Miyabi Uni Restaurant Torrance

So I've been going to maruhide for awhile and I was deeply saddened when they announced they were closing. Grilled Uni, Uni toro donburi and uni cream pasta I thought were treasures that would be lost forever. Then I found out the two chefs opened a place of their own, Miyabi Uni!! Boy was I excited. Though I'm saddened to see that they don't have a grilled uni on the menu, nonetheless the menu didn't disappoint. I came here with my girlfriend on a Saturday night all the way from la Verne. Mainly because we had no idea what to eat and I drove for 20 minutes before I realized that I hadn't gone to Miyabi Uni yet. We came in without a reservation and waited for maybe 20 minutes. Wasn't that bad of a wait and it was definitely worth it. We were greeted by several servers and I really like how it wasn't just one server checking on customers but rather it was the whole team of people rotating around to help. It was excellent. 5 stars For food we ordered the Uni Tamagoyaki, Kobe Beef and Uni Roll, Uni Chawanmushi, Uni Cream Pasta and the Uni toro Donburi. The uni tamagoyaki looks plain and simple, but once you split it you'll see a couple layers of Uni just waiting to ooze out. I recommend taking as little cuts as people to keep the uni from oozing out. This was really well executed. The uni and tamago went well together and neither took more flavor over the other. Perfect balance. It's accompanied with a kind of ponzu sauce with grated daikon, but we felt it tasted perfectly fine on its own. The Kobe Beef and Uni roll, this was just o.m.g. So the Kobe Beef is slightly frozen, rolled with a shiso lead, uni, and topped with a little bit of jello soy sauce. I love appetizers like this because it's just bursting with flavor. Every ingredient has a purpose. The frozen Kobe Beef gave a slight crunch, the uni sweetens the taste, shiso leaf adds an herbal touch and the jello soy sauce is the curve ball that came out of nowhere. Together they create an orchestra of flavors playing around with your taste buds. Uni Chawanmushi- another surprisingly amazing delicious item. I've tried this at a couple places and it sucked. All they did was make a regular chawanmushi and put uni on top. Not Miyabi Uni. They steamed a couple pieces mixed together with the egg which basically infused the whole dish with the sweet taste of uni. Every bite was a bountiful flavor that served justice to the name Uni chawanmushi. Annnd the main courses. Both of these originate from Maruhide so there weren't any surprises, except that they still tasted amazing, even better than I remembered. Luckily I got to sit in front of one of the master chef in charge of making the uni pasta. The ingredients they use to make the uni pasta is definitely different than other recipes, and I love it. The actual key ingredient for making the uni cream taste better? Salt. The salt really helps enhance the flavor a lot. Not only that, they don't just use uni butter but they also add some uni to cook with the cream itself, which does two things: adds more flavor to the cream while also making the uni taste more amazing. I believe Isao-san saw me try to clean the plate by adding some of the sushi rice we had leftover, so he baked up two extra pieces of toast for us to clean the plate with. Thank you so much. The fresh bread paired with uni cream soaked rice plus the warm hospitality, we were both extremely happy to be customers here. The Uni Toro Donburi is still consistently delicious. I've had it for a few years now and it's never fallen off in taste. I will say the sushi rice tastes much better than I remembered. Overall, as my girlfriend rated it, super A+++. We'll be back! Hungry for more.