Umami Mart

After all this talk of fancy dining, 4-star service, Le Bernardin and the lack thereof, I’m bringing it all back to what we’re all about: SOUL. Umami Mart is all about love and sharing and laughter and how food plays a great role in that in our lives. Yoko and I had an errand to […]

Matsunami Ramen was my first stop in Tokyo after a 9-day long trip of a lifetime to Darjeeling, India (more on that later). I was in Darjeeling and Tokyo on business but I was able to squeeze in a lot of culinary excitement into the trip. After eating spicy curries in India, and fresh herbs […]

– 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 […]

Aaaah, one of the things I really miss in London is a good bowl of ramen. Now that we’ve got a brilliant udon-ya for keeps, the next big thing will hopefully be ramen. Unlike in the States, we only have a couple of restaurants offering old school ramen which are alright. But considering there is […]

I was recently in my hometown of Santa Rosa (Sonoma County, CA) and a bit of a buzz has started about a gathering of food trucks on Monday afternoons in one parking lot in town. Serving fare from their adorable airstream trailer, Dim Sum Charlie’s had the longest line by far- which of course we […]

Had a chance to go see my acupuncturist in Chinatown while I was in NYC. My body is falling apart on me these days from being on my feet all day, everyday. Dr. Wu on Baxter– he’s the best! So as is my Chinatown/Dr. Wu ritual, I went out for my XLB fix. There’s nothing […]

Trailing on the coattails of Yoko’s earlier Umamiventure post to the SAME EXACT RESTAURANT in Tokyo, I am finally ready to unveil the greatness that was Din Tai Fung (DTF) in LA. The only outpost in the U.S. of this legendary Taiwanese restaurant!! As you’ll see, the dumplings look suspiciously similar to the ones they […]

Din Tai Fung was the site of the first Umamiventure outside the United States. On September 27, for Sunday lunch, six hungry Tokyoites and a visitor piled into the busy Din Tai Fung branch on the 12th floor of Shinjuku’s Takashimaya Square. I arrived there first with Anders and was greeted with a line of […]

Simultaneous LA and TOKYO Din Tai Fung Umamiventures! The Umamiventure coming up to Din Tai Fung in LA, was the catalyst for this Umamiventure in Tokyo which will be held on Sunday, September 27 at noon. Founded in 1969, Din Tai Fung is known world-wide for its xiao long bao (soup dumplings). The Japanese go […]

With all the talk about xiao long bao aka XLB aka soup dumplings on here these days, no one should be surprised that it won the poll (up there on the top right corner) for where we would go for the next Umamiventure. XLB it is!!! So we’re taking a trip to Din Tai Fung […]