors of tea or an addictive ginger limeade ($2). Not all menu items are available at every Teaism; the Penn Quarter location has the most expansive menu.
Open Monday through Friday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Saturday and Sunday for brunch and dinner.
>> See all Dirt Cheap Eats Restaurants
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
