I walked in for dinner at Handroll Project recently, a restaurant opened this spring from the team behind Ju-Ni and Hina Yakitori. As the name implies, HRP is a handroll/temaki focused restaurant. It’s on 18th Street in the Mission in the space across from Tartine Bakery, formerly occupied by AL’s Deli and before that, Yuzuki. It’s a small space that consists of several long counters. Eater blurb:
The menu is pretty short and sweet. As far as hand rolls go there were 10 to choose from, and you can order a la carte or pick a set of 5, 7, or all 10. I just ordered a la carte.
I started with a beer, Yoho “Nippon Citrus” Yuzu and Sea Salt Ale ($13). Which was a bit like a gose with a bit of saltiness. Very refreshing. Not that extensive a drink menu though, with 3-4 selections each of wines, beers, and sakes.
Next, the miso soup ($5.5)
Sweet, only white miso probably, with some mushroom slices.
and then some rolls:
Salmon & Sesame ($7.5)
ikura, bonito flakes
Pretty simple roll with ikura/salmon roe and topped with shaved bonito flakes/katsuobushi. Nicely crisped nori, rice had a good texture too.
Smoked Hamachi ($8)
shiso, negi
Chopped up hamachi with green onion, with a little sweet licorice flavor from the shiso leaf. Quite good.
Creamy Scallop ($8)
tobiko, negi, miso aioli, avocado
This was very good, probably my favorite roll of the meal. Fresh sweet sliced raw scallops, with some tobiko for some crunchy pop, and a little mayo sauce and avocado for some fattiness.
Toro Takuan ($12.5)
fatty tuna, pickled radish, shiso, negi
A bit like a fatty tuna version of the smoked hamachi roll. Richer though because toro.
Ikura & Ankimo ($12.5)
salmon roe, monkfish liver pâté
A very interesting roll. The ankimo/monkfish liver was frozen to a sub-zero temperature and then was shaved finely with what looked like a rotary cheese grater. The cold shaved ankimo had a creamy texture, like ankimo ice cream perhaps. This was on top of more ikura. I made a bit of a mess eating it.
Smoked Uni & Ikura
smoked Hokkaido uni, ikura
Nice classic(?) combination of slightly smoky uni/sea urchin roe and ikura.
I also added a supplement of kizami wasabi (pickled wasabi) for $4.50. Very pungent real wasabi that was in chunks rather than grated.
Some pretty good rolls. Will be back to try some of the ones I missed.
More pics:
