Male bartenders in Japan are full of themselves. There, I said it. From the few "star" bars we visited during our trip to Tokyo, I felt miffed by the arrogance and general unfriendliness of the bartenders. What is up with that? Where...
On Sunday, April 6, my picture and story was in the Kanagawa edition of the Yumiuri Shimbun, one of Japan's three biggest newspapers (yes only the local Kanagawa edition... but still). Read it here if you can read Japanese. If not you can look...
One of the most memorable nights I had in Tokyo was an adventure in Nakano, a hip neighborhood in Tokyo. We met up with our friend and Umami Mart writer Will, aka The Ramen Shaman, along with Eri, who suggested a yakitori joint called...
Kodoku no Gurume is a Japanese manga television show from the '90s about a salesman in Tokyo named Goro who goes out to eat.
When something takes off in Japan, it gets huge. For a hot minute. People have no qualms with waiting in a long line for hours, out in the butt-ass cold, to get their hands on the newest HOT food trend from abroad...
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...
Japan is noodle crazy. Each station in each town of each prefecture have their own noodle specialty. Being noodle fiends ourselves, Kayoko and I researched some of the regional noodles of Niigata prefecture before setting foot there last month. As soon as we arrived, we...
We're slowly growing our team. It's an exciting time for us here at Umami Mart! We're looking for someone bright and attentive to work with us at our Oakland headquarters. Please read the job description below and drop us a line if...
The Bay Area has been so good to us. First, we opened our flagship store in Oakland in 2012 -- to our surprise, people were into our Japanese kitchen and barware shop! Then, back in November, we opened up as a...
One of the joys of working in Old Oakland is Chinatown. We're only steps away to a wonderland of dirt-cheap eats and one-stop grocery shopping. It has taken us over a year to mine through its dense 4x3 block radius, consisting of...
Oh Ichiran. I was very anti-you for a long time because of your bizarre seating arrangement. It just seems so weird that we, the customers, have to sit at a private booth, in silence, without speaking to the chefs -- instead ordering by...
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....
Trends in roll combinations in the States are rapid, with so many joints coming up with their own "house" rolls. Conversely, the combinations of rolls or makimono are very constant in Japan. In this post, I am specifically referring to hosomaki (or thin rolls). There...
My first encounter with phyllo roll — Wow. Cinnamon-spiced chicken with raisins, chickpeas and almonds were listed to describe Chicken Cilicia, my favorite on La Méditeranée's four-roll platter. My taste buds wondered what I'd been doing...
Making miso is actually very easy. All you need are soybeans, salt, and koji. Here is a step-by-step guide to making miso at home.
Easy step-by-step instructions on how to make your own Japanese cooking sake, or mirin, at home.
A popular snack in Taiwan, these sandwiches contain a fried egg, rousong (pork floss), and cucumbers.
By Anna de Castro Just when I thought February in NY could not get any dreamier (and by dreamy, I mean cold, slushy, and awaiting 6-8 more inches of snow), word came that a Bay Area favorite was making its way east,...
My alcohol tolerance is not what it used to be, sadly. The morning after a night of drinking just gets tougher and tougher. Hideko says, "You are no longer young." WHAT?!?!? To curb this issue, I often order low-alcohol cocktails these days,...
Nagi, Nagi, Nagi. This one's been near the top of my ever-expanding ramen bucket list for a long time. I've been to a Nagi branch before -- it was the first Tokyo bowl I had with fellow ramen blogger Brian from Older Posts Newer Posts
