Umami Mart

After seeing how well the chefs (at Konohana, the sousaku-ryori restaurant I worked at last year in Tokyo) and the housewives in Japan take care of their hōchōs (Japanese cutlery), one of the first things I did when I moved back to the U.S. was to get a knife sharpener for my carbon-steel hōchō I […]

Matt and I were sitting at our favorite bar, Hotel Del Mano in Brooklyn, when the bartender mumbled something about the Japanese. We were both a bit bewildered (we were the only Asians at the bar), but then he placed a clunky copper contraption in front of us. He told us that it was from […]

Natto is the one of those foods that elicits strong reactions. I get overwhelmed with a sense of joy and excitement, but the response I hear from most people (who aren’t from or aren’t descendants of the eastern regions of Japan) is pure disgust. I remember how clueless I was junior year in college when […]

Consider it a testament to Kayoko’s power of persuasion that I’m doing a Fridgin’ Out post. You wouldn’t otherwise know this, but for some time now I’ve been averse to the idea. The notion that strangers would open their refrigerators so other strangers can peer into them for no purpose beyond plain curiosity is a […]

Sometimes I crave for certain food I had growing up, and pucchin purin is definitely one of them. In this day and age, almost all the good stuff from Japan are available in New York, but for some reason certain items such as pucchin purin isn’t one of them. Many people say they like dense […]