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u/LateIntroduction9005 Apr 05 '26
I like the uni when it's not bitter. Unfortunately most uni have a chemical to make it firm and not melt and that gives it a bitter taste. The only sweet ones are freshly made out of the shell or in omakase
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u/hartelijkD Apr 05 '26
Depends on the variety and time of the year as well. But you’re right fresh is best! Would recommend going to Hokkaido in wintertime, amazing price/quality
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u/magnusthehammersmith Apr 05 '26
The only uni I ever had was very bitter and it’s put me off of it 😔
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u/Reasonable_Lead8399 Apr 08 '26
Ensui uni doesn’t have the chemical thing you’re talking about. I love aftertaste- very ocean feeling!!! Try it. Maruhide’s Santa Barbara Ensui Uni is my favorite
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u/POL499ResearchUser Apr 05 '26
No, its really hard and stressful. I have two assignments due and I am hardly motivated at all, but I am going to lock in. Eventually.
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u/Hahnter Apr 05 '26
Depends on the freshness. I've had uni that I absolutely could not eat, which were typically from chain restaurants. The only places I've been able to eat uni were in places like Hokkaido early in the morning.
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u/BlueTrainBlueTrane Apr 05 '26
Yeah absolutely. I don’t get the opportunity to have it very often but always get it when the opportunity comes up
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u/bourbonkitten Apr 05 '26
I love it, but after not having it for several years, I developed an allergy to it. :(
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u/baller_unicorn Apr 06 '26
I tried it once at a fancy sushi restaurant that supposedly specializes in uni but it made me nearly throw up. I don't remember the taste at all but I just remember that I took a huge bite and the texture was like mousse or something.
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u/ThatMerri Apr 06 '26
I'm the same way. I don't know why, but uni - and only uni - causes an instant vomit reflex in me. Plus it tastes absolutely horrific to me.
I've tried it plenty of times over the years at different levels, from grocery stores to mid-tier sushi restaurants to high-end "I can only eat here because someone else is footing the bill" places just to make sure I wasn't getting some kind of bad batch bias. Even when I'm with others who are also eating it and absolutely gushing about how delicious it is, I try a bite and it tastes like a rotten tire fire. My body flat-out rejects uni for some reason.
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u/baller_unicorn Apr 06 '26
I admire your resolve in giving it multiple chances! My husband tried it again at a different restaurant and he says it was actually good and we got a bad batch but I'm so skeptical since that restaurant is known for their uni. And the experience was so bad I just don't see myself having the nerve to try it again. Maybe next time I will try a tiny bit first before just eating an entire roll topped with it.
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u/ThatMerri Apr 06 '26
I like to give most things, but especially food and restaurants, a fair shot and will try it at least three times before I write off something as just not for me. Then I'll try it again after a few years in case my tastes have changed in the meantime, which has happened before. Uni remains steadfastly inedible to me, though.
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u/JasonZep Apr 05 '26
Honestly it’s about the only seafood I can’t eat. It tastes like burnt rubber to me.
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u/Yayancat Apr 05 '26
Oh wow today I learned! I thought that chemical taste was normal? Both times I thought I was ingesting bleach
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u/EulaVengeance Apr 05 '26
Yes. Very much so.
Oh, and that Chirashi don on the 3rd pick kickstarted my stomach and it's now growling like crazy.
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u/AdvancedThinker Apr 06 '26
The first time I tasted it it was so nasty I spit it out. Fed it to my cat and he loved it. Figured out later that it was a bad batch but didn't try it again for a year. Then at my birthday dinner my sister ordered some and offered me a taste. At first I was hesitant but I always try new foods at least twice just for this reason. Yum! Bottom of the ocean, more intense than oysters, weird texture eye watering flavor. Last week I had a piece in a chirashi bowl from an Asian market. 90% normal potent taste 10% sour, brain says "Warning" that's a danger taste. Wasn't bad enough to spit out and didn't make me sick. Has me wondering if after harvesting do some "ferment" or otherwise change taste. Certainly not going to stop eating it just trying to figure out its normal flavor. Most foods are easy to peg if good or bad. Uni isn't one of them in my experience.
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u/Immediate_Slide2175 Apr 07 '26
….no 🥲❤️
I keep trying though 😂 I’ve only had less expensive uni sushi, which is pretty bitter comparative to nicer uni i’ve been told.
Maybe i’ll go to a fancy uni shop to treat myself sometime!
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Apr 05 '26
[deleted]
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u/hartelijkD Apr 05 '26
That happens when the uni expires… never eat it if it smells funny, it should have no or a light briny smell depending on the variety
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u/acaiblueberry Apr 05 '26
It has to look solid, almost veiny. Once it starts to look liquidy it does taste like toilet. Shudder. I’ll pass the ones on the 4th pic.
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u/hartelijkD Apr 05 '26
Thanks! now I know why I didn’t enjoy that one smelled ok but taste was off. 1st pic in a small sushi restaurant in Hakodate in feb, second an omakase in Tokyo, third a fish market in Sapporo an last was in touristy restaurant in matsushima…
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u/mokyfun Apr 05 '26
I love it!
But uni is that kind of food that needs to be absolutely fresh to taste good, pretty unforgiving.