Umame Launch

Churchgate has not been very kind to new restaurant ventures, so I was a little apprehensive when I accepted an invite to the launch of Umame, the new Farrokh Khambata restaurant set to replace Valhalla which in turn replaced Starters & More (one can see the remains of Chez Vous below it)

Khambata previously ran Joss which was quite popular but has now shuttered, so it was hardly surprising that Umame has a Pan Asian menu, Joss loyalists will not be disappointed. The space is adequate, the décor reminds one of Amadeus (also a Khambata property) there is also a lounge area separated from the restaurant and a small patio area for smokers.

The menu is not very expansive but offers a variety of options sushi, dim sum, appetizers, Chinese & Thai main courses in both veg/non-veg. The shortened menu is a trend i have been catching more and more and its great to see restaurants try and do a fewer dishes and do them well (contrast with China Gardens gargantuan tome.. but we do not speak ill of China Garden)

The Mojito was on the money, good start. Not a fan of the glasses though.

The bloody mary was even better ! Pity i was driving.

The Dim Sum's were not too bad, i don't recall the names of em all but i remember one being excellent and the other being not so bad.


This one was the winner - Char Grilled burnt pepper mushroom with holy basil cream, i think this one is from Amadeus.. just brilliant. could not get enough.

The sushi was all right, i enjoyed the little twist of the carrot tempura with spicy sauce and the gheisa rolls with Jalapenos cream were pretty good too.

The pan grilled potatoes in thai spices were not bad.

The silken tofu with cashew, again, no complaints at all.Very familiar ground for a Chindian diner.

The palm hearts and asparagus salad was pretty good, The noodles with the mushrooms were excellent, The second tofu main i did not like it at all.Avoidable. The water chestnut steaks in thai sambhal were extremely weird, they tasted pastaesque but tasted great.

The best thing however on the menu was the green curry ! fantastic, i would love to see what they can do with Red (Thai Pavilion is king of that particular hill)

The desserts, were fantastic. Not a single mis-step here, the rum and coke ice-cream was probably the best. For a Pan-Asian restaurant to do desserts like this is quite rare.

Overall, the space is interesting, Pan-Asian is a very competitive space but Umame seem to have the offering down right. Most of the dishes are pretty good, the desserts & cocktails are also top notch, hopefully they can keep the standards up. Worth a look.