Shh… I have a confession to make. Before last week I had never been to Yo! Sushi. I know that seems crazy considering it’s been around since 2007, and it’s nothing to do with sushi itself because I really enjoy it. I guess it’s just that whenever I walk past Yo! Sushi it’s always very full. Their popularity is a good sign of course, but everyone always seems to know exactly what they’re doing there, how to navigate the extensive menu and what to do with the conveyor belt of tapas-style dishes. As an inexperienced Yo! noob I found that slightly intimidating.
So I was really excited to be invited down to their flagship restaurant in Selfridges Trafford to sample the brand new menu that has just been launched. Apparently menu refreshes are quite common at Yo! because they work really hard at keeping things fresh and interesting for their regular customers. This one, though, is the biggest refresh they have had in a long time. The new menu is going back to its roots with an emphasis on Tokyo Style street food, and I was able to try a selection of the new dishes on the menu…
Dynamite Roll (pictured above) – Containing fresh salmon, chilli oil, rice, shallots and avocado. This was my favourite item of them all because it had a real spicy kick to it.
Saba (pictured above) – Teriyaki mackerel slices and spring onion on a rice block. A very strong fish flavour, so best suited to fans of seafood!
Ama Ebi (pictured above) – Raw shrimp and wasabi on a rice block. I don’t think this would be my first choice because of the full raw shrimp, but I have to admit that it did taste nice.
Ginza Roll – Fresh salmon, cream cheese, caviar, chives, cucumber, rice and shallots. Very tasty, but for me a slightly less exciting version of the Dynamite Roll.
Chazuke broth (pictured above) – Salmon, yuzu, koshu and rice in broth. I really enjoyed this tasty hot broth, but it was fairly messy to eat!
Fish No Chip Roll – Seabass, onion, cucumber, wasabi sauce with citrus yuzu. The Yo! Sushi take on fish on chips is a very safe option. I preferred the dishes with stronger flavours, but this would be great for people trying sushi for the first time.
Buta No Kakuni (pictured above) – Slow-braised pork belly in soy sauce on rice. This is Yo! Sushi’s first ever pork dish and I found it very succulent and tasty.
Teba No Keraage – Crispy fried chicken wings in a full-flavoured coating with lime. Well, you can’t really go wrong with chicken wings and these are apparently extremely popular.
Maguro Katsu (pictured below) – Tuna, onion, mayonnaise and wasabi in breadcrumbs. This is a very generously sized tuna dish (you actually get 2 of them), and very delicious!
And during my visit I also learned a little more about the Yo! Sushi setup. The tapas-style dishes that travel round on the conveyor belt actually have sushi noobs in mind (so I didn’t have to feel intimidated after all!) The small portions are designed to take some of the pressure off navigating the complicated world of sushi because you can select several of them to try. The bowls themselves are colour coded to indicate their price (7 colours, 7 prices), and full details of each dish are shown in the menu. Not every dish will be to everyone’s taste I guess, but there is such a wide range of flavours and ingredients that it would be hard not to find something to love. And I also discovered Blue Mondays. On every single Monday of the year, including bank holidays(!) the dishes come served in the blue bowls – which means that they are the price of the blue bowl dishes. A great opportunity to experiment with new flavours for a lower price.
Has anyone else tried the new menu yet?
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