Umami Mart

Oden shack on the backstreets of Monzennakacho, Tokyo.

We finally made it into Tsujita for lunch during our trip down to LA over the summer. You know, when they actually serve ramen… Yoko and I had ignorantly gone there for dinner once, all excited to try their tsukemen (dipping ramen). But they don’t serve noodles at night! BAH! How silly, to call yourself […]

Sakura-ebi kakiage at Nunotsunesarashina in Tsukiji, my favorite soba spot when I lived in Tokyo.

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 went to Roganic, the two year pop-up restaurant that’s been […]

We drove a long way from Los Angeles proper to try the soba at Otafuku in Torrance. The shop donned no sign, except a neon “Open” sign that flashed in the window. The place was packed with hungry folks for lunch, lone salarymen sitting at the bar, and housewives chatting amongst one another at the […]

  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 tea to Lanka, a Japanese pâtisserie in London. But each time I’ve […]

If you know anything about ramen in Los Angeles you’ve heard of Daikokuya, the original LA noodle institution. There are throngs of people waiting outside its bright yellow awning at almost any hour of the day, despite several other shops within viewing distance. It was my first-ever ramen love. I’ve written before about how I […]

Since May, our beloved Ippuku of Berkeley has been serving teuchi (handmade) soba. Owner-chef Christian Geidemann recruited Koichi Ishii from Yamagata, a prefecture well-known for soba, to come and cook at Ippuku and start a soba program right here in the East Bay. We are SO LUCKY! I know, I should have reported on this sooner. […]

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. My mother would often make it at home and it was an easy way […]

My second day in Japan was inauspicious. The sky was dreary, overcast, drizzling all day and on into the night, and I woke up with a full-blown cold to boot. So in other words, the perfect day for a bowl of ramen. After spending the day at the National Museum in Ueno Park, where my […]