Toro Nigiri | Eiji | San Francisco, California
Toro is the fatty part of the tuna belly and just like how I love a fatty piece of seared foie gras, I love love love a fatty piece of toro. The novelty in toro is that it has the best of all worlds when it comes to top grade sashimi (and of course, food in general) — texture, taste and smell.
- Texture: Think of tako (octopus), which I think tastes amazing but the cartilige texture can be too much too handle at times. Toro, however, is like butter baby! With a delicate feel on your tongue, toro can virtually melt in your damn mouth.
- Flavor: Talk about extreme flavor concentration with minimal sinew content. Maguro (regular tuna) is tasty no doubt, but toro is a juicy explosion in your mouth.
- Smell: Not that I know from personal experience (hah), but people usually can’t handle sashimi because of the overwhelming fishy smell. No worries when it comes to fine grade Toro which does not have a strong fish smell at all apparently.
A high quality piece of toro will be pale pink with rich white streaks, as seen above in a helping of Eiji’s market price toro. Beware, quality toro is pricey and should be bought at market price only to ensure freshness and quality — its not uncommon to find Japanese joints charging $10-25 for just two pieces. But it is so so so delicious, it is one of my favorite food splurges. Aside from my experience in Japan (post forthcoming!), the best selection of toro I’ve had is at my favorite Japanese spot in San Francisco (another post forthcoming!) and Eiji’s selection of toro is an easy second.
-Noreylee
