Mami Umami: Where East meets West

As soon as you enter, the just-right dim-lit interiors hit you with a style. Refurbished and newly opened at the 23rd floor of Renaissance Downtown Dubai, Mami Umami is a blend of all things fine and dine.

Serving dishes with a blend of Japanese and Latin American tastes, the menu is broken down into 10 parts for novices and connoisseurs to choose well from. What I particularly liked about the dishes was the simplicity and 'you eat what you see'.

For starters, we began with a crispy salmon taco, calamari spinach salad and edamame, of course. Each dish was simple, yet flavourful in its own right. For instance, salsa in the taco could not overpower the taste of raw salmon, which is so unique to a maki. Similarly, the spinach salad, which we opted without the calamari, was fruity and nutty because of the parmesan cheese.    

Next, we opted for a maki platter, which was totally Japanese, so no surprises here. Next came the chargrilled prawns on a bed of hot stone fry rice. The smoky flavour of the prawns and the rice full of veggies was crisper than the traditional fried rice and blended so well together. Crunch 101. If you are looking for more chargrilled options here, ask for Brocolini. It's a simple broccoli dish flavoured by just garlic and ginger but it's a mouthful of health and taste. I am not a broccoli person but I smacked off the dish. So, there you go.

As exhaustive as the food list is, the desserts just stop at short of five. Which means we tried 50% of the sweet wasabi. My advice - save space for the Tokyo Tiramisu and S'more. Like it said - The end is just the beginning. This was my beginning to consider the place for the second time.

The concept is great, mixing the Japanese dishes, technique and flair with those of Latin America. However, I would like to see this place throw up some Mexican dishes like Burritos, Enchiladas, Fajitas mixed with the Oriental technique.