Norimaki - Melbourne

First dinner on my trip down to Melbourne was of course an Omakase, making it the second of the day. Not wanting to stray too far from the hotel, I made my reservation at Nori Maki, a short stroll away.

 

Having a Wednesday night reservation in their second round of the evening, the store was really quite packed. I ended up getting a seat at the end of the bar, where it was surprisingly difficult to get service all evening.

 

The menu was short. The focus was of course on norimaki aka hand rolls, with a handful of entrees and other side dishes. The other side was comprised of drinks. It took a surprisingly long time for me to get the attention of staff to put down my order.

 

Starting with some ginjo for my meal, this was fruity, sharp and aromatic.

Starting with a tuna sashimi, this was served with crispy onions and pickled onions. It was a refreshing take on tuna sashimi and the flavours were intense and the texture had a much needed crunch. It was a generous portion for one person but not much to share between two.

 

I opted for the signature Nori Maki set menu and this started off with the Torotaku, filled with minced tuna belly and pickled radish. The hand roll itself was notably smaller than the food court style variants. The rice to topping ratio wasn't bad but had definite room for improvement. The tuna itself was on the leaner side and the pickles didn't stand out for me. The nori was crisp though and the texture of the rice was excellent.

Next up was the Hokkaido Scallop. I enjoyed this a lot more. The scallop was fresh and sweet. Mayonnaise added creaminess whilst tobiko added some much needed crunch. 

Comparatively the Zuwai Crab and Kani Miso was a bit less impressive. The crab was fairly light in taste and there wasn't too much in the roll. The miso flavours were also on the weaker side and it was a fairly imbalanced roll.

The Aburi Salmon Belly and Ikura was a highlight. This one had a very generous amount of both salmon and ikura, however arguably the salmon was very lightly torched compared to other aburi. The fish was fresh and flavours were very complementary.

At this point, I interluded with a miso soup. The waitress dropped it down much to my confusion, as it wasn't noted on the set menu. It took me a while to query it to understand it came complimentary. Light but umami, it warmed me right up. 

Moving onto more of the special roll category, my favourite roll of the night was the trust us, comprising of  Engawa, toro and truffle. Up until that point, I had never fully appreciated the rich buttery but light joy that is engawa, but since then I cannot stop thinking about how delicious it was. Coupled with the rich toro and truffle, it was a very indulgent morsel. 

The crescendo of the course was without a doubt the Cholesteroll. Topped with ikura, torotaku, monk fish liver, chive and truffle paste, this definitely had an excellent rice to topping ratio. Each bite was very rich and was bursting with flavours. It is no wonder this is the signature roll of the establishment.

Not wanting to miss a single hit of the special roll list, I added an extra order of the A5 wagyu. This turned out to be a lot more muted compared to the Cholesteroll. The focus was on the A5 wagyu and nothing else. The beef was buttery and soft, but it was also easily a roll I could recreate at home with minimal effort. 

Overall I would say the food was a hit and miss at Norimaki. I really enjoyed some rolls but others were very average. Service though was most definitely below average throughout the night. Sitting in the corner meant I couldn't get service and the speed of food coming out was definitely lacking. Although it was bar seating, I also had essentially no interaction with the chef and ended up reading a novel to pass the time waiting for each course to come out. For an up market restaurant, I would have expected better.

 

Price Range: $170 - $190

Taste: 7/10

Value: 6/10

Service: 4/10

Environment: 8/10