Umami Mart

We are having a blast in Japan, gallivanting through Gifu, Kyoto and Osaka. This trip, we’re not even stopping off in Tokyo, so we can concentrate on all the riches of these western regions of Japan. Kyoto was hot and sticky, and we found cool reprieve at our friend Masayo’s restaurant, Kiln. It has been […]

Hola from España! To celebrate finishing the cookbook (yay!), we headed to Andalusia. We rented a little apartment in Sevilla which is such an idyllic town. Citrus trees literally line all the streets — it’s amazing! Around every corner you’ll find another tapas restaurant, with tables scattered over cobblestones, beneath citrus trees. Even the cathedrals have citrus […]

Went to Hard Water the other night, Charles Phan’s newest eatery located along the scenic Embarcadero in San Francisco. It’s such a rarity to go out and join the HOT SF scene. But it must be done, once in a blue moon! The space was impressive, with a gorgeous marble U-shaped bar against a majestic […]

On an early morning off the main drag in Luang Prabang, Laos, Pasaneyom Coffee Shop is bustling with regulars. Pasaneyom offers the breakfast essentials: porridge, coffee and donuts. They keep a big vat of water going over the fire, and the coffee pots over that to keep things HOT and economical. I went to this […]

Cao lầu is a noodle dish comprised of pork, mint and noodles and is native to the town Hoi An in Vietnam. *Johnny Lopes is based in San Francisco and traveled through Southeast Asia for two months. See what he ate during his three-country tour on his Flickr feed.

I just returned from a week in Vietnam with Johnny. We had an incredible time! I will be posting more in the coming weeks, as my jetlag fades, but here’s a snapshot from a market in Cái Bè, a small town on the Mekong Delta. I love this photo. Amidst the chaos of the early-morning market, this […]

*Johnny Lopes is based in San Francisco and is currently traveling through Southeast Asia for two months. Follow what he’s eating on his Flickr feed.

*Johnny Lopes is based in San Francisco and is currently traveling through Southeast Asia for two months. Follow what he’s eating on his Flickr feed.

*Johnny Lopes is based in San Francisco and is currently traveling through Southeast Asia for two months. Follow what he’s eating on his Flickr feed.

By Johnny Lopes Khaosan Road, Bangkok; Backpacker Mecca. The street gets stupid busy at night between fellow travelers and merchant hustlers. You can buy everything from new suits to a ride to a local ping-pong show. As an amateur photo-journalist project, I went out in the early morning to seek out the silent streets — I […]