What a Day in Brooklyn!!

Sunday, October 4. Cafe O'TE, Brooklyn.

Our first-ever public Hokkaido uni event, and it's hard to describe how it went without using the word we try to avoid in writing. So we'll just say it. It was a massive success.

Sold out before noon

We prepared 45 sets. Chef Joji started rolling at 11 AM. By a little after noon, every set was gone.

People lined up before we opened the doors. Some had come from Manhattan, some from Queens, a few from New Jersey. One customer flew in. We weren't ready for that.

What we served

Three handrolls, all wrapped in Ariake nori. Hokkaido uni, prepared by us. The last of our Murasaki season, flown in the week before.

Kagoshima unagi with ankimo on top. Chef Joji's dish, the one you can also find on the counter at NOURY.

MiMAKi umeboshi from Wakayama. Three kinds of Kishu plum in one bite.

Paired with an ochoko of sake, or tomato water for anyone who'd rather skip the alcohol.

The counter

Seeing people eat the uni we flew in, in the same morning Chef Joji rolled it, that was the whole point. Four years of shipping to doorsteps, and this was the first time we got to hand it over directly.

Some people asked where the uni was from. Some asked about the nori. Some didn't ask anything and just closed their eyes on the first bite. All of it meant something to us.

Thank you!!!

To everyone who came out, waited in line, and told us what you thought. You made this happen.

To Chef Joji Miwa, who left NOURY's SoHo kitchen for a full morning to roll with us. We couldn't have asked for a better partner.

To Cafe O'TE, who gave us the room and the setup to make it work.

What's next

This was the first. It won't be the last.

More in-person events and collaborations are already in the works. If you want to be the first to know, we'll be announcing them here and on our Instagram.

For now, we're going to sit down for a minute, eat something, and figure out where to go next.

See you at the next one.

— The team at Hokkaido Uni Shop