Umami Mart

Recently, I got into a discussion about all the restaurants that have been popping up in the Bay Area. The constant stream of new, hip restaurants is never ending in the East Bay and San Francisco, and it’s hard to keep up. Of all of those restaurants that have opened in the last year, Hina […]

During my last visit to Tokyo, my grandma sent me home with some store bought, vacuum-sealed beef soboro. It had been a really long time since I had Soboro Donburi, so I was happy to indulge in some nostalgia when I got back to California. Soboro Donburi is typically made up of three toppings on […]

My #1 tip for how to learn more about wine: spin the bottle around and look at the back label. See the name of the importer? If you liked the wine, you’ll probably like the importer. Find more wines brought into the U.S. (or whatever country you’re in) by the name on the back, and […]

In life, I’m all about making mistakes. The important thing is to just try everything! I was always the person to ask all the stupid questions in class; I’ve never had much of a fear of failure or looking dumb in public. I actually just tripped and fell on a busy street with full-on Farmer’s […]

The early 90s… I was distancing myself from my Sandylion stickers while making multiple trips to the Wherehouse to make sure that I got tickets to see Radiohead at the Edge in Palo Alto. It was a confusing time, but it shaped me. Foodwise, I was tiring of the hambagu, Japanese curry and and gratin […]

The Japanese dish hambagu derives from the Hamburg steak. Hamburg steak is the patty of a hamburger. Hamburg Steak were usually served with a side of potatoes in Germany. The Americans put the Hamburg steak in bread — hence the hamburger. The Japanese appropriated the Hamburg by serving it with rice, of course. Eventually the Japanese […]

By Haan Ridell Hi I’m Haan. I’m Swedish but live in Copenhagen, and I fly around the world for a living. Very lucky me, since I get to learn about new cultures — and what better way to learn, then to eat? I dash off to all the supermarkets, spice-markets, wine-markets and all the you-name-it […]

Trends in Japan changes as often as Taylor Swift changes boyfriends. It’s like, wasn’t she dating the Kennedy kid and even bought a house across from his in order to be close to him? Next minute, she is shacking up with one of the bad boys from One Direction. And she publicly stated, “I don’t […]

I’ve been reading on many Japanese blogs that people are stuffing sticky rice inside a whole chicken, which absorbs all the good stuff from the bird, and makes a very nice sticky rice accompanying a perfectly roasted bird. I was going to roast the whole bird, but realized I would be the only one who […]

Pho ga dac biet is a special chicken noodle soup at Ao Sen, my favorite pho joint in the East Bay. They serve boiled chicken on the side, bone-in and skin-on, with a florescent orange ginger sauce. It is comforting when you are sick, and warming on dreary rain-filled days. The new Ao Sen location in […]