Umami Mart

One of the best things to come out of 2016 was Japanify All Day, a zine that includes 21 simple Japanese recipes that I wrote, and that Kayoko and Sarah edited. I am so proud of this little zine that was produced entirely in-house and printed just down the road at Solstice Press in West […]

Japanify All Day is Umami Mart’s recently released Japanese recipe cookbook zine. It’s our very first publication, so we’re pretty damn excited about it and we’ve decided to devote the month of February to celebrate its release. During Japanify month, we’re throwing a Japanify Golden Ticket Contest and two parties, so that you can Japanify […]

Kayoko and I always been a fan of Lou Bustamante’s write-ups in the SF Chronicle. Every year we look forward to his thoughtful picks for his annual Bar Stars column, where he highlights the Bay Area’s best and brightest bartenders. So when we found out he was coming out with his book, The Complete Cocktail […]

Last week we teamed up with Blind Tiger for Sake Gumi Underground, our second annual Sake Gumi Social. We had a blast! We love bringing together our Sake Gumi members with other Bay Area sake enthusiasts for a night of eating and drinking. Blind Tiger opened in Oakland’s Koreatown district this last year, and is a large bar located […]

Our friend Lou Bustamante recently released this great cocktail book that we’re excited to carry in our shop. Lou is a spirits professional who’s worked in almost every aspect of the industry – bartending, working in a distillery, developing recipes and products, teaching cocktail classes, and more. He’s also a published writer – covering the spirits and cocktails world for publications […]

It wasn’t too long ago that San Francisco was the place to be when it came to going out. If you lived in the East Bay, more often than not, you’d have to make the trek over the Bay Bridge or take BART (and risk missing the last train at the end of the night) for a night […]

We had such a great time with Emily Han, who spent a Sunday afternoon showing us how to make syrups. Her newest book Wild Drinks and Cocktails, is chock-full of inventive yet simple recipes for shrubs, infusions, syrups, and more. Emily is an herbalist and nature lover who opens readers up to a world of herbs and […]

This was our second time teaching the Preserving and Cooking with Shio Koji class at Preserved, a retail shop focused on preserved and fermented goods, owned and operated by our good friend Elizabeth. The shop is full of tools, books, and goodies to help you pickle, brew, jam, and can to your heart’s content. Elizabeth has […]

Join us next Thursday, July 21, at Preserved (5032 Telegraph Ave.) in Oakland, where Yoko and Kayoko will be teaching a class about Preserving and Cooking with Koji. Koji, or Aspergillus oryzae, is a rice mold that’s been used in Japan to produce sake, miso, and shoyu for hundreds of years. Recently, modern chefs have discovered the wonders of shio […]

Join Emily Han at Umami Mart on Sunday, July 24, from 1-2:30 p.m. for Intro to Making Syrups, a free demonstration and tasting. At this event, you’ll learn about when, why, and how to use syrups to make sodas, cocktails, and mocktails, as well as basic techniques to make them yourself at home using fresh and […]