Before dismissing Uma Uma Ramen as yet another Japanese noodle house, take a closer look at the other door by the entrance. It snakes down into The Horse’s Mouth, a sleek basement bar lit by boxy paper lanterns and peppered with quirky objets d’art, such as a hanging origami display.
The concoctions are just as classy and relatively spirit-forward, a style that stems from the bar staff’s training in Japanese techniques. Most drinks are crafted to showcase various Nihon ingredients and, of course, sake exclusive to The Horse’s Mouth. This isn’t to say that accountant-turned-bar manager Guo Jun Guang doesn’t get to flex his creative muscles: he even uses wagyu beef trimmings from Kaiseki Yoshiyuki next door to fatwash cocktails. Uma Uma Ramen also contributes bowls of ramen to the food menu, which offers decent dinner options.