Blog » Event Recap

A recap of Lou Bustamante's book signing of the Complete Cocktail Manual and cocktail making demo at Umami Mart, with Ramen Shop bartender Chris Lane.

Last week we teamed up with Blind Tiger for our 2nd annual Sake Gumi Social. It was a great night of eating and drinking with sake enthusiasts.

Details from our fourth annual celebration of four years in Oakland. Featuring Aburaya, Casa de Kei, FOB Kitchen, Emeryville Taiko, and Coedo Brewery.

Emily Han, author of Wild Drinks and Cocktails, spent a Sunday afternoon at Umami Mart showing us how to make three syrups for cocktails and sodas.

Highlights from the Umami Mart class at Preserved in Oakland. Students learned how to make their own shio koji, and to use it in marinades and dressings.

Our cheese and sake pop-up dinner featured a 5-course tasting menu by Keisuke Akabori and Hakkaisan Brewery sakes poured by Sake Samurai, Tim Sullivan.

A fun night was had by all at our sake pairing dinner at Camino in Oakland. Read more about what we ate and drank on that special night.

Photo recap of Kayoko's Cherry Blossom Cobbler Birthday Festival 3000 at Holy Mountain in San Francisco, featuring Sherry Cobblers and Nikka Whiskies.

I'm happy to report that we had a successful fundraising event for Tohoku last month. This was our first collaboration with UC Berkeley's Center for Japanese Studies, and we'd all agree that it was awesome. Despite the massive rain that...

At our third annual Japan Beer Fest at the Trappist, we offered 30+ microbrews from Japan and fried rice from Ramen Shop. It was rad.

We hosted a cocktail making event at Forgery with Plumpjack Wine & Spirits on how to stir the perfect cocktail and when a drink is shaken vs. stirred.

We had our very first Sake Gumi Social last weekend -- it was a BLAST! This event was exclusive to Sake Gumi members, held at Ramen Shop's new bar annex.

A lecture and sake tasting event with Hakkaisan brand ambassador Tim Sullivan (Urban Sake) at Alchemy Bottle Shop on Grand Avenue, Oakland.

Photos from our huge Matsuri party in the parking lot behind Umami Mart. Abura-ya, Team Print Shop, Hopscotch, Workhorse Rye, Emeryville Taiko, more.

We had a fantastic event with our lovely neighbors, The Trappist, back in November -- the brewmaster of Baird Beer was here visiting from Japan, so they took over the taps! They were so kind to invite us in on the fun...

When MUJI came to us last year to put on a collaborative event together, Yoko and I did not not hesitate to say YES. A leading retailer in Japan, MUJI has been around for decades, outfitting people's homes, kitchens, wardrobes and backpacks full of...

As 2014 nearly comes to a close, I wanted to recap one of our favorite events of the year, our Jicca Pop-Up! Tori-chan is a good friend of Yoko's from Tokyo, who opened up her own restaurant called Jicca last year. We...

Another summer, come and gone. Erm, another fall, come and gone. It's starting to get chilly here in the Bay Area so I thought I would bring back some summertime warmth and celebration and blog about our 2nd annual Umami Mart...

Alchemy Bottle Shop opened this year in March on Grand Avenue in Oakland. Owners Tova and Peter's selection is second-to-none, featuring everything from single malts (including a great selection from Japan) to hard-to-find amaros. Kayoko and I get lost in la-la land whenever we enter Alchemy....

I have allowed an unsuitable amount of time to pass before writing about our Fragrance of Whisky evening at Wingtip nearly three months ago. So I’ve dumped all of the evening’s artifacts around me. It’s a mound, quite literally. One Women & Whiskies...