Umami Mart

My partner recently went to Niigata-prefecture in Japan for the weekend. He brought back a gift of hegisoba for me. At first glance, hegisoba looks just like the cheapo 178 yen soba I buy at the local supermarket, but upon closer inspection, there seems to be more grainy specks of black and grey. Hegisoba is […]

One of the best things about Tokyo is its haphazardness. In addition to being able to drink outside, their zoning and permit laws seems to be pretty lax, allowing for makeshift parties outside – literally on the street. If a car tries to squeeze by, well… it’ll just have to wait until all the drunkards […]

I finally had the guts to buy a goya because there was a half-cut goya on sale for 50 yen at my local supermarket last week. I had always envied my Okinawan friend who could nonchalantly cook up Goya-Chanpuru. Until last week, goya was much too intimidating for me to take up. Goya is a […]

Here’s a fun accompaniment to U N I F O R M B E H A V I O R’s flan choux discovery. One morning my mom enthusiastically proclaimed to me, “Kayo, try this now, it’s delicious.” I admit this frightened me a bit, as my mother is never so apparently excited about anything, let […]

One of my most recent discoveries in Tokyo is Mangetsu, a tiny place that has a maximum occupancy of eight, one-minute from Hatagaya station that specializes in gyu-tan, or beef tongue. I will post on their many beef tongue dishes in the near future, but this post concerns Mugi-toro meshi – a barley rice bowl […]

I was a little skeptical about this week’s Kit Kat flavor “Mango Pudding” because of its shocking orange color. I am usually not a fan of chocolate doesn’t taste like chocolate, but the Mango Pudding coating was actually quite enjoyable. Imagine having mango pudding with a wafer served on the side and you get the […]

To celebrate my VERY FIRST paycheck since moving back to the Bay Area, I took my parents out to their lunch of choice last week. They had been wanting to try Bushi-Tei, a Japanese “French California Fusion” place up in San Francisco, so we dressed up in our Sunday best, piled into the Toyota Camry […]

Remember the UM poll back in May when everyone voted for “more boobies”? Well, I am going to fulfill that request for a second time. Here are some shots of Oppai Pudding (Boobie Pudding) available at Le Edo‘s Aqua City in Odaiba, Tokyo. I noticed Thet there were two flavors. For folks who are just […]

Went out to dinner the other night in Cupertino to a newish Japanese “fusion tapas” place called Gochi. The place is always ridiculously packed, and their menu is way too long. They had several “fusion pizzas” on the menu, and we got one topped with unagi, egg, cheese, shimeji and shiitake mushrooms and seaweed. We […]

Ramune is a traditional Japanese carbonated drink that is in a distinctly shaped bottle with a marble in it. The taste is a pretty generic lemon-lime soda flavor, but it’s something about the glass bottle that makes it taste extra cold and special. Ramune is commonly sold at matsuri (Japanese festivals) where you will see […]