Image: Spud sandwich.
Last Updated: June 2025
Overview:
The team behind the brilliant Daru opened Tapori a few blocks away. At Tapori, they apply their creative approach to street food with additional emphasis on the cocktail program. It is worth a trip to sample the goods, and if you live in the neighborhood, congratulations. You have a new favorite spot.
The culinary sources stretch across India and into Nepal. Winners on our trip included wagyu dumplings in a slurp-worthy broth drawing on Nepal, the Vada Pav of spicy whipped potatoes formed into a crispy ball and served with mint chutney on a fluffy roll, and the Tapori naan layered with nuts and served flat. The dosa is designed to make an impression on delivery and reflects an intense dedication to getting their version right, including, according to an Eater interview, “soaking the lentils and rice for at least four hours and cleaning the grains 10 to 12 times is repeated twice before they are ground up in a specially-ordered, massive dosa grinder from India, which they converted themselves to work with an American power grid.” The menu is divided between different categories of cooking, whether style like tandoori, source like Nepal, or type like snacks. What it lacks in logical consistency it makes up for in fun.
To build the menu and eventually staff the kitchen Daru’s Suresh Sundas teamed up with Nepalese chef Baburam Sharma. They workshopped the ideas online and thousands of miles away. Eventually Sharma made it to the States, landed and immediately started cooking. Two days later the spot opened.
The cocktail program at Daru was always inventive under Dante Datta, at Tapori it moves to equal footing with the food. Tapori is a place to gather with a large bar and a large communal table (in addition to other kinds of tables, fear not). Beer and wine selections are less robust, but no less thoughtful.
While H Street has suffered some losses, there are also stalwarts that manage to expand and sustain the vibrancy. Maybe one day it will reach critical mass and be an area that sustains businesses, but for now it is individual places that are injecting the energy.
Other Guidance: The restaurant is located at street level. The atmosphere is casual, but adding to the pizzazz would not be out of place. V can do well, GF might have to hunt a little around all the carbs.
Summary:
Cuisine: Indian
Neighborhood: H Street
Address: 600 H St NE Suite E, Washington, DC 20002
Website: https://www.taporidc.com/
Reservations: Resy
Other Critics/Voices:
Washington Post: Twenty best new restaurants Spring 2025.
Washingtonian: Preview