Umami Mart

The sake scene in New York City is dynamic. When I lived there from 2002-2008, the sake trend was definitely in development, and as a worker-bee in Midtown Manhattan, I was fortunate enough to spend many a late-nights at Sakagura, one of NY’s famed sake bars and other Japanese watering holes in the area. There were […]

Living in Japan, I’m not used to spending a lot of money for ramen. But recently, while visiting New York – Brooklyn, to be exact – I shelled out $20 for a bowl of ramen and I would do it all over again. I would hand over, without a second thought, a sum of money enough for 2.5 mammoth […]

I realized yesterday that Umami Mart will turn seven years old this month. WOOOOO! That’s seven years of banter, restaurant reviews, recipes and… more banter! The fun never stops on Umami Mart, and although we’re all seven years older (and a bit more, ehem, wiser), I’d like to think that we’ve retained our sometimes grotesque, […]

One of the things we were told we must do in New York was to have brunch. On the recommendation of my brother-in-law, we booked a table at Beauty and Essex to meet up with some of my sister Yuki’s university friends who now live in New York. They last saw each other five years […]

My first-ever visit to New York was with my sister and it flew by. It’s been four years since we travelled together and she’s always so much fun — we do a lot of laughing, shopping and, of course, eating. This time was no exception as we raced through the city to meet our friends […]

*Nahoko Morimoto is a Tokyo-based photographer. Her work has been featured in Brutus and Vogue Japan.

Though I created such a scene when I wrote about a certain four-star restaurant some time ago, I must write about my experience at Eleven Madison Park. Why?  Because it was above and beyond my expectations, and made me fully understand Daniel Humm‘s genius-ness. Plus it was lunch, over a glass of wine, hence I […]

I just got back from the most lovely weekend in New York City. A dear friend from college is getting married this summer so we threw her a “Spice Shower” dinner party in our friend’s backyard in Brooklyn. It was a warm evening so we passed out fans (which we needed!!) and served summery drinks. […]

I recently became a permanent resident of this country, and to celebrate my newly acquired freedom, we went to Le Bernardin. Though I know a lot about food, I haven’t been to many top-notch restaurants because I end up bitching about its flaws. If you are paying $250 a person for a dining experience, don’t […]

Did you know sake officially became Japan’s national booze? It was announced in April I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “national liquor”, but I guess it’s similar to vodka for Russia, and whisky in the UK?, what’s for America? Budweiser? Anyhow, Japan Society’s annual sake tasting event is coming back next […]