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Hakko: It’s the Japanese word for fermentation and the focus of a new cafe in San Bruno.
Hakko has dual purposes, enhancing taste with its savory umami flavor and improving gut health with its probiotic properties. Koji, fermented malted rice, is used to make many common Japanese ingredients, including soy sauce, miso, sake and mirin. And at Kitchen Therapy, chef-owner Fumi Ito is making her own salt koji, shoyu koji and amazake to season her dishes.
“Eating is healing,” she said. “It’s not just what you eat; it’s also how you feel when you eat. I wanted to create a place where people feel comfortable, happy and joyful to eat.”
Located in a former office space along El Camino Real, Kitchen Therapy soft opened July 17 and grand opened Aug. 28. The small cafe offers sandwiches ($13-14) on housemade sourdough (made with housemade amazake) and shokupan (Japanese milk bread), bento boxes with hakko seasoning ($22) and a selection of desserts including parfaits ($10). For drinks, find classics like coffee and espresso beverages, as well as more unique items like hojicha and ube lattes.
In addition to food and drinks, Kitchen Therapy sells retail items from a variety of small, local businesses, including chili oil, herbal tea, organic face cosmetics, ceramics, body care products, pouches, cloth napkins and keychains.
Ito was born and raised in a mountainous country region of Nagano, Japan, before moving to the Bay Area 24 years ago.
“My parents, my grandmother, they make their own miso, make their own soy sauce, they make their own soybeans,” Ito said. “And I basically grew up on the farm, and they made everything from scratch.”
Her culinary journey began when she took a job at a catering company, working there for a decade before starting her own catering business in 2009 called Sweet and Natural. Five years later, she opened a Japanese deli-cafe, also called Sweet and Natural, in downtown San Bruno, shutting the shop four years later but continuing the catering business.
The spark for opening her second brick-and-mortar eatery came when she noticed the office space adjacent to the kitchen she operates Sweet and Natural out of was vacant. She talked with the landlord, and transformed the space into a storefront.
“People come here from outside, like, ‘Am I in the right place?’ but from inside this looks totally different from outside,” she said. “It’s just a little odd place to have a cafe.”
Ito said she eventually hopes to host workshops and pop-ups at Kitchen Therapy.
“I want to create a space for the community,” she said. “If people have any ideas to utilize this place, I’m open to any ideas.”
Kitchen Therapy, 1590 El Camino Real, Suite H, San Bruno; 650-302-5376; Instagram: @cafe.kitchen.therapy. Open Tuesday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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