Hando Parisian Handroll, luxurious Japanese handroll bar a stone's throw from Le Bon Marché

Have you heard of the hand roll, a dish derived from Japanese temaki that has come all the way from New York and Los Angeles? Shaped like a roll rather than a cone, unlike temaki, handrolls consist of crispy nori seaweed topped with Japanese-cooked rice, which is quite sticky but still very light, and raw fish.

At the counters of handroll bars, these little dishes are meticulously prepared by the minute and can be eaten on the go right away, for maximum freshness. If you're curious about this new culinary trend, you'll be delighted to learn that a Japanese handroll restaurant has opened its doors just a stone's throw from Le Bon Marché and La Grande Epicerie de Paris: Hando Parisian Handroll.

At the helm of Hando are Adrien Albou, head of the Garçons Infidèles brand, and Lee Cheng, founder of the Plus de Piment restaurant group, which has been warming the palates of Parisians for many years. Both great fans of Japanese cuisine, they decided to open their first table dedicated to handrolls made according to the rules of the art.

For Hando, Adrien Albou imagined a sober, uncluttered space in homage to the architects Tadao Andö and George Nakashima, built around a U-shaped counter of light wood, around which diners sit to watch the chef dexterously and swiftly execute his preparations.

Of course, originality and rarity come at a price: expect to pay between €6 and €14 for a handroll, depending on the fish chosen. Because what makes the value of a handroll, apart from the art of rolling it, is the food that goes into it. The partners have therefore invested heavily in carefully sourced ingredients: the famous nori sheet imported from Japan is the stuff of Japanese Michelin-starred restaurants, crisp as can be, while the fish comes from sustainable French fishing using small boats.

On tasting, the quality of the fish is undeniable, whether it's sea bream (7€), yellowtail (8) or shrimp (8€). But for some fish rightly recognized for their delicate flavors and textures, their taste is sometimes hidden behind the rice, present in greater quantities than the raw fish - we're thinking, for example, of the toro tuna (12€), a tuna of great quality because it's very fatty, a kind of wagyu from the sea.

• To be read
• New restaurants in Paris, our best addresses
• Japanese restaurants in Paris
• Tips for the week of December 23 - 29, 2024 in Paris: free or cheap outings

If you want to experience fish in its simplest form and feel the raw pleasure, you can turn to the toro and nori tartare (14€), or to the sashimi, carefully enhanced by a marinade, such as the toro sashimi (14€) or the sea bream sashimi (9€), which are particularly melt-in-the-mouth and frankly delicious. And don't forget Tomo' s signature mochi and Japanese-flavored ice creams, including the stunning genmaicha ice cream (5€), to round things off on a high note.