Umami, City

Umami

Umami is a small Japanese eatery located on Bathurst Street in the City. It sits about 15 people and has a tiny open kitchen with 2 chefs. It was recommended by our good friend CCC. The menu has 4 pages, the first page was a lunch menu, and he rest are for dinner. Prices are good, if my memory serve me right, there are only a couple of dishes are over $16, most of them around $9 - $15. Can drinks are around $3 per can. I love trying new things, so I ordered a can of blueberry aloe drink. Not too bad, artificial as I expected. But it was not fully chilled, maybe they had just load it in the fridge not long ago.

The tiny open kitchen, A very IKEA looking dining area, Menu

Blueberry aloe drink by Pokka

I ordered the tempura bento box ($15.50). All the bento boxes are served with salad, miso soup, rice, agedashi tofu and mixed croquettes. The mild miso soup was served in a soba dipping sauce bowl, rather than the traditional miso soup bowl. The salad was dressed with a tangy soy dressing, it was good and refreshing. The were 3 pieces of croquettes drizzled with mayonnaise, 2 pieces of triangular fish croquettes and 1 prawn croquette. The fish croquettes tasted a bit like the fish fingers sold in the freezer section at the supermarket. The prawn croquette was very crunchy and tasty, but the prawn itself was actually quite small in size. The agedashi tofu was barely warm instead of piping hot as the others, but the tofu was silkily smooth and the sauce was sweet and delicious. The green onions on top of the tofu helped to add a mild spicy flavour to the sauce.

Miso Soup

Tempura Bento - agedashi tofu, mixed croquettes, salad, rice, mixed tempura and the sweet soy dipping sauce.

Fish croquette

The mixed tempura included 2 pieces of prawn, 2 pieces of pumpkin and 1 piece of eggplant. The were golden and crispy. The prawn was average, it was the pumpkin that caught my heart. A thin slice of soft and sweet pumpkin covered with a light and crispy coating. It was subtle and tasty.

Tempura pumpkin

Umami was a little busy eatery, especially for take away, there were people coming in constantly for take away. As a Korean operated Japanese eatery, the food is simple and basic, yet good enough for your tastebuds. With the lower price tag compare to other places, no wonder it is a litle gem for city workers to get their lunch fix. Most items in the lunch menu are inbetween $10 - $12.

By Darjeeling

Whilst Darjeeling had the tempura bento, I opted for the teriyaki chicken bento ($14.50).

Calpis Water

The teriyaki chicken bento came with agedashi tofu, mixed croquettes, salad, rice and miso soup. The tofu as Darjeeling has mentioned was disappointingly not pipping hot, although the sauce which came with it made up for the lack in temperature. The prawn croquette cracked me up because you could taste the prawn in your mouth but you could not see it through the bread crumbs.

Teriyaki Chicken Bento

Close up of Teriyaki Chicken

The teriyaki chicken tasted more like soy sauce chicken than teriyaki; the chicken were average but the onions were tasty. As I struggled to finish my bento box I have secretly decided to come back to sample the rest of their menu.

Umami

Shop 112, 73 Bathurst Street

Sydney NSW 2000