In Japanese, the word miyabi is used to describe the things in life that give lots of happiness and pleasure for being stylish and perfect. I suspect that the owners of Miyabi Uni were set on creating a restaurant that would pay homage to the sea urchin. Miyabi Uni is located in Plaza del Prado in Old Town Torrance.
Miyabi Uni originally opened in 2017 and I posted a review shortly after they opened. The interior was quite classy and suitable to impress a date. The menu was almost solely focused around Japanese uni. In fact, eight donburi dishes had uni as one of its ingredients. They even had uni miso soup and a house salad with sea urchin dressing.
I think Miyabi Uni’s management came to realize that not everyone enjoys uni. Since my initial visit, they announced a new dinner menu. Since a fair amount of time has passed since my initial visits, I made a point to return to check it out.
The scene is the same. This is a traditional Japanese restaurant and not a sushi restaurant where everyone shouts out Irasshaimase, or welcome! While the chefs are younger, they uphold the traditional stoic personality of an old school sushi chef. It’s all about the food and the presentation.
The menu is definitely larger and is more representative of a traditional Japanese restaurant. While premium uni (Santa Barbara and Hokkaido) are both center stage on the menu, they now extend their non-uni selections. Some examples of this are Salmon Skin Salad, Roast Beef Donburi, and a Grilled Miso-Marinated Atlantic Salmon.
On the appetizer list is fresh oysters with Santa Barbara uni, roe, and gold leaf. Two oysters on the half-shell are topped with sweet Santa Barbara uni. It is complemented with salmon roe, caviar, microgreens, and decorative gold flakes. This dish packs a lot of flavor!
The Kobe Rib Eye steak was grilled to perfection and topped with fried garlic. My wife thought the taste of the steak was superb and was happy that it was a lot more tender than most. Finally, the steak was nicely trimmed making this a pleasure to eat.
Among the donburi selections, the Uni Maguro is made with bluefin tuna & uni. Bluefin tuna is highly sought after because it is one of the best-tasting tunas. Upon doing the research for this article, I found that the bluefin tuna is overfished and not sustainable. My bad. Fortunately, the sea urchin from Santa Barbara is sustainable.
It wasn’t until I tried uni from Santa Barbara that I fell in love with uni. Biting into it, you quickly appreciate how buttery and creamy it is. They also import uni from Hokkaido, Japan. This uni is also creamy, but its taste is reminiscent of the aroma of the ocean.
I’ve often seen customers select one of their pasta dishes: Uni cream, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio or the Miyabi Uni Original with soy sauce, garlic butter and topped with uni, shiso leaf, and crispy seaweed.
The beverage selection is what you might expect from a place that serves sushi. Their sake selection includes Junmai, Ginjo, and Daiginjo. Other beverages include Korean shochu, sparkling wine, and a small selection of white and red wines. Asahi and Sapporo are available in pints or pitchers.
Miyabi Uni, 1231 Cabrillo Ave., Suite 101, Torrance, CA 90501; 424.376-5135
miyabiuni.com