. . "1"^^ . "3"^^ . "3"^^ . "2016-01-14T00:00:00"^^ . . "Now that there are two ramen places in Madison, I feel it's imperative that the two be compared. This review hopes to answer any questions you might have in deciding whether to go here, Umami, or its competition, Ramen Kid. To test consistently, I ordered a classical Japanese ramen meal - pan-fried pork gyoza and tonkatsu ramen - at both places. \n\nFirst thing, Umami is pretty. I love the decor, and the bar is really nice. In fact, a lot of people were there for drinks instead of food. But when it comes to food, I am relatively unimpressed with it. Their gyoza was done well, better than at Ramen Kid. The skin was perfectly crisp, and I loved the sauce that came with it (I got the sweet vinegar sauce). However, the ramen itself was not so great. I think they were going for an oilier ramen concept, because the pork slices were quite fatty (which did mean that they were quite tender) and the broth was really heavy. But it was not as properly savory as I would have liked, and not as savory as the ramen at Ramen Kid. Their ramen came with half of a soft-boiled egg, bamboo shoots, and nori. The restaurant also claims that they make their own noodles. That may be so, but that doesn't really excuse you from cooking your noodles through - there was a visible core of uncooked dough in each noodle, which made it taste doughy and chewy*. Finally, I distinctly noticed that there were temperature differences between the broth, pork slices, and bamboo shoots, which makes me suspect that they assembled the dish in a hurry and hadn't properly heated/let the ingredients sit together and equilibrate.\n\nIt seems that Umami does everything else besides ramen well, so you might want to come here if you're looking for, say, buns or a drink. Go to Ramen Kid if you want just ramen.\n\n*NB: my Chinese grandmother taught me that you check when Asian noodles are cooked by looking at the ends. Take them out as soon as you can't see any opaque white dough, when the end looks just translucent. Whoever makes Umami's noodles, take note!"^^ . "10"^^ .