Umami Mart

Umami Mart’s Oakland HQ turned one year old this last month. What a wonderful year it’s been! To celebrate (as we do), we threw a big matsuri (festival) in the street — Broadway hasn’t seen anything like this! We gathered many of our food-tastic friends from San Francisco and Oakland to help make our one-year […]

Not many snacks require instructions, but you’ll be left hungry if you don’t play by the rules when eating an onigiri (rice ball). A traditional Japanese snack, onigiri is made of salted rice, loaded with a savory center, and wrapped in a seaweed jacket. The seaweed is usually wrapped in plastic, so that it doesn’t get soggy in the market, and […]

Conbini is a shortened word for “convenience” which is referred to when talking about convenience stores in Japan. Littered around on any street corner in most cities, conbinis are like a typical corner store, or bodega — but from the future. They are well-lit, sparkling clean havens stocked with freshly prepared foods to-go, nail clippers, […]

We learned, we drank and we ate all things ume during our Umeshu Class last Sunday. During the two-hour session, we learned about the history of ume and umeshu, how to make it and ate an array of dishes that highlighted ume. Along side sips of umeshu, of course. Ume, or Japanese plum, originated from China and […]