Yo! Sushi, Cambridge; 12 Dec 10

I don’t often go out on a Sunday evening. It’s generally my time to finally relax at the end of the weekend before another manic week. But last Sunday was our last opportunity to see ‘the girl who kicked the hornet’s nest’ at the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge with the only show being at 2100. So we grabbed an early supper and took the opportunity to sample the new Yo! Sushi in Cambridge.

The movie was predictable but satisfying. It’s the third of three movies of books by now-deceased Steig Larsson and all three books and movies are long and dour. The movies are in Swedish with sub-titles, the pace is not exactly fast and, with the exception of central character Lisbeth Salander, the actors haven’t been chosen for their extravagant good looks. Even Noomi Rapace who plays Lisbeth does her best to be unattractive but shines through. She’s got up in full goth glory for her final court room scene and from the spiky hair down to the OTT platform boots she’s magnificent!

But back to Yo! Sushi. I’m very fortunate I’ve been to Japan several times and been eating sushi since 1978 or thereabouts. I must have been to dozens of sushi bars in Japan and a handful elsewhere so I was going to be looking at Yo! Sushi with some form. In fact I recall one restaurant in Tokyo, Edogin Sushi, which was exceptional. It’s been open for about 80 years and is within a block of the fish market so you can expect the sushi to be fresh. It was at Edogin that I was introduced to ‘dancing prawns’ which are so fresh they’re still twitching when they appear on the plate in front of you.

But Yo! Sushi is a chain (click here for its web-site) and has strong brand and for me it’s been born of the yuppie culture. I imagine hordes of highly paid city types sitting at its conveyors rapidly helping themselves to plates of sushi which are immediately replaced. In Cambridge on Sunday evening it was different. No yuppies, little business and a 10pm closing time meant that the chefs were in no hurry to put out fresh plates which might go to waste.

As a branch of Yo! Sushi it  ticked most of the boxes. It was bright and brash, the welcome was effusive even if the explanation of how it works was a tad condescending. An Asahi Super Dry was a good way to start the meal but the selection on the conveyor was sparse. The portion of tuna sushi was mean and tired although the coriander tuna sashimi which was made to order was much better and the tempura-like prawns which the wife ordered were first class: crispy batter and a nice solid bite to the prawns.

It was disappointing not to be able to dip into a wide area of dishes on the conveyor because that’s a part of the Yo! Sushi experience although to be fair you can always order anything which you don’t see but that’s not the point is it? And it’s all very bright and glitzy and plastic and plastic can of course look a little cheap, witness the polystyrene covers on the plates on the conveyor which scratch very easily. They may sparkle when they’re new but not for long.