Umami Mart

Oakland just got a little bit hipper (if that was at all possible) – we now have our very own Mikkeller bar! Opened in the former Trappist Provisions space, the tasting room and bottle shop is a charming ode to all things Mikkeller. Mikkeller launched as a beer brewery in Copenhagen in 2006. They are an innovative company […]

If you love Japanese sweets and desserts, and live anywhere close to Berkeley, you should have Uji Time on your radar. Uji Time is a new Japanese dessert shop that opened in June in South Berkeley on Telegraph Avenue. Earlier this week, I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite understand what I was getting […]

For this edition of Bartender Spotlight, we set our focus on the East Bay at Tay Ho in Downtown Oakland. Tay Ho recently brought bartender Esteban Ballesteros (who also tends bar at Bull Valley Roadhouse) on board to help revamp their cocktail program. Tay Ho is definitely a hidden gem when it comes to great Vietnamese cuisine, […]

Last Sunday, 27 Sake Gumi members took a field trip to the Bay Area’s very own sake brewery – Sequoia Sake in San Francisco. Jake Myrick, his wife Noriko Kamei, and Jake’s friend Warren Pfal started Sequoia Sake together in the lower Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco in 2014. What makes Sequoia Sake so special […]

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 […]

Ramen is a touchy subject in the Bay Area. Scratch that, it is a touchy subject ANYWHERE. In New York, LA, Tokyo… it doesn’t matter what town you may be in — everyone has a god damn opinion about ramen. So I haven’t really wanted to tread the waters of “The Best Ramen” in the […]

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 […]

Remember when the Ramen Shop guys brought the 500 pound Richmen, the massive ramen noodle making machine to Umami Mart back in October 2012?! In case you were not there, let me fill you in. Two months after Umami Mart opened, we invited the Ramen Shop guys over for an event. Sure we wanted to […]

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 […]