3 months ago
21
After three decades of brittle rice and mushy seaweed, this beloved lunchtime staple might finally be growing up. Here are five places to go for the good stuff, and how to spot a great roll.
Thomas Beecher
August 6, 2025
Like many mid-Millennial Australians, I’ve been a frequent consumer of grab-and-go sushi hand rolls since they came along in the 1990s. They’re affordable and unfussy, and they take the guesswork out of lunch. What’s not to love?
Well, plenty. While some of our favourite lunchtime staples – from sandwiches to salads – have been elevated in recent years, the majority of hand rolls remain as cold and stodgy as ever.
But times appear to be changing. Stylish Nori Maki in Melbourne’s CBD is among a small but growing list of Melbourne establishments taking extra steps to elevate the grab-and-go favourite.
Loosely based on Japanese temaki, which look more like an ice-cream cone, Australian-style rolls are tighter, cylindrical and stuffed with many fillings. Coincidentally, they were first popularised in 1995 in a shop across the road from Nori Maki.
“Sushi culture in Australia is quite unique,” says Keisuke Kita, Nori Maki’s head chef. He serves hand rolls in many formats, including a $69-a-head omakase, and claims he isn’t offended by the adopted Australian dish. He just thinks it can be done better.
How to identify a good sushi roll
Quality comes down to the roll’s two fundamental ingredients: rice and nori. Kita says that the rice “cannot be cold” and is ideally served between 36 and 38 degrees. As for nori, he believes it should only be applied to the rice right before serving.
It’s usually pretty obvious when you’re biting into an ancient hand roll, but Kita says that one surefire way to tell if it’s been sitting in a cabinet for a long time is to look at either end of the roll. “If the surface is dry, that is old,” he says.
Ingredients are important, too. Even if they’re not top-shelf, fillings can be improved with preparation. For instance, Kita usually takes his fish out of the fridge 15 minutes before it’s served to get it to room temperature. “In that way, you can taste it better,” he says.
It’s also possible to tell how fresh certain raw fish is from its appearance, especially with white fish. Look for clear-coloured flesh, Kita says.
Of course, refined omakase dining like Nori Maki’s isn’t a reality every day. But this doesn’t necessarily mean you need to settle.
Five top spots for hand rolls in Melbourne
Filimex Asian Store & Cafe, $3.50-$3.80 each
Yuji Iwasaki opened this unassuming grocer in 2010 and does everything from putting through sales to preparing simple, affordable hand rolls that, Iwasaki boasts, never see the inside of a fridge. There’s schnitzel-style breaded chicken, smoked salmon and cooked tuna, with the usual accompaniments (avocado, cucumber). Given the limited manpower, it can take around 10 minutes to get your rolls, meaning this isn’t exactly a grab-and-go option. But the wait is worth it – and you can browse knick-knacks and Asian pantry goods.
229 Melville Road, Brunswick West
Sushi Wago, from $4.20 each
Temaki doesn’t strictly fall into the Australian hand roll category, but this city spot’s cone-shaped rolls are made-to-order, affordable and, assuming you don’t agonise over shapes, basically the same thing. In the Midtown plaza, Wago is an offshoot of nearby sushi train restaurant Sushi Hotaru. Temaki are prepared in front of you, with the kind of pageantry you don’t normally see in a food court, including scallops being blow-torched. That and negitoro (minced raw tuna) sit alongside more garden-variety options including tempura prawn and cooked tuna.
246 Bourke Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/sushi_wago
Tsukiji Restaurant, $5.60-$5.70 each
Temaki is appearing more often in Melbourne (see sit-down CBD spot Temaki Sushi, where you get to roll your own cones), but Prahran’s Tsukiji has been in the game for a while. A small but serviceable selection of temaki are made-to-order and abundantly stuffed with fillings such as raw tuna, raw salmon and tempura prawn, plus accompaniments including slightly bitter leafy greens. The restaurant also has its own deli fridge with a variety of seafood packaged for eating or cooking at home.
237 High Street, Prahran, instagram.com/tsukijiprahran
Sushi Uokin, $5.50 each
If you’ve been to Japan’s convenience stores, you may have noticed familiar-looking hand rolls, although with more spartan fillings than Australian sushi. But the most notable difference is the packaging that separates the rice from the nori. This sophisticated take-away spot has embraced the concept with their grab-and-go hand rolls. Once you conquer the art of unwrapping and rolling the sushi, you’re left with nori that’s so fresh it might adhere to the roof of your mouth. Even though they’re pre-prepared, the rolls aren’t refrigerated so the rice is kept at a suitable temperature. Tempura prawn is the showstopper, with batter that also maintains its crunch.
639 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, sushiuokin.com.au
Nori Maki, from $6 each
While Nori Maki is remarkably affordable for something of its calibre, it’s admittedly not your average grab-and-go sushi joint. Dine-in rolls are priced between $6 and $29 and, frankly, in a different league. The freshly made rolls might hold Hokkaido snow crab, Crystal Bay prawn, anago (saltwater eel) and, occasionally, fugu (puffer fish). You can also choose a set menu, ranging from $34 for four selected hand rolls up to $89 for a true feast.
7/235 Bourke Street, Melbourne, norimaki.com.au
Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.
