Oh Yo! Sushi, how I love thee. I have spent many a lunch time happily alone, sitting perched at the belt watching the sushi spin past. I have visited over 5 branches of the restaurant and was so sad when I heard the one in Fenwick was closing (a short lived sadness I have to say, as the new Fenwick food hall is divine and a Yo! Sushi Grainger Street opened not too long after).

My job means that I work most evenings and some of the weekends, this means I have become a lady what lunches. Pretty much all of my disposable income goes on meeting friends for lunch, and when I’m not meeting friends I adore to dine alone. Yo! Sushi is a perfect dining alone venue.

What I loved about the Yo! Sushi in Fenwick is that it was a perfect mix of being left alone to relax, but you never felt bored watching the sushi sail past and pressing your little button for more green tea or a refill of miso. I enjoyed watching the shoppers bustle by with their bags and the chefs frying up some tepenyake behind the counter. 

If you’ve never been to Yo! Sushi I’ll explain the concept. There is a moving conveyor belt which the tables are arranged around, food is placed on the belt and you pick off what you fancy. You can also order food if you can’t see what you want on the belt. All the food is made in the centre of the room so you can see your food being made. It’s a gimmick that works and though it’s not the best or most authentic sushi in the world it’s fun and I ALWAYS end up eating more plates than I planned. 

So to my trip to the Grainger Street branch. The restaurant opened on the 12th May and I visited with two friends on the 13th. We entered the restaurant at 11.45am so just before the lunchtime rush. I was presented with a vegan menu straight away when I asked which was great.

There was a lot to choose from but I would have liked to have seen pictures in the menu showing the dishes like in the main menu, as if you had never been to Yo Sushi before you might find it difficult to match the dishes to the belt, also there was no prices on the menu either. 

The atmosphere in the restaurant was what I can only describe as ‘hyper’, every time someone came in all the staff and chefs would shout, which got very VERY noisy after a while. The music was so loud that me and my companions struggled to hear each other, which if anyone has ever met me or my companions in real life knows that that must be a mean feat as we are not quiet voiced people. The staff were obviously straight out of training which is fair enough as it had only been opened a day and no one expects a restaurant to be free of teething problems after one day. We had several mix ups with our orders (non of them vegan related), and one of the waiters was very young and a bit too keen, he stayed at the table asking us what our favourite dishes were for way too long while we were trying to eat and used the table we were eating at to lean on to put an order into his machine. These things are totally forgivable, like I say it’s a brand new restaurant and having been a young keen server myself I know it can be exciting to be working on a new job. I hope things settle down when it’s been open a bit longer, as I have no problem at all with a lively waiter or a bustling atmosphere but when it starts to encroach on the enjoyment of your food that’s when it becomes an issue. 

So to the food. There was a lot of choice for vegans, hoorah!

I had,

Aubergine Harusame

Yasai Yakisoba

Miso Soup

Cucumber Maki

Avocado Maki
The avocado maki wasn’t on the vegan menu but I asked for it to be made without mayo and they were very obliging (I actually ate three of these).

I was also excited to see that my favourite dish at Yo! Sushi, Miso Dumpling Ramen with Rice, is also vegan, but I was too full to have it this time.

I will definitely return to the Grainger Street branch of Yo! Sushi as the food is delicious and it’s such an easy way to eat vegan. I am sure that the excitement of opening will calm down and the staff teething issues will sort themselves out. I recommend you try it if you’ve never been.