Umami Mart

The Umami Mart Shop popped up in Old Oakland for five days last week inside Piper + John General Goods, located on the charming brick road of 9th Street. It was a great success! We launched on the bustling “First Friday”, which is a huge sprawling art party throughout Oakland every month, thrown by the […]

The Umamimart Shop has been invited to be a part of Magasin Général, where Bay Area independent designers, hand-crafters, shop-keepers, jewelers, and artisans will come together for a two-day shopping event popping up at Fort Mason in San Francisco. It was so kind of Anaise (shop-keeper) and Lotfi (textile designer) to invite us to join […]

It’s been a while since Umamimart has put on a big event. Honestly, our Gift of Food benefit last April for Japan set the bar so high that I haven’t had the chutzpah to do anything since. So Umamimart took a long hiatus from events. Too long. But that all changed a week ago, when […]

– THIS IS EVENT IS SOLD OUT – UPDATE 3/29, 8am PDT: There are no more tickets available for this event. The Umamimart Shop pop-up booth will be in session regardless, which does not require an event ticket. Stop by and say hi! Cheers, Kayoko Umamimart turned 5yo this year! To celebrate, we’re joining forces […]

“Are we really doing this?” I asked, uncertainly nibbling on a grilled shiitake mushroom. Eriko paused before answering. “I know I was talking some pretty ambitious stuff the other night, but I think we should try it,” she replied. “We could end up pulling off something really cool.” I vividly recall the tipsy conversation that […]

It seems that pop-ups are popping up all over New York City recently. What’s going on? Or should I say What Happens When? That’s the name of a new pop-up resto that has a nine-month lease on a space in SoHo, and a new menu and theme every month. I visited in April for Movement […]

Made it to the Hapa Ramen pop-up yesterday for lunch at the Ferry Building. Let’s forget about the ramen for a hot second, and talk about their “random celebrity specials.” HELL YAH! How could you resist? The special of the day was… FREE LINDSAY aka The Lindsay Lohan Sandwich! RAD! Says it’s so trashy, we’ll […]

My curiosity bubbled when I read about Mission Street Foods (MSF) in the San Francisco Chronicle back in February. Started by a husband and wife team Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz, the duo served dishes like pork belly and cilantro aioli sandwiches for $5 out of a taco truck until the sidewalk could no longer […]