Happy Lunar New Year — Year of the Snake
Happy Lunar New Year. We are choosing to interpret 2025 as the Year of Uni, regardless of what the calendar says about snakes, and we have planned this week's inventory accordingly.
For this week only, we are carrying an extended range of Uni varieties so you can host your own tasting and understand the differences between origins and species. This is a rare opportunity — we don't typically carry four varieties simultaneously, and the differences between them are meaningful and instructive.
Uni Tasting — Four Varieties This Week
The lineup this week for Uni:
- Bafun Uni from Hokkaido — the bold, golden-orange variety. Intensely briny, richly sweet, assertive. The benchmark for what most people think of as premium Uni flavor.
- Murasaki Uni from Hokkaido — softer, more nuanced, with a gentler sweetness and a longer, more contemplative finish. Typically preferred by those who find Bafun slightly too direct.
- Suzuki (鱸, Japanese Sea Bass) — not Uni, but worth including in this context as the week's featured fish. Winter Suzuki is a different fish from the summer version: the fat distribution shifts in cold water and the flesh becomes fuller and richer, with a depth that the leaner summer fish doesn't approach.
- Madai Kobujime (真鯛昆布締め) — a small quantity of kelp-cured Sea Bream, available in limited quantity. The Kobujime process concentrates the umami of both the fish and the kombu, producing a firmer, more layered result than fresh Madai sashimi.
Hotate Scallops and Kinmedai are also available alongside Nagasaki Bluefin Tuna in all cuts. Reserve Uni online — extended selection weeks sell out faster than standard weeks.
Closed Thursday — Japanese Embassy Event
We will be closed on Thursday, January 30th to participate in an event at the Japanese Embassy. The format is live fish processing in front of guests — breaking down a whole Yellowtail (Buri) into sashimi cuts while explaining the anatomy of the fish, the purpose of each cut, and the Ikejime technique used at harvest. The guests at this kind of event include diplomats, food journalists, and members of the Japanese-American business community — bringing the sourcing story directly to the people who shape how Japanese food culture is understood in Washington DC.
How to taste Uni side by side: Eat each variety over a small amount of warm, lightly seasoned rice — no soy sauce, no wasabi on the first piece. The warmth of the rice opens the flavor of the Uni. Taste Murasaki first (more delicate), then Bafun (more assertive). The sequence matters; going bold-to-delicate makes the second variety disappear by comparison.