Umami Mart

After spending two weeks in Europe, eating pasta and paella everyday, my Asian part of the body started screaming “WHERE IS MY RICE?!” Also being away from the kitchen for two weeks made me want to cook continuously this past weekend. Yes, Italy was great, food awesome, drank grappa like it was water, partied like […]

I have a new obsession- they come in these little bite-size sacks, filled with pork, crab and a touch of soup. Xiao long bao, aka XLB, soup dumplings!!! In NYC, I loved the dumplings at Shanghai Cafe, and have finally found a place that are just as good. Actually, they are BETTER. I haven’t been […]

Last weekend I moved to a new apartment with my boyfriend. To properly celebrate our cohabitation I invited fellow Umamimarter June to our home last night. After picking June up at the nearest train station, we stopped by 7-11 to stock up on the night’s booze and munchies. After selecting our spirits, we were tempted […]

Preface:Loisaida Throwback Crawl: Kossar’s BialyLoisaida Throwback Crawl: Doughnut PlantLoisaida Throwback Crawl: Pickle Battle From Guss’ Pickles, we walked a few blocks over to Eldridge for one of my favorite spots in the LES- The Dumpling House. They’ve recently renovated since the last time I was here about a year ago, taking over a neighboring storefront […]

If you have a big trip involving a shinkansen (bullet train) in Japan, you will inevitably run into the question of which bento to buy for your lunch or dinner for the train ride. Katsu? Eel? Gyoza? Grilled fish???? This is a big thing for Japanese people, as we are always asking ourselves, “What do […]

En route to Coney Island this past weekend, I stopped over in Brighton Beach, which is filled with combination English/Cyrillic storefronts like this video/bookstore: We decided to try Cafe Kashkar, an Uyghur place written about in the Village Voice and elsewhere. Surrounded by Russian restaurants and large, hilariously-stocked grocery stores like M&I International Foods, Kashkar […]

My obsession for baking is somewhat subsiding, also my social calendar is a bit busy and I don’t have time to spend all night in the kitchen. After my crappy experience at Ippudo, I decided I make my own ramen soup. Noodles are too hard to make from scratch (or is it? Should that be […]

This post is dedicated to Tmonkey and Wong Kar-Wai. Went to see my acupuncturist the other day in Chinatown. Dr. Wu is a miracle maker, truly, and I send everyone to him for their ailments. Migraines, bad shoulders, allergies, bad knees, insomnia– whatever you’ve got, he’ll fix it, for real. While pinning needles into my […]

Whenever I visit my hometown, Cupertino, CA (home of the beloved Macintosh computer), the first thing that I do, before I even go home, is stop off at Sushi Kuni Restaurant. In my five years in NY, I haven’t found a place that compares to the comfort, the authenticity (I hate to say that word, […]

A few weeks ago, we ventured on our first official Umami Mart field trip, which I hope we can organize once a month. The idea is to get people in the area, UM contributors and local eaters, to travel far and wide (an outer borough, OH MY!) for infamous eats. In the five years I […]