Umami Mart

Happy New Year! We hope that everyone had a cozy, relaxing holiday season with your loved ones and are ready to rock 2016. It’s going to be a good one — it’s the year of the Monkey! Strap in. We are kicking the year off right with JAPAN BEER FEST, our beloved yearly soiree presented with […]

Our Haku Shoyus have been getting lots of attention. Last week, New York Magazine‘s Grub Street included the Sakura Cherry Blossom Shoyu in its Edible Gift Guide, calling it “the rosé of soy sauce.” And Luke Tsai of the East Bay Express gave the trio of shoyus from Kyoto a shoutout in his Eat This Gift list. […]

Back by popular demand, we’ll be hosting our second free tasting with Tokyo-based Horiguchi Coffee! Join us this Saturday at Umami Mart from 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. to taste three Horiguchi coffees: the popular Flower and Juicy #2 blend and two single-origin brews, Ethiopia from Yirgacheffe Kochere and Kenya from Thiriku Farmers Co-Op. Buy a bag […]

A good friend of mine is in Tokyo right now and he wanted a shortlist of places to eat. As a tourist, you usually do want to be armed with a list from someone you know of where to dine while traveling. You don’t want to get stuck in an awful, overpriced restaurant that caters […]

Growing up, I would visit Japan about once every two years or so. It would always be to see our extended family, who all lived in the Tokyo area. The trips would be jam-packed time for family in Saitama, Yokohama and Chiba, and we never made it out much to other areas of Japan. My […]

When we mentioned to Mr. Akio Watanabe, owner of Bar EST! in Tokyo that we were heading to Niigata, he recommended that we visit Bar Owl. It was one of those things that we told him we would do but Yoko and I didn’t actually think we would actually make it there — Niigata prefecture is […]

I’d like to start with a little background on the small town of Tsubame-Sanjo. This manufacturing town in Niigata Prefecture produces most of Japan’s stainless steel items. If you are enjoying a little cake with a tiny fork in Tokyo or stirring a cocktail with a barspoon from Umami Mart, chances are these utensils were […]

The name Caesarean derives from all things related to Caesar, the Roman general whose actions led to the rise of the Roman Empire. It does not derive from the caesarean section, which might have been more fitting, given that entering the bar felt like entering an altered womb-reality à la David Lynch. To go into […]

Sake is one of those things that really makes you appreciate locality. It’s like the meyer lemons in Berkeley. It’s totally cliche and played out, but local food traditions are a sight to behold. The fact that they are native to their land, makes them thrive and produce in abundance, giving the locals many, many […]

In 2011, we visited Hakkaisan, a sake brewery in Niigata. As one of the most well-known breweries in Japan, it was a wonderful experience to walk through the vast facilities, hosted by the production master, Mr. Nagumo. You can read about our visit here. Yoko and I never thought we would visit this part of Japan again, […]