January 25, 2017
At our shop at 815 Broadway in Oakland, Umami Mart has a conbini (convenience store) section, stocked with Japanese snacks, condiments, spices, and sweets. Our selection of food items is small and curated, and we don’t carry refrigerated or perishable foods. We often get calls asking if we carry miso, onigiri, umeboshi, and other Japanese ingredients, and in those […]
December 11, 2012
Life is busy these days. With the shop in full holiday swing, it’s hard to find time to cook. But Yoko and I are good about taking turns bringing bentos — it’s nice to take the time to plan out what to make next. The key is to make a big vat of something so […]
January 6, 2012
I was fortunate enough to peek into the Peko Peko kitchen this last weekend, while they were preparing all 40 boxes of their highly coveted annual osechi bentos. What a crew! Sylvan had about five people working the kitchen — peeling, dicing, de-shelling 40 Dungeness crabs… wow. Sylvan and his right-hand chef Yuko took me […]
September 3, 2009
My partner and I took a mini-honeymoon to Hokkaido this week with one mission – to eat our way through the Northern land famous for squid, crab, salmon and dairy. We ate so much that I will blaze through our eats in a series of posts centering on the photos I took. Adventures in Japan […]
February 11, 2009
If you have a big trip involving a shinkansen (bullet train) in Japan, you will inevitably run into the question of which bento to buy for your lunch or dinner for the train ride. Katsu? Eel? Gyoza? Grilled fish???? This is a big thing for Japanese people, as we are always asking ourselves, “What do […]