A cool, cloudy (and even a little rainy) spring day… where is the best place to fan the flames of our love with a date night? Ramen of course! Umaichi Ramen.

Set in the corner of a strip mall, it doesn’t seem like much from the outside, but the inside is a clean and modern industrial interior. The large chalkboard wall on one side colorfully lists some of their menu favorites to give patrons of a taste of what they offer.

We opted for a couple of starters: cha-su pork bun and the signature kurobuta pork sausage. The pork bun, I was initially a bit sad, only comes with one slice of pork: but it is flavorful! The balance of flavors and textures (with a nice crisp lightly pickled cucumber and the spongey bun) was a delight. The pork sausage had a nice snap and was served with a hoisin sauce as well as a dab of hot mustard, which made for a tasty flavor component.

The Husband and I decided to each try a different style of ramen (for science!): I ordered the shoyu style ramen, and he got the Umaichi tonkotsu pork ramen (double pork, since this not only comes with cha-su but also a piece of their korobuta sausage as well!). The shoyu broth was flavorful, but not heavy, and the noodles were cooked very well and stood up nicely to the toppings (which included boiled egg, spinach, bean sprouts, nori, bamboo, and BBQ pork). I did add a bit of chili oil to the broth partway through the meal, which also added another nice dimension. The tonkotsu had a meaty and savory flavor, and we loved the sausage! There is a wide array of ramen options, including spicy flavors as well as vegetarian! 

For dessert, we decided to try the much raved about honey toast. It comes with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, but we upgraded one scoop to the black sesame. While this dish certainly wasn’t “bad”, I felt it overwhelmingly sweet with the honey drizzle and the ice cream. Without knowing what “honey toast” is, I was perhaps expecting a sweet bread pudding or even a french toast type of dessert. The sesame ice cream was very tasty with a nice, slightly nutty flavor. I would happily recommend a scoop of this ice cream for dessert!

Overall, I found the service to be smooth and relatively attentive, and the food was flavorful with thoughtful and unique offerings that both were familiar but with their own slightly unique twists. I await more cloudy (or even sunny!) afternoons so that I can return once again!