Umami Don — Restaurant in Funchal

The wife and I had a craving for Japanese food and this place was only a 3 minute walk from the Madeira hotel where we stayed, so not bad really 😀

We where greeted at the entrance and was shown to a small table in the outdoor seating area.

We both absolutely love sushi style dishes and do seem to end up tracking down a restaurant like Umami Don on almost every holiday, and this place did not disappoint.

We did get a little carried away as it was only supposed to be a light lunch but every item was lovingly put together, was extremely fresh and ended up being difficult not to order.

We had 9 mixed sashimi, 4 spicy tuna and mango sushi, 2 pork belly boa buns, 2 chicken boa buns and 6 hot prawn sushi (imagine deep fried spring rolls for that one). Like I say, a bit over the top but flipping epic.

All washed down with beer and Saki which totalled 50 euros, which is about £25pp which I didn’t think was bad at all considering the amount of food and the quality.

The only thing I missed off the photos was the chicken boa buns, which to be honest was like the freshest, fluffiest, most delicious KFC style chicken sub you have ever had. I’m actually thinking of coming back here after tonight’s sesh to get them to munch on in the hotel room!! 🍺🍺

If you’re not big eaters then be weary of the buns as they are quite...

If you like real Asian or Japanese food, this is probably not your thing. Our starter (Korokke) was served freezed from the inside. This can happen ofc, but no sorry at all from the waitress. The bao-bun had nice karage on it but was overloaded with mayo and had only this taste. The ramen (we chose kimchi and fried tonkatsu) was so salty and tasteless that we both didnt finsh it. When asked for something to make the dish a little more spicey or tastefull we got some Siracha sauce, which they charged us extra for in the end. At the end the waitress asked if we liked the food and as I told her that it was not so very good, she told me she doesn’t like our chosen ramen herself “but some people like it” and we where better of choosing something else from her menu. I was left astonished with this. Maybe they have good sushi here idk, but for us...

Starters were ok. We had spring rolls (simple and alright) and shrimp baos (too much mayo, it shadowed the shrimps, but overall, ok).

Ramen was, unfortunately, quite bad. The broth lacks a huge amount of taste. It should, by way, way thicker. Just pak choi, no other veg/shroom ingredients. All meat ingredients were really overcooked and lacked spices. Chashu was dry and tasteless. Ground meat (in Tantanmen) was dry, too. Fried panko-like chicken (curry ramen) was quite tasty, but also on the dryer side.

The restaurant looks good and the service is fine. Looking at the reviews, I assume that other dishes are better. Ramen might be the weak point, and I wouldn't recommend ordering it. Hopefully, they'll work on the recipe and the way...