Join us at Umai Ramen & Rice Bowl - 2025 Best of NOVA Winner!

Join us for a delightful dining experience at the Tyson's location of Umai Ramen & Rice Bowl, the 2025 Best of NOVA winner in the ramen category!

From Northern Virginia Magazine:

The popular Herndon location now has a larger sister restaurant in Tysons. Umai offers popular Japanese dishes that its Thai chefs, Preeyaporn Aroonchokthawon and Sirinda Liwlompaisan, infuse with Southeast Asian flavors like coconut milk and lemongrass. Umai specializes in noodles bowls, from Japanese ramen to Thai khao soi and tom yum.

And there are few stronger desires in my gustatory existence than for Japanese curry. Part of the appeal is the dish’s circuitous story. We all know that the British became enchanted with curry in India, but the part of the tale that’s less well-known is that curry had to travel from Asia to England, back to Asia to get to Japan. According to the story, British sailors brought their thick, Euro-style curry to Japan in the late 19th century. The Japanese Imperial Navy made it a part of its diet too, and eventually it made its way to civilians.

My curry came to the table in its own cup, not on top of the fried pork cutlet. The pork itself was crisp outside and enviably adipose within. Good katsu is important, but when tasting katsu kare, it’s all about the curry. This one, speckled with soft carrots and onions, had the right texture of rich gravy (after all, Japanese curry is a roux-based sauce), but even better, the spice level hit the right mark. Often, restaurant curries have little spice at all. When I make my curry at home, I always use the extra-hot package, and the recipe at Umai matches the (still pretty light) burn.

Check out the menu here

WAITLIST:
Meetup does not allow a waitlist for paid events. If this event fills and you are interested in adding your name to the waitlist, please send host a message through the app.

** The non-refundable registration fee helps us share the cost associated with the Meet-Up platform ($360/yr) and reduces the likelihood of no-shows, allowing us to better plan our events and accommodate all participants. Thanks in advance for your understanding!**

To enhance the opportunity for great conversation, we would like to keep the group small. Please feel free to sign-up to meet us along with up to 2 friends.

In the future, we will vary the days of the week, geography and the cost of restaurants so that we can attract many different types of diners.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE COMMITTED TO GO WHEN YOU RSVP FOR THIS EVENT. In the event our group incurs a fee for no-shows / late cancellations, your ability to RSVP for future events will be restricted. Thank you in advance for your understanding.Feel free to make suggestions for future meet locations. All diners will have their own tab to avoid any confusion.

If you are unable to join us in July, we hope you'll stay interested and join us for a meal in the future. Looking forward to dining with you at Umai Ramen & Rice Bowl!