- HONG KONG
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NICE NORI: Black Sheep’s Playful Japanese Handroll Bar Pop-Up On Elgin Street
With Guest Chef Daniel Garner, Formerly Of Nobu Malibu And Zuma New York
Updated
Handroll prayers: answered. Black Sheep introduces NICE NORI, a Japanese temaki bar popping up at 31 Elgin Street from 9 October until the end of 2026. This is sushi at its most casual and its most precise: crisp Ariake nori, warm Niigata rice, premium fillings rolled to order and eaten by hand, one roll at a time so the seaweed stays shatter-crisp. Leading the counter is guest chef Daniel Garner, whose CV reads like a twenty-year tour of Japanese kitchens: he trained at Makoto Bal Harbour, refined things at Nobu Malibu, then ran the stoves as head chef for Zuma in both New York and Miami. Here, all of that scales down to a handful of seats and a stack of nori.
It is not a family restaurant. Dinner only (6pm to 11pm, Tuesday to Sunday), sake-led, counter-intimate, and built for adults who want luxury ingredients without the full omakase ritual.
Little Steps Insider Tip: Leave the kids at home. NICE NORI is an evening handroll bar with no lunch service, no high chairs and no “just a California roll for the toddler” energy. Rolls arrive one by one so you eat them the second they land, a pace that is magic for grown-ups. Book the four-seat omakase counter if you want Chef Daniel Garner’s five-handroll story; otherwise pick a three-roll set, add one appetiser and split a bottle of sake. The pop-up dates matter: it runs only until the end of the year, so don’t wait until December and hope.
Menu Highlights At NICE NORI That Date-Night Parents Rave About
Choose an appetiser, then one of three handroll sets:
- The Classics (HK$328): comfort done properly, with yellowtail and scallion, plus a California roll with snow crab
- The Signatures (HK$348): brighter and punchier, with lemongrass shrimp in red curry dressing and Scallop Dynamite with Hokkaido scallop and tobiko
- The Royale (HK$608): the flex set, with aburi wagyu tartare and quail egg torched until the yolk breaks, then Hokkaido uni with nikiri soy
À la carte plates worth adding:
- Sakura Smoked Salmon Dip (HK$188)
- Sashimi Tacos (HK$138), market fish with lime-yuzu soy and wasabi aioli
- Hay-smoked Hamachi (HK$198)
- Prawn Cocktail (HK$228)
- Grilled Oysters (HK$348)
Why Little Steps Loves It:
NICE NORI keeps Japanese technique (Toyosu fish, Niigata rice, Kyushu Ariake nori, a chef with Makoto, Nobu Malibu and Zuma on his CV) and drops the starchiness. You eat with your hands, you talk, the next roll arrives hot-crisp. It is a Black Sheep pop-up with a clear end date - which is exactly why it feels special.
Who It's Perfect For:
Friends splitting Signatures and sake; sushi people who find full omakase too long and a conveyor belt too loud.
Where To Find It:
- NICE NORI
- 31 Elgin Street, Central, Hong Kong
- +852 2488 8863
- https://www.nicenori.com
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