Muji Hollywood | Japan's Stylish Home Goods Store Comes To L.A. | Tasting Table Los Angeles

You may not know it yet, but Muji is set to become your new favorite store.

Often touted as Japan's answer to IKEA and Crate & Barrel, the cult-inspiring shop has arrived in Hollywood with its largest U.S. location yet, offering over 8,600 square feet of minimalist-inspired goods, with wares ranging from flannel shirts to double-tipped pens to ultrasonic aroma diffusers.

But it's Muji's massive kitchenware section that has our attention.

Muji Hollywood

Cook
Ever wanted to make your own tamagoyaki? Pick up the square-shaped omelette pan ($27) coated with non-stick zirconia enamel and a nifty nylon resin spatula that doubles as an egg beater ($6). We're also fond of the Hinoki wood cutting board ($30) hewn from fragrant Japanese cedar, and a handheld sesame mill ($18).

Serve
Give your rice the deluxe treatment with one of Muji's beautiful turquoise-glazed rice bowls ($16) or a pair of ornate lacquered chopsticks ($12). The bone china dishes–outfitted with separate partitions for curry and pasta ($22)–are pretty clever if you don't like your foods mingling.

Snack

The food section at Muji (a first for U.S. stores) is full of oddities–think liquid packets of bagna cauda dip and powdered cod roe pasta sauce ($2.50). Some are delicious and some, well, not so much. Mouth-puckering pickled kelp and odiferous squid jerky ($1.50) should be tried only by the brave, but white-chocolate dried strawberries ($3)? We can get down with that.