If the rain and wind have been getting you down, it might be time to get yourself a big bowl of steaming hot ramen — and maybe a few dumplings or a sushi roll while you’re at it. AME Thai Japanese Fusion, a recent addition to Mount Vernon’s restaurant scene, offers these comfort foods in one great spot.
AME opened in the spring of 2024 and has the same owners as Thai Thai Kitchen in Stanwood and Vora’s Thai Kitchen in Burlington. However, AME is primarily Japanese food with a few Thai dishes and a few true fusion options. They took over the space that previously housed Kyoto Kitchen, a small house on College Way that has been a restaurant of some sort for as long as I’ve lived in Mount Vernon.
Thanks to the well-loved space, the vibe is comfortable and elegant. Some windows look out into the old tree-filled Japanese garden that stands between the restaurant and the busy street. (Others look onto a parking lot and the huge building next door, but you can’t have everything.) A few large televisions stream a mesmerizing series of food porn-ish closeups of Japanese street food.
The first time we went to AME, I had just seen a Facebook friend post about eating takoyaki in Japan and I was excited when I saw it on the menu ($10). These are octopus-stuffed dough balls, creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside, meant to be served blazing-hot to make the bonito flakes on top dance (and as far as I can tell, take the skin off the roof of your mouth). These weren’t served quite that hot, but I still enjoyed them very much. If octopus balls aren’t your thing, they also have spring rolls, gyoza, wings and chicken karaage on the appetizer menu.
The main menu is mostly sushi; I’m not a sushi expert by any means, but the rolls we’ve had here have been delightful. We ordered the yellowtail roll ($17.50) and the tempura shrimp ($15.50). The yellowtail was billed as “SPICY” but I found it to be quite mild, with only the mayo-style sauce having a very slight kick, and the raw fish was clean tasting and tender. The tempura roll, stuffed with crispy shrimp, avocado and cucumber, was heavily sauced and topped with tenkasu, which are ethereal, crispy bits of tempura (and one of my favorite things).
We also ordered the tempura bento box, a fabulous presentation which came with a bowl of beautiful miso soup, rice, a mixed greens and vegetable salad, gyoza, sushi, pickled ginger and a generous pile of shrimp and vegetable tempura. You can also get a bento with salmon, tonkatsu or sashimi. The tempura bento was $33 but it was a lot of food, I would have been happy sharing it with another person for lunch.
AME has several Thai curries, including an avocado green curry (with protein of your choice, $27). The broth was rich and gorgeously flavored, and there were peppers and fresh asparagus. The only drawback was the avocado, which was brown and unappealing and really should not have made it into the dish.
Another Thai-style item is the crab fried rice, a giant portion of rice and vegetables heavily topped with crab meat (not Dungeness, but still tasty.) Our server pointed us to the prik nam pla (chiles with fish sauce) on the table, which did indeed go perfectly. We also tried one of the true “fusion” options, krapow yakisoba ($19). While they do have classic Japanese yakisoba as well, this one combines the noodles with a Thai pork stir fry with prawns and lots and lots of basil, to excellent effect.
For entrees, they have many different rice bowls — including several kinds of teriyaki and katsu (fried pork chops), and oyakodon ($17), which is a soothing bowl of chicken and eggs over rice (I found this rather bland but took the leftovers home to doctor up).
I wanted to try their teriyaki chicken to see how it compared to typical Seattle teriyaki, with its sweet and salty sliced meat and accompanying iceberg lettuce salad. As it turned out, AME’s version ($17.50) was quite different, with two whole skin-on chicken thighs (mostly cut into pieces but a little hard to navigate with chopsticks), marinated and heavily seared, piled onto rice with lots of pickled ginger, a few pieces of sweet Japanese omelet and a small container of some sort of aromatic herbed dressing. (I got this as takeout so didn’t have a chance to ask about it, but it was delicious.)
Last but not least, AME has ramen. Nothing is better on a cold wet day, and AME makes a cha shu ramen in tonkotsu broth ($17) which will warm the coldest body. In addition to the creamy broth and noodles, there are thin slices of tender, fatty pork, perfectly jammy marinated eggs, bamboo shoots and sweet corn. Miso ramen had the same toppings, but with a lighter broth.
I’m also intrigued by the tom yum ramen, which sounds like it could be fantastic. Chile sauces and soy sauce are available for doctoring but I didn’t think it needed any adjustment at all. Bring a tissue for blowing your nose after inhaling all that rich, hot broth.
To drink, AME serves tea, wine, beer, sake and Thai iced tea or coffee. Prices are a little high compared to many similar restaurants, but the quality is high, portions are fair and, if you dine in, it’s nice enough to bring a date. I’ll certainly be going back for ramen again this winter.
AME Thai Japanese Fusion is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4–8 p.m. Monday–Friday, and noon to 3 p.m. and 4–8 p.m. Saturday at 2001 E. College Way, Mount Vernon. Info: amethaijapanese.com.
Jessamyn Tuttle is a freelance writer and photographer based in the Skagit Valley.
