Umami Mart

Sakqueso!, just as the name suggests, was an event we put on pairing cheese with sake. It was loads of FUN! We invited Keisuke Akabori to create a five-course menu and Tim Sullivan of Hakkaisan Brewery to come and pair the dishes with their sakes. Sake and cheese pair very well, wouldn’t you know, since […]

Kyle Itani used to have midnight ramen pop-ups at his Oakland restaurant, Hopscotch, a few years ago and Yoko and I would sneak in and snag a table. It was way past our bedtime but it was such a rare occasion for a restaurant in Oakland to be open past midnight, and, serve ramen! Now, […]

We’ve all been patiently waiting for Itani Ramen to open its doors. The time has come… THIS WEEKEND! Kyle Itani, co-owner of Hopscotch restaurant, has been working on this project for years — we even went to his Ramen Nights at Hopscotch, way back when. Yes, opening a late-night ramen spot has always been a […]

On Saturday, March 19, from noon-3 p.m., we’ll be hosting a free coffee tasting with our friends Red Bay Coffee. Founded in 2014 and based in the Fruitvale District of East Oakland, Red Bay sources single-origin beans that they roast in small batches. The tasting will feature samples of the three Red Bay coffees we carry at Umami Mart – […]

We quickly sold out of these jars of Matcha Salt during the holidays. No surprise, because this stuff is like gold – green gold! A sprinkle can finish and elevate a dish with earthy umami flavor. We recently replenished our supply of Matcha Salt, which are made just for us by our friends at Oaktown Spice […]

Happy New Year! We hope that everyone had a cozy, relaxing holiday season with your loved ones and are ready to rock 2016. It’s going to be a good one — it’s the year of the Monkey! Strap in. We are kicking the year off right with JAPAN BEER FEST, our beloved yearly soiree presented with […]

Every Friday, half a block away from Umami Mart along 9th Street at Broadway, the Old Oakland Farmers Market attracts all the locals. With Chinatown across the street, we are lucky to have a farmers market with a lot of Asian produce. From Thai basil to winter melon, the Old Oakland farmers market meshes together […]

Shanghai restaurant is our go-to in Oakland Chinatown for meetings and hang-outs over lunch or dinner. The food is consistent, always fresh, delicious and everyone on staff knows us. It’s a nice, no-frills local joint where you probably won’t run into anyone you know. Hooray! Yoko went to Shanghai recently and lavished our humble blog with […]

We can not tell you how fun it has been at Umami Mart since we’ve started selling beers and sake. We are America’s first Japanese beer shop! And you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, ya’ll. Getting our license to sell alcohol was our biggest hurdle, and now that it’s here we plan to do this right. We’re […]

When people ask Yoko or myself if it was “always in the plan” to turn Umami Mart into a brick and mortar shop, the answer is always “no.” We do get this question quite often. But back in 2007 when we started our blog, I was living in Brooklyn and Yoko was in Tokyo, on […]