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We visit Yokohama Ramen Nakamura-ya, a restaurant in Tokyo that serves ie-kei style ramen.

The Aviation is one of the last great cocktails created before Prohibition, having been invented just a few years before the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment. It made its first appearance in print in 1916 in Recipes for Mixed Drinks by...

Photos by Erin Gleeson We did it! With the loving support from our friends, family, and community, Yoko and I have opened Umami Mart, a retail shop in Oakland, CA, specializing in kitchen + barware from Japan. The idea for starting a brick-and-mortar shop really...

Nothing says summer like watermelon! Slice watermelon into approx 1 inch rings, then remove the rind from each slice with a small knife. Place one watermelon “round” onto each salad plate, then top with a layer of thinly sliced fresh mozzarella (about five pieces,...

I recently became a permanent resident of this country, and to celebrate my newly acquired freedom, we went to Le Bernardin. Though I know a lot about food, I haven't been to many top-notch restaurants because I end up bitching about its flaws. If you...

The world is full of burger places. There is one in almost every strip mall in America, and then there are the chains which are often the culprits or the scapegoats of many a country's poor eating habits. Burgers stretch the gut, go well with less healthy...

Yay, there's finally a real farmer's market in Copenhagen! After decades of supermarket deathbore, a new race of DIY vendors, small farmers, honey harvesters and local produce hippies will show up in their home-built vans with truckloads of cheap, fresh, delicious and organic fruits of...

Ramen, as some of my fellow writers have observed, is totally taking over North America. People are obsessively eating, finding new shops, and eating more. New chains from Japan are opening like once a month here in New York City. Funny thing about ramen is...

A guide to the differences between Japanese Shochu vs. Korean Soju.

A step-by-step recipe for Japanese yaki onigiri, or grilled rice balls.

PREFACE Summer Slurp Series, Pt. 1: Nikumiso Udon The one (and only) thing that I miss about the disgustingly humid temperatures in Tokyo is the arrival of cold noodle dishes on menus everywhere. During the hot months of June through September,...

I am sure you have been wondering for a week what the hell I was going to do with Barbie doll.  I must say, this journey was one of the most hilarious baking experiences I've ever gone through. I made a birthday cake for a...

It feels good to return to normalcy (read proper hydration) now that the Manhattan Cocktail Classic (read Manhattan Hangover Classic) has concluded. For myself and the other Bar Fellows of this year's cocktail classic, normalcy took a bit longer...

My parents do their daily and weekly shopping at the vegetable shop just down the road from their house. The thing about South Asian countries is that even though their produce is fresher than fresh, but because of the heat, things go...

A guide to the difference between a mixing glass, cobbler shaker, Boston shaker. Find out what a yarai mixing glass is and how to use it to make cocktails.

Love Japanese mayo? Want to put it on everything? Get the recipe on making your own Kewpie mayonnaise at home.

A step-by-step guide and video to how to wash rice properly in the Japanese style.

A budget-friendly recipe to make tsuyu, Japanese soba dipping sauce, from scratch. It's easy and uses only three ingredients!

Step-by-step recipe and instructions on how to make your own dashi at home.

Step-by-step instructions on how to use a water stone to sharpen knives, especially carbon-steel and stainless steel hōchō (Japanese cutlery).