Umai - Tonkotsu Darkness Ramen & Tempura Seafood Roll

 A new restaurant opened near where I worked. Umai, a Japanese Cuisine 😍 

I tried it on two different occasions.

They got seven options for ramen. A colleague recommended Tonkotsu ramen. So I got Tonkotsu Darkness, which only differ by the addition of black garlic oil. 

Price: 13.95 euro

Wait time: under 10 mins

Looks delicious 😋

First taste, the soup. Oh my, so creamy and salty. There's a sweet nutty aftertaste. Then the noodle. So soft, my teeth cut it like butter. The noodle doesn't grasp on some of the soup flavor. The soy bamboo, beansprouts, and scallions add to the flavor and texture. The thing that looks like fried onions weren't noticeable in each bite. From the first impression, there aren't a lot of pork chashu. Actually, there were several. From what I remember at least six pieces with varying thickness. The Pak choi amount seem pitiful when compared to it, just three. 

Overall, it's a comfort food. Not something I would crave when compared to my love for spicy instant ramen.

Later, I checked their website for ingredients and noted there was supposed to be seasoned egg. There was no fried onion. And it cost 1 euro more online.

Price: 9.45 euro for four

Wait time: over 20 mins

Option: 4 pieces or 8 pieces

Under the signature futomaki menu, tempura seafood roll caught my eye as I like salmon. The seafood in this is salmon, tuna, and crabmeat. 

From the sight, it looked like a lot going on. I assume the orange bits on top is the orange masago mentioned in the ingredients. The sauce was never mentioned. It does add a nice touch to the flavour. As stated, the batter was very light. Only one sushi piece was slightly crunchy at one corner. The rest are like standard sushi. The rice is perfect in texture and flavour. Asparagus give it a nice crunch factor. Didn't have time to identify the tuna or crabmeat.  Salmon stood out due to its size, softness and flavour. Didn't use the wasabi provided. Can never get used to that taste.

For me, a twenty something wait time is too long for someone with only thirty minutes break. Still, the time taken is understandable. They made it from scratch and got to deep-fry it when it was lunch rush time. I had six minutes left to eat and get back. Thankfully, I got a small portion. 

There are few things I want to try on their menu; Umai fish cake, king prawn tempura, crispy monkfish roll, seafood miso ramen, etc.