Not even a decade ago, a headcount of Japanese restaurants in Glasgow would have struggled to reach double digits. Jump to today and numbers have soared, both to meet demand from the many East Asian students studying here as well as the burgeoning appetite across the city for Japanese cuisine. Now, the dishes are more familiar, the set-ups less formal, and everyone loves ramen: Umami slots in nicely.

Well-located at Charing Cross (before the West End really kicks in), there’s nothing similar nearby. And it’s very much a ‘front room’ experience, with open-plan kitchen, Japanese bunting and lots of vertical wooden slats. It’s a narrow little space, but the menu goes wide with everything from karaage to tempura to ramen to sushi. The kushiyaki (skewered and grilled) is notable: there’s mushroom, there’s short rib, there’s glistening shreds of lamb with controlled fattiness giving way to the warming prickle of crushed peppercorn. Everything tastes clean and fresh and crisp. Soft shell crab is brisk, the batter solidly taking on the soy, while vegetable yakisoba is the epitome of light umami: just sweet enough, just glossy enough, just savoury enough. Fried chicken wings fall a tad short though: small and dry, they miss the layers of flavour the kushiyaki approach could have given them. 

If it feels like a restaurant menu, in demeanour it sits more closely to a café, with the kitchen staff stepping out to joke and chat with customers, giving the place a bit of neighbourhood energy. Going to Umami will never feel like a big deal; that’s fine, it’s not meant to be. It’s a place that you pop into, all very chill, all very casual, and mostly very tasty. 

Umami, 523 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow; average cost for skewers and sushi £19.