Umami Mart

Hakodate is a pretty lonely town. When you walk through the morning market or ichiba (Hakodate’s version of Tsukiji), shopsellers show their desperation as they shove sample pieces of melon and corn in your face. It’s hard to say “no” to their persistence, but just saying no was the only option, if we wanted to […]

Hakodate is famous for its fresh seafood, so eating sushi was necessary. Being total newbies to the area, we chose a sushi restaurant that was listed in our JTB (Japan Travel Bureau) guide magazine. About a 10 minute walk from Hakodate JR Station, Oujousushi is located on a desolate stretch of road next to a […]

Newest omiyage (gift) in the Akabori household from Japan: green tea Baumkuchen from a patisserie in Dojima, Osaka called Mon Chouchou. From the website, it looks like it is a relatively new shop (2003), that takes its inspiration from the old world of Osaka, calling Dojima the “New York of Japan.” Of course the most […]

One of the best things about Hakodate, Hokkaido was that there were no McDonalds. This seems very odd, considering Hakodate isn’t such a tiny city. But not so odd, when you know that it has its own home-grown fast food chain Lucky Pierrot that could take over the world, just like McDonald’s, if it wanted […]

My partner and I took a mini-honeymoon to Hokkaido this week with one mission – to eat our way through the Northern land famous for squid, crab, salmon and dairy. We ate so much that I will blaze through our eats in a series of posts centering on the photos I took. Adventures in Japan […]

I posted about Mangetsu’s Mugi-toro Don the other day, Tokyo JUNKtion: Mugi-toro Don at MANGETSU, and promised to get back to UMAMIMART with more coverage on Mangetsu since one post was just not enough. You will probably see me at Mangetsu one to three times a week during these past two months (I was introduced […]

Kanpyo is a curious food – shaved calabash gourd. You can buy kanpyo dehydrated in white strips. You must prepare the dehydrated strips and marinate them to get them ready for the most common kanpyo dishes like futomaki rolls and side dishes. I wanted to make unohana – a mixture of tofu pulp and vegetables, […]

My partner recently went to Niigata-prefecture in Japan for the weekend. He brought back a gift of hegisoba for me. At first glance, hegisoba looks just like the cheapo 178 yen soba I buy at the local supermarket, but upon closer inspection, there seems to be more grainy specks of black and grey. Hegisoba is […]

One of the best things about Tokyo is its haphazardness. In addition to being able to drink outside, their zoning and permit laws seems to be pretty lax, allowing for makeshift parties outside – literally on the street. If a car tries to squeeze by, well… it’ll just have to wait until all the drunkards […]

I finally had the guts to buy a goya because there was a half-cut goya on sale for 50 yen at my local supermarket last week. I had always envied my Okinawan friend who could nonchalantly cook up Goya-Chanpuru. Until last week, goya was much too intimidating for me to take up. Goya is a […]