Got an urge to cook some udon or sukiyaki? Or maybe to just pick up a fresh rice ball or sashimi plate? You won’t have to travel far, thanks to a little Pacific Rim of Japanese groceries stretching around the Bay perimeter.
We’re not talking major operations like Mitsuwa or Osaka Marketplace. We’re talking smaller, often mom-and-pop stores like what you might find on a Tokyo back street. Each has their own charm and specialties to discover. In no particular order, here are five such places to visit in the Bay in 2023:
Yaoya-San, El Cerrito
The sign on this unassuming shop beckons you in with a basket of smiling, anthropomorphic vegetables. And inside will make you smile, with its wealth of snacks, beverages and packaged meals you won’t find many other places. There’s sushi and bento boxes from Berkeley restaurant Musashi (these items typically sell out by early afternoon), grilled fish entrees and side dishes like fried eggplant with ginger or okra in sesame sauce. A little meats section features thin cuts perfect for hot pot and luscious lobes of salmon roe. There’s a well-stocked wall of sake, beer and shochu, and then the rest of the real estate is dominated by treats from across the waves – crispy ramen snacks, cans of Japanese coffee, Hawaiian kimchi popcorn, melon KitKats, and the list goes on.
Details: Open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday at 10566 San Pablo Ave., El Cerrito; yaoyasan.com
Fugetsu, San Jose
Fugetsu is less a grocery store (though there are packaged snacks and drinks) and more of an emporium for excellent, premade Japanese food. It was meant to be a restaurant until the pandemic forced a pivot. The specialties are okonomiyaki – that savory Japanese pancake of seafood, meats, cabbage and anything else in the fridge – and deep-fried skewers called kushikatsu, which you’ll find in a small heating station. The rice balls are huge, fresh and loaded with delicious accompaniments like cured mackerel and spicy roe with cucumber. And the bento section, prepared by Shalala Deli, is a wonder of curries and sushi bowls as good as anything you’ll find in a restaurant (and somehow so much cheaper). Bonus points: Clover Bakery & Cafe is right next door, with its long lines for melon bread and strawberry buns.
Details: Open 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. daily at 4342 Moorpark Ave., Suite 20, San Jose; fugetsumarket.com
Diablo Oriental Foods, Walnut Creek
Inland Contra Costa doesn’t have a ton of Japanese shopping options, so the longstanding presence of Diablo Oriental Foods is especially welcome. This operation has been around for many years – seemingly without change, according to some regulars – providing a small but carefully curated selection of Japanese and Hawaiian goods. Its narrow aisles have the staples you’ll need for home cooking, and if your home-cooking setup is tragic it also has colorful tableware and cutlery. There’s sushi-grade ahi and hamachi, fresh produce, premade sushi, sides like seaweed salad and bottles of green tea. “This is my go-to place for family sushi night,” writes one online reviewer. “So many items in such a small place. A Walnut Creek gem.”
Details: Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 2590 North Main Street, Walnut Creek; 925-933-2590
Tokyo Fish Market, Berkeley
This place isn’t just an incredible Japanese fishmonger – it’s an incredible fishmonger, period. The bounty of the ocean is presented on a bed of ice stretching from one side of the store to the other, with bubbling tanks for crabs and lobsters and a section for sashimi. Among the hundred-plus types of seafood it often carries is velvety uni, crunchy geoduck and delicate Fanny Bay oysters. The produce section has staples like Tokyo scallions and daikon, and in the freezers are shumai, gyoza and fun popsicles. You’ll find onigiri and bento boxes at the deli counter, and a large selection of sake to pair with crackers like arare and senbei. Outside, there’s a gift shop with Japanese books, housewares, chef’s knives, neko and tanooki figurines and other items to enhance your home and social life.
Details: Open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 1220 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley; tokyofish.net
Takahashi Market, San Mateo
Hawaiian transplants craving a taste of home will find it in spades at Takahashi, which has been around in one form or another since progenitor Tokutaro Takahashi came to Northern California in 1906. Everything you need to kit out killer poke is here – limu seaweed, sea salt, kukui nuts, all from Hawaii – and then there’s Hawaiian soy sauce, sake, King’s sweet bread, poi and Spam musubi. An efficient kitchen caters to folks who show up early for plate lunches of kalua pork, grilled mackerel and lomi salmon. And right now on Thursday and Friday there’s a pop-up by Ocean Malasada Co., slinging Portuguese doughnuts in flavors like ube and haupia chocolate pudding.
Details: Open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday at 221 South Claremont St., San Mateo; takahashimarket.com