Noonchi — Restaurant in Arlington

Dim sum, drinks, and mahjong. Classy meets cool at this new speakeasy cocktail bar.

FOODS: Turnip Cake: This is the crispiest, most delicious turnip cake I have ever tried. PERIOD. Perfect savory blend with Chinese sausage and shrimp.

Siu Mai: Tasty, dense flavors of umami from the filling: shitake mushroom, shrimp and pork. All bundled up in an egg wrapper.

Popcorn Chicken: Well seasoned, with a great crunch

Siu Yuk: Crispy pork belly, with an amazing smokiness. Slices are a little thick, but overall still good

Hao Gao: Wrapping is delicate (handle with care!), good portion of shrimp, strong ginger flavor

Mango Pudding: Silky and smooth, just the right amount of sweetness.

DRINKS: Hot Sparrow Cider - Warm mulled cidery goodness, aromatic and sweet

Milk Punch: Creamy, strong, very unique cocktail

STAFF: The staff were very helpful and kind with making food and drink recommendations. They came over several times to check on us, very attentive! All staff were wearing masks.

AMBIANCE: Asian speakeasy ambiance, chill music, nicely decorated. Each side of the bar has so many cool décor/things to look at. Three mahjong tables are available for free play, with instructions and guide sheets at each table. Only drinks are allowed at the mahjong tables.

I will...

This place is magical, and easily my new favorite place in the entire D.C. area.

Sparrow Room is a mahjong parlor and speakeasy-style dim sum bar in Crystal City. The vibe is very, very elegant - the kind of place you'd expect to see in a Wong Kar-Wai movie, in some shady street in Hong Kong or Singapore or something. Despite it being fairly centrally located, it's in a quiet little corner, so it feels more private than it is.

The drinks here are absolutely superb. The Lychee Pearl is a nice light drink that I think everyone would like, but the real star is the Red Dragon's Tail that mixes some spice with anise. The Sparrow Sour and South Wind Spritz are also good and worth a try.

In terms of food, the offerings aren't voluminous, but they're really solid. I tried the Salt Fish Eggplant, which was a nice little pick-me-up given all of the drinking. It reminds me of a lot of the authentic food I've tried in legit Asian dives in Hong Kong/Singapore/Shanghai, which is a good sign.

That said, the real fun here is the mahjong. I tried a mahjong class here, which was a blast - the class went by fast, everyone in my group learned quickly, and we had an absolute blast. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't try it...

We ordered the beef kimbap, kimchi jjigae, and ddeokbokki to go (got it delivered via Uber Eats). I'm not sure how to describe our food except to say that nothing was quite right. The kimbap was fine but it's hard to mess up kimbap. The ddeokbokki was salty and tasted like it didn't have any sugar or possibly any gochujang in it at all. It didn't taste bad at first but eventually became too salty to finish. I definitely wouldn't call it ddeokbokki (and neither would my Korean husband). The kimchi jjigae was fine and was definitely in the realm of kimchi jjigae but still not quite what I was expecting--it tasted like the kimchi they used wasn't sour enough and the broth was an unusual color. The rice I got with the kimchi jjigae was way undercooked and I ended up just throwing it out. Bizarre experience and I can't say I recommend this if you're looking for Korean food. Maybe their drinks are better, idk.

Editing to say the photos make this look like a Chinese restaurant.... If that's the case, maybe that explains the weird variations on Korean food, but I'm very confused. The delivery menu was entirely Korean, and I'd assume any restaurant called "Noonchi" was Korean. It's a restaurant having an identity...