Kawaii temari sushi for breakfast at OMO5 Kyoto Gion

When you think about sushi, the first thing that comes to mind is probably nigiri sushi (握り寿司). Where a piece of sliced seafood, typically raw, is lightly hand-pressed onto a small oblong of vinegared rice.

Another is maki sushi (巻き寿司) that is made by laying out a large piece of nori, pressing down a layer of rice, spreading out ingredients and tightly rolling everything into a cylinder before cutting it into pieces.

There is also gunkan sushi (軍艦巻), that starts with an oval-shaped mound of rice. It’s then encircled by a strip of nori that sticks out at the top, which acts as a vessel to contain slippery ingredients like ikura and uni.

Numerous other types exist beyond the three popular ones above, and we’ve sampled almost all of them. The one that we hadn’t tried before though was temari sushi (手まり寿司). Similar to nigiri sushi but ball-shaped and pressed more tightly.

Apparently, its petite size and easy-to-bite form factor makes it the ideal choice for geishas who don’t want to smudge their makeup. Given that Kyoto is the geisha capital of Japan, it was the best place for us to finally try some.

We didn’t even have to step out of our hotel room to do so, because it was offered as breakfast on alternate mornings. They were pre-made the day before, placed in wooden boxes and stored in our fridge at noon.

The breakfast set comprised eight pieces of temari sushi, an individually-wrapped tea bag and a packet of instant red miso soup.

We had some very nice red miso soup at a fantastic izakaya in Osaka, and I was curious how the freeze-dried version would stack up against its freshly-made counterpart.

After tearing open the wrapper, a dark red, almost sponge-like, block was revealed. I was expecting it to be in powder form, so this came as quite a surprise.

I dumped out the contents into a cup and slowly poured hot water onto it. The chunky brick started gurgling and crumbling as it slowly transformed into a rich broth. A thick, fragrant red miso soup soon emerged, chock full of ingredients.

Enoki mushrooms provided a nice crunch and mizuna helped cut through the heaviness. Strange as it may sound, we even detected hints of pomelo.

The aka miso tasted deep, rich and was even more flavourful than the one we had at the izakaya. Needless to say, it was promptly added to our shopping list.

We took our time and slowly sipped on the umami-laden broth as we waited for the prescribed 30 minutes to allow the temari sushi to warm up to the ideal temperature.

Starting from the top left compartment and going clockwise, there was eel, salmon roe, snow crab, sea bream, conger eel, shrimp & egg, halfbeak and salmon.

Each pretty little piece could easily be popped into the mouth and was a one-biter, regardless of how small your mouth may be.

Similar to nigiri sushi, the rice was seasoned with vinegar, salt and sugar. Though given that they were prepared the day before, the toppings obviously weren’t as fresh.

They still tasted quite nice, and made for a pleasant and light breakfast to start our day. Of the eight, our favourites were the eel and salmon roe.

It’s always fun to try something new, and having kawaii temari sushi for the first time was an interesting experience.

However, we’ll probably stick with our tried-and-tested nigiri, maki and gunkan sushi the next time we find ourselves in a sushiya or izakaya.