Umami Mart

–  If you’ve had freshly-made soba, you know that the difference between dried and fresh buckwheat noodles is astounding, but even then, you might not know the amount of work that goes into making these noodles. To get an idea, watch this short film about Seattle-based chef Mutsuko Soma of Kamonegi, who makes soba in the traditional Japanese way. Every […]

Mayonnaise. It’s such a divisive condiment. People loooove it or haaaate it passionately. Working at Umami Mart, I overhear a lot of conversations between people when they see we carry Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise in our conbini (Japanese for convenience store) food section. I’ve heard customers proclaim, “THIS is the BEST mayo in the world!” and others groan or say, “Ugh! Gross!” about […]