Boston's Best New Handroll Bar: Matsunori
Hesitant not to gatekeep this one
When I first tried Kenmore’s Matsunori, I was baffled as to why there wasn’t a line out the door and around the block. They opened their doors to the public in February of 2023, blessing Boston with chef Rick Kim’s delicate take on Temaki style sushi. But be warned: they do not take reservations. So to all my fellow eldest-daughter-compulsive-planners, I apologize; your dinner plans are in the hands of fate, luck, and strategic timing. Let’s get into the review.
The restaurant itself is very simply laid out: 4 tables and bar seating. Their menu mirrors this style, dedicated to conceptually good food that isn’t overly complex. It doesn’t make you answer three riddles to get to the good stuff, you know? It’s exactly why I love Matsunori. Fresh ingredients, simple execution, delicious food.
The menu is very limited, offering 5 appetizers, the famous Temakis, and 2 dessert options. For those unfamiliar with the handroll style, it’s essentially a traditional maki roll for people who can’t use chopsticks. Rice, veggies, fish, or whatever “fillings” you’d like are enclosed within a sheet of nori and rolled into a handheld pocket of perfection. Each handroll is priced individually at around $7-$10, excluding their specialties, which are definitely on the pricier side at $12-$19 each. The price point would be absolutely unjustifiable if the ingredients weren’t so fresh. Coming from a broke college student, it’s absolutely worth every penny. I’d recommend ordering around 5 handrolls per person.
I tried a total of 9 handrolls so you don’t have to spend the $80: the spicy tuna, yellowtail, blue crab, snow crab, eel, scallop, miso butter cod, mango shrimp, and truffle avocado. All of these were phenomenal but let’s get into my favorites. The scallop was borderline life changing. Rice, salt cured cucumbers, and a generous portion of raw scallop are garnished with lime zest, making for one of my favorite bites of 2023. Perfect in its simplicity, the scallop required so little chewing, it was melt-in-the-mouth good. The acidity of the citrus cut through its richness so well, and the freshness and crunch of the cucumber made for the perfect combination of textures. To elevate the experience even further, I’d recommend pairing with a pinch of wasabi.
For a more complex roll, I’d opt for the miso butter cod. They marinate their black cod for 72 hours, giving it its buttery, velvety texture before brushing it over with a miso butter and torching it. To garnish, fresh uni, thinly chopped scallions, and strangely enough, mustard seed. The flavor profile is unbelievably complex here: smoky and nearly caramelized from the flame torch, a rich umami taste from the uni and miso, perfectly salty from that soy, ponzu marinade, and tart and earthy from that surprising mustard seed. I was blown away with how beautifully these ingredients complimented each other, making for an explosive burst of flavors and potentially the best cod I’ve ever had.
The mango shrimp was definitely the most surprising favorite of the night. It’s typically very difficult to impress me when it comes to shrimp, since it never tends to be the first thing I’ll reach for on a sushi spread. I find that, often, the poor quality of the shrimp can tend to be masked by the tempura coating, so I was definitely pleasantly surprised by how tender and fresh this handroll was. It came with a finely chopped mango salsa that balanced out the density of the shrimp very well, microgreens, and a slice of radish. I honestly could’ve gone without the microgreens. Pretty, yes, but they generally lack quite a bit of taste and didn’t really add any textural contrast to the dish. For a leafy green, I would’ve replaced them with some watercress tossed in a ponzu, ginger vinaigrette or even just some thinly sliced cucumber or avocado. I thought this dish would’ve paired well with a nutty component, like a light drizzle of sesame oil over top.
The eel roll was perfectly cooked and executed, but standard. Nori, a bed of rice, extremely tender eel, kabayaki sauce, minced ginger, and scallions. Conceptually perfect, it just wasn’t anything I’ve never had before. There was an option on the menu to add foie gras and peach jam to the handroll for an additional $5 and in retrospect, I definitely should’ve bit the bullet and handed them another Lincoln.
Both crab handrolls were delicious, and I loved the garlic butter on the blue crab, but they didn’t knock my socks off. I was unimpressed by the spicy tuna and yellowtail. Don’t get me wrong, it was good. The quality of the fish was great and extremely fresh — they were fatty and definitely melted in your mouth. I loved the thinly fried and crispy sweet potato in the spicy tuna roll, but there wasn’t much flavor beyond that. I think there was a huge missed opportunity to play around with different sauces and glazes to elevate the flavor of the fish and make it less one dimensional.
The truffle avocado, however, surpassed my expectations. The avocado was perfectly garnished with a truffle pâté that wasn’t too obnoxious and “in your face” as truffle can often be, but a balanced level of earthy and umami. It also came with crispy sweet potato which added a pleasant sweetness that paired well with the savoriness of the rest of it. Texturally, it was perfect: the rice had a great bite, the avocado was creamy, the pâté was smooth, and the sweet potato was crunchy. This was one of the many fish-free options for my vegetarian friends and I could not recommend it enough.
Having grown up in Miami, the majority of my meals consisted of sushi so I’ve taken the liberty of deeming myself a sushi connoisseur. This handroll bar is without a doubt my favorite casual spot to grab sushi while still getting an elevated and gourmet dining experience that’s different from your run-of-the-mill Japanese restaurant. Be prepared to drop a bag. And be prepared to crave a scallop handroll for every meal. Matsunori, bravo.