Review: Umami Amsterdam

After a long afternoon shopping in Amsterdam, I went to this delicate restaurant called.. Umami! It's an All-in Asian Cuisine at the Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 161 and it was a fair price of €25,- per person excluding drinks.

Front View

At the entrance (source)

At the inside (source)

My boyfriend and I were kindly welcomed at the entrance of the restaurant and right after that they guided us to our table. The interior is very decent and modern which gave us an elegant atmosphere. We were sitting at a comfy bench where the waiter was explaining us the concept. As a starter we got two pieces of star anise garlic buns combined with a sauce containing Chinese bean paste with garlic oil. I must say it's very good for just something so simple!

And then, how does it work? There are four courses and per person you may choose two dishes per course. Do you get it? haha and it's for you to decide the amount of courses during the arrangement of 2,5 hours. To ensure the quality, every dish will be served separately when preparations are met. Now I will show you our choices per course! I hope you're not watching this with an empty stomach so be prepared! ;)

Course 1:

Mint Tea

UMAMI Sushi Mix

Chuka Wakame 

Prawn Tempura w/ Chilli Mayonnaise

Blackbean Salmon w/ Mint Gel

We wanted to start with light dishes because we didn't want to get full after the first course. The meal that stood out in the first course was the Prawn Tempura. The prawn is thicker and very crispy than the prawns in other restaurants I have been too. 

The Chuka Wakame and the UMAMI Sushi Mix were good but nothing any other than that. The UMAMI Sushi Mix consisted of a variety of maki and nigiri sushi. I liked the sauce of the Blackbean Salmon but the salmon was served nearly cooled down. So, you could say that the Blackbean Salmon was the least favorite. Let's continue to the second course!

Course 2:

Orange Chicken

 Honey Pork

Soy Mussels

Panko Scallops

All these dishes were very delicious except the mussels because it got cold quickly and it was a bit watery. The other dishes were sublime. The orange chicken was really good and crispy, the orange sauce was the finishing touch. The Honey Pork was luckily not too sweet, it was just right. The Panko Scallops had a crispy upside and the dish contained scallops with mashed turnip-rooted celery, garlic and oyster sauce. I thought the sauce had a good flavor but it was too greasy for me. Overall a great course. Finally the third course and final course because we were already stuffed at the end of the third course.

Course 3:

 Spicy Wrap

Beijing Duck 

 Crunchy Fish

Lamb Racks

The spicy wrap wasn't as I expected to be. It's a wrap stuffed with mild spicy cream cheese and duck. The cream cheese was overbearing the wrap and the duck looked like raw tuna when I first checked. I thought the Beijing Duck was pretty well prepared because of the crunchiness and the sweet & sour sauce. The Crunchy Fish is a white fish that's crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. At last, the Lamb Racks were soft and tender. 

Dessert:

Red Bean Coco 

Choco Brownie

Finally, la grande finale: our desserts! I ordered the Choco Brownie and my boyfriend ordered the Red Bean Coco. The menu said I would get a choco brownie with bastogne parfait. I expected to get a chocolate brownie with bastogne parfait but with lots of chocolate like a chocolate swimming pool where I would get chocolate WASTED! But as you can see it's not. Oh well.. and my boyfriend really liked his dish. He said that if you mixed all the flavours together that it is actually a great dessert but the letdown is that both of these desserts were €5,- separately unfortunately. 

So altogether those were great dishes and I'm pointing out to the sauces on each dish because it played a major role to the dish. Even though there were a few dishes I didn't appreciate as much as the other dishes, I still enjoyed my dinner at Umami. 

Umami Restaurant Amsterdam

© Photo's: Jonathan Vicente

Lots of love,

Luisa Marie

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