The best thing I ate this week are the u-maki rolls at Yuhiro Omakase Sushi

Great sushi is always dependent on a few essential elements, from the quality of ingredients to the craftsmanship of a skilled chef. But one factor that’s often overlooked — the architecture of sushi and how it’s built — is key to the success of the u-maki rolls that are the prime draw at Yuhiro, the sleek omakase bar chef Xiangyu “Sam” Lin recently opened in Fishtown. A u-maki is a kind of temaki, or handroll, whose seaweed squares layered with rice and fillings are not tightly rolled into tubes or cones (the most common temaki style), but served open-faced in taco-style wooden cradles that present them in U-shape bundles with the featured fillings on top.

It can be visually exciting to see the payoff of ivory raw scallops nestled against creamy orange uni and jewel-like beads of salmon roe before you take a bite. Or a clever reimagination of the classic Nobu entree, miso-marinated black cod, reimagined as a three-bite handful of sushi, paired with avocado and crunchy sweet potato strings. But the rules of construction to maximize flavor are also distinct from, say, a traditional maki roll whose ingredients are tightly rolled inside compact cylinders of nori and rice, where the delicate purity of the fish flavors inside shouldn’t be overly interfered with.

The nori squares for a u-maki, warmed to a crisp just beforehand, must be very thin so it snaps easily between the teeth. Both Japanese and California rice are blended so the grains aren’t too sticky for these handrolls, which require a loose base, while a bolder rice vinegar with enough sweetness and tang to cut through all those ingredients is required to keep the flavor balance in check. The results are often delightful, with varied textures and vivid flavor contrasts. That includes the introduction of fruits, from tropical mango with spicy salmon to another refreshing combo of luxuriously fatty slabs of toro layered with the juicy snap of Asian pear, and accented by a crunchy sprinkle of puffed rice pearls.

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Lin, who operates the luxury omakase tasting room Sakana in Queen Village, was aiming for a more entry-level sushi experience at Yuhiro. The 12-piece 90-minute nigiri omakase offered there for $68 is a staid reflection of that. But the restaurant’s u-maki handroll bar, inspired by Nami Nori, the New York handroll bar launched by Lin’s former colleagues at Manhattan’s famed Masa, has a novel allure. The style offers a flamboyant format for sushi that’s far more substantive than the sauce-splattered tempura roll trend that has plagued mediocre sushi counters for years. Yuhiro isn’t the first to offer them (the short-lived Korean version of Pod, Kpod, was my first local u-encounter), but Lin has made a commitment to u-maki here, and it’s worth the detour.

U-Maki, $12-$24 each, or $38-$40 per four-roll set, Yuhiro Omakase Sushi, 2146 E. Susquehanna Ave., 267-876-7062; yuhirosushi.com