Seaweed Hand Roll Bar
Toro with Uni, golden caviar, and shaved truffles
With only a few days left living in California, I’ve decided that I need to go to as many of the restaurants as possible that I’ve always wanted to try. After seeing so many posts on Instagram, I decided I needed to get sushi at Seaweed Hand Roll Bar above all. So, when I got out of work early on my birthday, I decided to drive up to LA for a little treat.
It’s in a strip mall
This restaurant is in a tiny strip mall in Koreatown. Like many good restaurants in LA, it’s very unassuming from the outside. There is limited valet parking for <$5, or you can hunt for street parking. You walk into a narrow room with a long bar. There are no tables in this restaurant – your only choice is to sit at the bar. It's totally fine for me, as I love to watch the chefs, but it wouldn't be very easy if you order a lot of food. Lucky for me, I went around 2pm, so there was plenty of space for me to spread out at the bar. It does get crowded at dinnertime.
Pay attention to the specials
The standard menu offers a la carte ordering, consisting of appetizers, handrolls, sashimi, nigiri, and drinks. The menu is only one page and seems very limited at first glance. Thankfully, they offer a vast array of specials. When I asked about them, the waitress mentioned 20+ additional offerings that aren't on the menu. They ranged from A5 Wagyu to Aji, to a snapper fried whole.
OMO – Oh my Omakase
They also offer three tiers of Omakase, ranging from $75 - $200+. While it is the chef’s choice, it includes everything from appetizers to nigiri – the inclusion of the appetizers is something I don’t typically see with an Omakase, but I don’t hate it.
An option for every budget
Pricing greatly varies. With that said, I find everything very reasonable for the quality. It can add up fast if you are ordering the specials or more extravagant dishes. For example, the spicy tuna handroll is $5, whereas the Toro with Uni, golden caviar, and shaved truffles are $35.
Andrew’s picks
I ordered the following:
Cucumber Salad. It was plated BEAUTIFULLY. Slightly spicy, beautifully crunchy, with a nice yuzu finish.
Shishito Peppers. SPICY. I love shishito peppers. These were perfectly blistered, tender, with a kick at the finish. A must order, in my opinion. It pairs perfectly with sushi.
Wild King Salmon. The color on this was insane. I usually find salmon to be a bright, piercing orange color. It was unlike any salmon I’ve seen before. It was much softer, almost a pastel – it also lacked the deep fat veining you see with other species. It was much firmer than most other salmon I’ve had in the past; however, it did not sacrifice any tenderness. It was both rich in flavor, yet milder than traditional salmon I’ve had.
Lobster Gunkan. Delicious. It reminds me of what I envision a Japanese lobster roll tasting like. It’s creamy, then spicy, and then has a nice finish of fresh lobster. Instead of mayo, they use spicy mayo. Instead of bread, they use rice and seaweed. It’s full of tail meat too, not claw.
Wild Aji from Japan. Also known as horse mackerel. It was excellent quality with a meaty texture and a splash of Yuzu on top to brighten it up. I also think this is one of the prettiest types of sushi.
Hokkaido Seared Scallops. These are also topped with Yuzu and are light and bright, yet let you taste the delicate scallop. They’re remarkably tender, and the sear was incredibly light, just enough to give it a little crunch for mouthfeel.
Japanese Hokkaido Uni. I’d never had Hokkaido Uni before; it’s delicious. It has a rich, deep umami flavor, with a slightly sweet finish. It’s a very dark orange color. This is very different from Santa Barbara Uni, which is my favorite. Santa Barbara Uni is very creamy, very sweet, and slightly briny. You can’t go wrong with Hokkaido or Santa Barbara Uni – these are considered the gold standard around the world.
Toro with Uni, golden caviar, and shaved truffles. This dish was delicious, albeit disappointing. The Toro was tender, fatty, and delicious. The Uni added creaminess, and the caviar added brine. With that said, I couldn’t taste the truffle at all. While I love white truffles, I think they are a bit too delicate of a flavor for this dish. Much more would be needed for it to really shine. Given the scale, I think the use of black truffle would help bring the truffle flavor-forward to compliment the Toro, and then lead into the creaminess and finally briny flavor.
Sushi Traveler Hand Roll. I follow an account on Instagram called sushitraveler. He travels around the world, eating sushi. He stopped by this restaurant when they opened, and they named an off-menu handroll after him. It’s filled with snow crab, Hokkaido scallop, Ankimo, Uni, Octopus, and Ikura, with a few other things like a Shiso leaf. There are a lot of flavors going on, but they all work together. With that said, the various textures and sizes of the cuts made it a bit difficult to eat.
Anago Sushi. Saltwater eel. Quite frankly, this was the best eel I’ve ever had. Usually, I order unagi (or freshwater eel). It is meaty, flakey, and if it’s not high quality, it can be very gritty. Nonetheless, unagi is delicious when heated, crisped, and covered in eel sauce. Anago blew any unagi I’ve had out of the water. It’s soft, tender, and melts in your mouth. It also has a milder flavor that’s perfectly complimented with a delicate eel sauce. A MUST ORDER if they have it on special.
The Verdict
So, the real question is, would I go back? The answer is yes! Everything was excellent, and I like that they had a wide array of specials with fish sourced from around the world – not all of which is common. With that said, I probably wouldn’t drive up from Orange County just to come here unless I was trying to impress someone, since there are some extravagant options. For an everyday sushi joint, I’ll sacrifice some of the variety and head to my local spot for equally delicious food at a better value.
