Umai: Japanese Restaurant in Italian Neighborhood
Food Stop: Umai: Japanese Restaurant
Address: 2330 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, NY 10458
Telephone: 718-933-3268
"The bustling streets of Arthur Avenue"
Among the bustling streets of Arthur Avenue, with meat markets, cannolis, and pasta on every corner, the Italian aura envelopes you the second you set foot there. Considered the Little Italy of the Bronx, you can only figure that the majority of the people walking the streets of Arthur Avenue are Italian Americans. Visiting this neighborhood with the rest of the group always means a delicious new discovery for us, whether it is Margherita pizza or cannolis, which I tasted here for the first time. Every food shop we passed, whether it was a deli, a restaurant or a bakery was ethnically-bound to the people of the community. So among the peak of Italian culture and pride, between Cigars & Lounge and Kosovo Commerce Deli when Rav and I noticed Umai, we couldn’t resist stepping inside to find out what they had to offer this neighborhood.
Just as the atmosphere on the streets screamed Italian, entering Umai: Japanese Restaurant, immediately gave a sense of serenity and peace, qualities often associated with traditional Asian culture.
"Japanese Restaurant Take-Out Menu"
From the table setting to the utensils to the waitress’ uniforms, everything we noticed told us that we were in Japanese surroundings. Greeted by a young woman in a red kimono and chopsticks in her hair, we were led to a table right next to an Italian family eating their dishes with the provided chopsticks, some successfully, some rather unsuccessfully. We couldn’t help but observe the minor details of the restaurant: the dimmed light, the soothing Japanese music playing just loud enough to appreciate, the Japanese quince flowers on the walls, and the kitchen door separated by a simple red curtain with a Japanese fan above the doorway.
While in the other restaurants in the neighborhood, we noticed that the atmosphere told people to be very social and to talk amongst themselves as they ate, the ambiance in Umai caused people to instinctively speak in lower tones or concentrate more on the food in front of them. From this small observation, I was able to visualize what a traditional family dinner was like in the two distinct cultures. As we flipped through the menu, other than the fact that the dishes had reasonable prices, another thing I noticed was that none of the food listed had any Italian tint to them—this may seem like an obvious fact to everyone, but in such a heavily Italian neighborhood, I expected to see a little added Italian flavor, some sort of fusion, in the served dishes but I guess the owner decided to preserve the Japanese culture here to its entirety—all of the waiters/workers here were Japanese, as well!
"Vegetable Tempura"
Finally, the food! Rav and I ordered the Vegetable Gyoza (pan fried Japanese dumplings), the Vegetable Tempura (deep fried vegetables) with Brown Rice and a green salad with ginger dressing. I’d have to say, despite this being my first time trying Japanese food I was very satisfied. The Gyoza was served with a sauce that complimented the food so well (I forgot to ask what is was, though).
"Vegetable Gyoza"
The Vegetable Tempura was tasty, but not something I would call mouth-wateringly good. I found the green salad to be the most interesting because of the dressing; though it was just an ordinary salad, the ginger dressing gave the food a zesty taste, giving me a completely different and unique idea of what a salad should taste like. Lastly, we finished up our lunch with some green tea ice cream.
We noticed that a good number of the dishes were deep-fried, but for them to actually serve us ice cream with Oreo Tempura (fried Oreos) was not expected. Rav instantly fell in love with them after trying them for the first time, but I thought the green tea ice cream was much more delightful.
"Rav trying an Oreo Tempura for the first time in Umai!"
Before leaving the restaurant, I asked the waiter what it was like for a Japanese restaurant to survive in the midst of an all-Italian community and her only response was that “it is definitely hard” for them but there is still a lot of curious customers, “majority of who are Caucasian.” At the end of our day, we had a wonderful experience here and we definitely will be returning a second time with more friends. If you ever want to visit Arthur Avenue for a bite, you can always try out the Italian restaurants, but for a different kind of “delicious,” Umai is definitely a great choice.
