On my last night in Hong Kong, my friend S asked one of her Chinese gourmet friends for recommendations to a good place. We met up with her at Tim's Kitchen, a Michelin-starred modern Chinese restaurant on Hong Kong Island. We spent most of the...
One of the things we wanted to do when we were in Hong Kong was to try some vegetarian temple food. So my friend S took us to a modern vegetarian restaurant in the Chin Lin Nunnery and Nan Liang Gardens on Diamond Hill in...
As you all probably know by now, Hong Kong is a locus of culinary delights. Every little shop, however much it may be a hole in the wall, will offer something special. On this short trip, we made a point of only having Chinese food...
I'm not ordinarily a breakfast person, I'd rather get an extra half an hour of sleep instead. However, if I'm going to have breakfast, I want it to be special. And in Hong Kong, we were only looking at two options: congee and wonton noodle...
In Hong Kong, one of the places my friend S insisted we try was one of two highly-rated restaurants serving Shanghai crab. Lucky for us, we were at the tail-end of the Shanghai crab season. I love crab but hadn't tried the Shanghai variety before....
It's been twenty years since I last set foot in Hong Kong and I was excited to hear about some of the city's huge changes, including its new airport. The last time I flew...
Believe it or not, I was only in Kuala Lumpur for four days, one of which was spent with family outside KL and another stuck in traffic in KL. Did I mention how terrible the traffic is over there? We spent 1.5 hrs in...
After my visit to Sri Lanka earlier this year to see my parents, we stopped off in Kuala Lumpur to meet up with my sister's family for a few days of shopping and serious eating. The last time I was in KL, I was...
One of the things my mum wanted to eat in Kuala Lumpur was bak kut teh, the rather notorious Chinese medicinal broth in which pork, veg and other delicacies are cooked. We'd heard it can be an acquired taste but my brother-in-law found Pao...
Yakitori is the perfect food: delicious, dainty morsels that come in a variety of ingredients and flavours which you keep eating and ordering on repeat. And on skewers. What is it about skewers that enhances the taste of grilled meat and veg a thousandfold?
One of the things we were told we must do in New York was to have brunch. On the recommendation of my brother-in-law, we booked a table at Beauty and Essex to meet up with some of my sister Yuki's university friends who now...
My first-ever visit to New York was with my sister and it flew by. It's been four years since we travelled together and she's always so much fun -- we do a lot of laughing, shopping and, of course, eating. This time was no...
London Ramen Wars Part I: Ittenbari The second ramen bar that opened in London close on the heels of Ittenbari is Tonkotsu located in the middle of Soho. Run by the team behind Tsuru Sushi whose pop-up ramen event I attended...
London is currently undergoing a ramen boom. In the past year alone, five new ramen bars are opening its doors to a public clamouring for some hearty B-kyu Japanese grub. It's a ramen war, baby. Compared to what was available before, these...
Although I've been writing for Umami Mart for almost three years, I have yet to meet any of my fellow writers as most of them live across the Pond. But a few weeks ago I received a lovely surprising. Anders, a Danish designer who writes...
Yup, you read it right. This is a present from one of my Japanese friends who visited London last year: a seven day supplement for young and puru-puru (plump and quivering) skin. Although placenta in skincare has been around in Japan for years, it's...
There is something about Japanese confectionary and pâtisseries that pushes sweets to a level of sophistication I haven't found anywhere else. It's not the purely Japanese examples either. They excel in transforming desserts from all over the world into something less sweet, less heavy...
It's not very often I go to fancypants restaurants but that doesn't mean I don't love the excitement and taste sensations that often accompany these forays into high end dining. I love them and I wish my pockets were deeper. For Christmas this year, we...
On a combined wedding/tour/family holiday in Sri Lanka in mid-November, I had two days in Colombo with my parents. One of the things I've been trying to do for the past few years was to visit Euphorium Tea Salon which supplies Ceylon...
I always thought chirashizushi was the large, family-friendly tub of vinegared sushi rice studded with a variety of colourful ingredients such as shiitake, cooked seafood, and what ever else you like -- all sprinkled with thinly sliced Japanese omelette and cucumber....
