Umami Mart

I posted about Mangetsu’s Mugi-toro Don the other day, Tokyo JUNKtion: Mugi-toro Don at MANGETSU, and promised to get back to UMAMIMART with more coverage on Mangetsu since one post was just not enough. You will probably see me at Mangetsu one to three times a week during these past two months (I was introduced […]

My father has one sister and four brothers- all of who are in the restaurant business. The Akaboris are destined to work with food, what can I say?? My brother just spent some time in a hoity-toity restaurant in Barcelona, and I just started a job at a Spanish restaurant in Menlo Park. As LOST’s […]

I’m finding all these pictures from my Japan trip that I never blogged, so please excuse this outdated trip down memory lane. I went to a kabuki show in Asakusa (in Tokyo) and afterwards, my family took me to feast on dojo, a small eel-like fish prepared in various ways. The whole experience was right […]

The concept of being a vegetarian in Japan is illogical unless you are a Buddhist monk. I have done a lot of thinking about why Japanese people aren’t vegetarians, and I think it is because they originally do not have many meat products in their diet, with the exception of fish. Dairy is also very […]

In an ultra-postmodern city such as Tokyo, where sign and meaning are often so far gone from each other, it seems fitting that a cuisine such as American Sushi finds its way “back.” Many visitors from America who come to Japan are often surprised to find out that the sushi rolls we see in the […]

On the first day of the season forecasted for snow in Tokyo, I knew I wanted something warm and spicy. I thought Korean would suffice, but I couldn’t shake off my hankering for nabe. So I decided to do a search for hinabe on google. Hinabe is a style of nabe (hi meaning fire, and […]

There’s a little Korea-town in the Akasaka section of Tokyo, just a little side street filled with Korean-owned and operated restaurants. Here, my friend Maho took me to one of her favorite spots, Ton-chan. There are a few Ton-chan’s scattered all around Tokyo- it is bbq, but they specialize in pork (ton, in Japanese means […]

This place was good enough to spend both of my last two birthdays. Kigi is tucked in the heart of Setagaya-ku’s Sakurajosui. Its unpretentious service and earthy food is what I miss most about the Northern Californian food scene. Kigi is a perfect place to counter Tokyo restaurants’ tendencies to deliver over-the-top, fake service, and […]

Aside from the fact that this was the site of my first date with my current partner, this spot is one of my favorites in the world. Nestled in Setagayaku’s Sakurajosui, Danran sushi (danran definition: sit in a (family) circle and chat happily; enjoy each other’s [one another’s] company) serves up fish dishes and sushi […]

Honestly, there’s nothing better than waking up late in the morning with your honey and spontaneously going to Jindaiji – a charming little town in Western Tokyo famous for soba (buckwheat noodles). I realize that this is way after the fact (we went a month ago), but that is the downside of waiting until your […]