Harumama: Sushi and So Much More

I do love Asian food, so when I heard about Harumama several months ago, I got excited.  It took me a while to get there, but it was worth it.  Harumama is a mix of sushi, baos, noodles and bowls.  It is so good.  They have two locations, one in San Diego, the other on Madison St. in old Carlsbad.  I visited the Carlsbad location.

The restaurant itself is spacious inside and very comfortable.  I sat outside on the covered patio, right near a table where they put all the food ready to serve, so I got to see everything.  The menu has the typical offerings, like Krab wontons, fried rice, potstickers and sushi.  But it is much, much more.  They are known for their character baos.  These are order (2 per order) of steamed buns filled with red bean, beef, pig, nutella, chicken or custard.  They are decorated to look like Snoopy and other well known characters.  Very cute.  They also have bao bao's, which I especially liked.  They take a bao, split it in half, and fold it to look like a taco, then fill it with deliciousness.  Pork sausage, duck, crispy shrimp, fried eggplant.  There are lots of interesting flavor on top, like taro chips and pickled cucumbers or onions.  The noodles, although I didn't sample them, looked delicious.  Vegetable, beef brisket and truffle are just a few of the noodle dishes.

As if this weren't enough, they also have fresh made every day ramen broth.  /vegetable, chicken or beef broth, with maybe a dozen add ons to make this one delicious meal:  noodles, poached egg, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, kale, etc.  Bowls are also available, like poke bowls with salmon or ahi tuna or more traditional chicken bowls with rice.

The coup de grace is dessert.  They have the Japanese shaved ice (looks like snowflakes) filling up the middle of a plate, with fruit surrounding the snowflakes.  It is unique and delicious.

Harumama is a wonderful place to try with a group.  That way, you can share everything and enjoy many delicious flavors.  Enjoy.