Cocktail Bar


May 9, 2016

Code Name Mixology Laboratory (Tokyo)

by Kayoko Akabori

Mr. Shuzo Nagumo is a mad scientist behind the bar. With a twinkle in his eye and a firm stance when shaking, he has started a cocktail revolution in Tokyo that is a great departure from the cocktail bars we’ve become used to in Japan. That is: bartenders in tuxedos, gentle yet silent, each movement exacting and no detail missed. […]

September 28, 2015

Umami Map: Where to Get a Cocktail in Seattle

by Kayoko Akabori

Seattle is for grown-ups. I really enjoyed the city when we were there over the summer — it has a sense of sophistication and plentifulness that I can enjoy in my thirties. I must have just glazed over it all when I visited over a decade ago — perhaps I have less angst now and I […]

August 31, 2015

Richmen Redux: Ramen Shop’s NEW Noodle-Making Machine from Japan

by Yoko Kumano

Remember when the Ramen Shop guys brought the 500 pound Richmen, the massive ramen noodle making machine to Umami Mart back in October 2012?! In case you were not there, let me fill you in. Two months after Umami Mart opened, we invited the Ramen Shop guys over for an event. Sure we wanted to […]

July 6, 2015

China Diaries: Discovering Speak Low Bar in Shanghai

by Yoko Kumano

As you may know, Google does not work in China. Savvy travelers would know to install a VPN service on their phones before taking off into China. We were not savvy. So I guess we got the REAL Chinese experience: Page not found. This situation made getting around challenging and finding Speak Low was no […]

May 28, 2015

Umami Map: 24 Hours in Osaka

by Kayoko Akabori

Growing up, I would visit Japan about once every two years or so. It would always be to see our extended family, who all lived in the Tokyo area. The trips would be jam-packed time for family in Saitama, Yokohama and Chiba, and we never made it out much to other areas of Japan. My […]

May 25, 2015

Bar Owl in Niigata City

by Kayoko Akabori

When we mentioned to Mr. Akio Watanabe, owner of Bar EST! in Tokyo that we were heading to Niigata, he recommended that we visit Bar Owl. It was one of those things that we told him we would do but Yoko and I didn’t actually think we would actually make it there — Niigata prefecture is […]

May 7, 2015

Tokyo JUNKtion: Entering the Womb at Bar Caesarean

by Yoko Kumano

The name Caesarean derives from all things related to Caesar, the Roman general whose actions led to the rise of the Roman Empire. It does not derive from the caesarean section, which might have been more fitting, given that entering the bar felt like entering an altered womb-reality à la David Lynch. To go into […]

April 2, 2015

Akio Watanabe of Bar EST! (Tokyo)

by Kayoko Akabori

Looking back on our trip to Japan in February, the most memorable cocktail was at Bar EST!. A short distance from the Yushima train station in Tokyo, EST! is a dark, tavernous space filled with men drinking a scotch on the rocks and smoking cigarettes. At the helm is Akio Watanabe, “master” aka owner of Bar […]

November 10, 2014

Meet Masako Ikegami of Bar Shake (Ginza)

by Kayoko Akabori

We met the gracious Masako Ikegami in 2010, before we opened our shop in Oakland, at the Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon we helped host at Prizefighter. A few bartenders from Japan who had won the coveted Suntory Cocktail Award, presented cocktails and exchanged tricks of the trade with the Bay Area’s elite bartending community. It was […]

July 21, 2014

A Visit to Heuga Bar in Gifu City

by Kayoko Akabori

Yoko and I first met bartender Tomokazu Kai in 2010, when we helped present an event with Suntory Whisky called the Tokyo-SF Bartender Salon. The event was held at Prizefighter bar in Emeryville and was meant to bring bartenders from Japan and the Bay Area together to present and talk about cocktails and bartending techniques. […]