Umami Hambaagu House

The Japanese have been known to coming up with quite unconventional creations. Whether its something high tech, adorably cute or as they say "kawaii," or weirdly quirky, they definitely know how to put a spin on things. So what happens when you take something so American like hamburger and put a Japanese twist to it? You get Umami Hambaagu House! 

While most Japanese restaurants have traditional interiors of light wood everything, paper lanterns and Japanese characters on their walls, Umami's interior design takes inspiration from the colorful and fun Japanese pop culture.

There are several television sets in the restaurant showing anime and hilarious Japanese game shows (a.k.a batsu game) to keep you entertained while waiting for your food. Just be sure not to watch and drink at the same time because you might accidentally spit water on whoever you're with from laughing. 

In keeping with the theme of all things kawaii, even the kids plate on their menu were so cute! I don't even know how you could eat adorable dolphin and bunny-shaped rice.

Speaking of food, there's a very simple chart on their wall showing the difference between a Western and a Japanese Hamburger. For a Western burger, it has a bun and the beef is seasoned with salt. For a Japanese burger, it's served with rice and the meat is a mixture of beef and pork seasoned with Kikkoman soy sauce. 

This place is so cool even the seasonings are legit Japanese. You won't be seeing any Heinz ketchup here.

So, on to the food. We started our dinner with some corn soup. If you've ever ordered corn soup in a restaurant and felt cheated on because you basically paid a significant amount of money for what tastes like instant, powdered corn soup, then you won't be disappointed with this one. This soup tastes so fresh and you can literally bite into corn kernels. 

Each hamburger set comes with edamame, rice, cabbage, thick cut fries, and your choice of burger which comes in so many various flavors.

It was my first time eating edamame (which is young soy beans) and it's so yummy and fun to eat. So for those of you who have never tried it, it basically comes in pods. You pop the beans out and only eat the beans.

I ordered the Takeshi's Castle which has bonito flakes (super thin salmon flakes which you also usually find on top of takoyaki), sea weed, bbq sauce and Japanese mayo. 

First off, how can I not order this? Aside from being a bestseller, it pretty much has every Japanese ingredient that I love. The sea weed literally got me sold. 

Underneath this mountain of melt-in-your-mouth salty goodness of bonito flakes is a burger patty. A huge burger patty, might I add. It's actually bigger than the usual patties in American burgers. It so tender and moist, meat juice comes out of it every time you cut into it. The sweet and salty combo of the barbecue sauce and Japanese mayo makes for the perfect sauce and the sea weed gives it that unique Japanese flavor (and quite frankly just makes me very happy). This dish is just so well thought of, it is the perfect fusion of Japanese and American flavors. 

My boyfriend Martin and his sister Gianina got the Maison du Japon which has melted gruyere and mozarella with caramelized onions. I was such in a dilemma whether I was going to order this or the Takeshi's Castle because if you know me, you know that I love cheese. I am obsessed with cheese. I will probably eat anything as long as it is covered in cheese. Seeing the words "melted gruyere and mozarella" got me so excited but since Martin was already getting this, I figured I'll just take a bite from his plate (which means I stripped off most of the cheese from his burger). It is seriously a cheeseburger on a whole other level. 

Martin's brother, Adi, got the Battousai which has roasted tomatoes and bell pepper cream sauce. Since the patty is so rich and savory, the freshness of the tomatoes and bell peppers is a great flavor contrast. Speaking of vegetables, the crisp cabbage with sesame sauce is unlimited so you can have as much as you want. And trust me, you will ask for more. 

As if all that food wasn't enough, we decided to end a sweet note so we tried their Deconstructed Tiramisu. This definitely gets a 10/10 for presentation. In a traditional Tiramisu, lady fingers are dipped in espresso and layered on top of each other with mascarpone cheese. For the Umami version, coffee is slow-dripped over the tiramisu layers and ice cream. 

They say good things come to those who wait and though we had to wait for all the coffee to drip, our patience definitely paid off. Each spoonful of this dessert was a party of different flavors, textures, and temperatures. It was so freaking good!

By the time we got our bill, we were joking "So, should we break the glass now?" The quirkiness in this place just never ends.

And because the food in Umami is so good (amazing, even), you'll probably be eating a little too much. Don't worry, they got your back.