Types of sushi rolls

August 13, 2026 · Seafood 101 · MERO 18

Maki, uramaki, temaki, tempura, breaded, naked, glazed. Reading a sushi menu can feel like sitting a vocabulary exam nobody warned you about — so most of us order the one roll we already recognize and call it a night. The good news: the types of sushi rolls come down to a handful of very simple ideas. Learn them once and you order better forever. Here's the map, followed by the five rolls we actually build every day at our bar on Avenida Carlos Nader, in downtown Cancún.

The quick map: types of sushi rolls you'll meet on any menu

Start with the root word. Maki simply means "roll," and everything else is a variation on it. The real differences come down to three questions: where the seaweed sits, what's on top, and whether the roll ever meets hot oil. Answer those three and you can read almost any menu, in Cancún or in Tokyo.

Maki: seaweed on the outside

The original, stripped-down format. The nori stays visible, wrapped around rice and filling. Thin and single-ingredient — cucumber, tuna — it's hosomaki; fat and loaded, it's futomaki. This is the roll with nowhere to hide: you taste the seasoning of the rice and you see the quality of the cut.

Uramaki: rice on the outside

Ura means "inside out," which is exactly what happens — the rice moves to the exterior and the nori hides inside, hugging the filling. Uramaki took off outside Japan, invented for diners who found visible seaweed strange, and then quietly conquered the planet. The technical payoff is that the outer rice becomes a surface: it can be rolled in sesame or masago, or draped in slices of raw fish. If you have ever ordered a roll blanketed in tuna or salmon, you have ordered uramaki.

Temaki, nigiri and the ones that aren't rolls

Temaki is the hand-rolled seaweed cone, built to order and eaten immediately. And a reminder that trips up plenty of people: nigiri (rice with fish draped on top) and sashimi (fish alone, no rice) aren't rolls at all. Different families, same menu page.

Tempura, breaded and baked: the chapter Japan didn't write

This is where Mexico wrote its own chapter. Breaded-and-fried rolls, rolls built around tempura shrimp, gratin rolls, rolls glazed in sweet sauces — none of it belongs to classical Japanese tradition, and that's fine. It's a legitimate category with its own logic. A purist will wrinkle their nose; we'd rather say the part that matters: a fried roll can be spectacular or it can be a costume, and the difference is the fish inside it.

Naked or topped

The other great divide on a modern menu. A "naked" roll skips the fryer and the sweet sauces, often finished with sliced raw fish on top — it lets the product talk. A topped or glazed roll arrives under sauce, sesame, crispy leek or melted cheese, and plays in the comfort-food league. Neither is better. They're different cravings.

Sushi roll names: why nobody agrees on them

California, Philadelphia, Dragon, Rainbow, Volcano. Not one of those names came from Japan — they're bar-side inventions, shorthand a chef needed on a busy night. Which is why the same name means two different things at two restaurants on the same street, and why the description matters more than the title. Our menu goes the other way: rolls are named after what's in them — Sweet plantain & cheese, Two tunas, Salmon.

The five house rolls, decoded

Our sushi list is deliberately short: five rolls, no filler. Here they are, with the prices exactly as they appear on the menu (Mexican pesos).

Sweet plantain & cheese · $165

Shrimp, eel sauce and toasted sesame, with the plantain and cheese that give it its name. The most Caribbean of the five: sweet and savory in one bite, and somehow never dessert.

Shrimp tempura · $170

Masago, cheese and avocado around tempura shrimp. This is the bridge roll — the one that solves the table when somebody at it doesn't do raw fish but still wants in on the meal.

Breaded roll · $200

Shrimp, two cheeses, crab and tamarind sauce. The most indulgent thing on the list and a perfect example of the category Japan never invented: battered, generous, with tamarind's acidity keeping it from turning heavy.

Two tunas · $170

Avocado, chives and jalapeño in an uramaki topped with fresh tuna. It's the house favorite and the roll that explains this bar best: no fryer, no sweet sauce, fish out front and a jalapeño accent that could only be Mexican.

Salmon · $200

Spicy crab, avocado and crispy leek, crowned with salmon. It settles arguments: crunch on top, raw fish above it. If two of you can't agree, order this one.

The Caribbean–Japan twist

The technique is Japanese; the pantry is local. There's little sense in pretending the fish flew in from a market eight thousand miles away when the Caribbean is fifteen minutes down the road — so the catch of the day runs the cold bar, and the same counter where oysters are shucked to order is the one feeding the sushi station. Our clearest Caribbean move is the plantain, turned into a roll. We unpack that whole idea in Caribbean sushi: how Cancún reinvents the Japanese classics.

The setting helps. All of this happens in a jungle hidden in the historic heart of downtown Cancún — the palm-filled garden, shade sails and cenote-style pool of Mezcal Boutique Hotel — with a glass dining room that's fully air conditioned and wrapped in that same garden, for anyone who'd rather skip the midday heat. And yes, the bar is open to everyone: you don't need to be a hotel guest.

How to order without regrets

• Balance the table: one naked roll, one topped, one fried. Three breaded rolls and you stop tasting anything halfway through.
• Read the description, not the name. In sushi the name is marketing; the ingredient list is the contract.
• Open cold — a few oysters shucked to order, or a catch-of-the-day ceviche — rather than something fried.
• Eat the naked roll first, while the fish is at its peak; save the breaded one for last.
• Torn between two? Ask at the bar. Whoever is rolling knows what's best today.

First time here and want the full playbook? We go dish by dish in what to order at MERO 18, and if you're comparing counters around the neighborhood, our honest guide to sushi in downtown Cancún talks about other places too. Sushi is one of the things guests mention most often in the reviews behind our 5.0 on TripAdvisor and 4.9 on Google.

Come see for yourself

The types of sushi rolls make a lot more sense with chopsticks in hand. You'll find us on Avenida Carlos Nader, in downtown Cancún, inside Mezcal Boutique Hotel and open to absolutely everyone. We serve every day from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, straight through: breakfast from 7:00 to 12:30, the cold bar at midday, sushi into the night. Group bookings by WhatsApp at +52 998 105 5117.