YO! Sushi

Despite the miserable weather, the other week I popped in to YO! Sushi after work with R to make a change to the gallons of soup I’m ploughing my way through on these grey autumn days. The Farringdon branch is fairly typical of the chain, not as glossy as the restaurant at Poland Street but clean, slick, with a mixture of tables and stools and the snaking chain ferrying food to all. A mirrored wall that caused confusion when R tried to point out the man who really looked like him sitting across the room. And then noticed the matching woman.

Most people seem to go and have a couple of dishes as a light snack, but we’ve never exercised that sort of restraint and the plates pile up at an alarming rate. It’s like being in Toy Town, bright baubles of fish and rice trundling past, crying out to be chosen. I had a glass of white to wash it down and R had a bottle of some sort of lager. Rattling through the dishes, I managed to get through an aubergine dish, tuna sashimi, salmon sashimi, a mixed roll platter (YO! roll, dragon roll, vegetable futomaki) and a marinated salmon and dill salad. I should always remember to stick to what I know and love – raw fish. The marinated salmon was far too vinegary and, while I’m pleased I tried the eel, it reminded me of something I couldn’t put my finger on and not entirely pleasant. I quite like the YO! roll but the mayonnaise can be cloying. On the other hand, I could eat sashimi until it comes out of my ears.

I make all sorts of faux pas when gobbling sushi but I’ve finally learnt not to mix up the wasabi and soy and, actually, it is better this way. And someone told me you were meant to use the pickled ginger as a palate cleanser between morsels and this worked well too. But I still can’t eat an entire roll in one bite.

R managed to rack up even more plates than me and we were left with a veritable rainbow when it came to counting up the bill - £45 between us. Fairly cheap and cheerful but not exactly a light bite – we almost rolled down the road home. YO! may not offer a classic sushi experience but the pick and mix nature of the place is great fun and good for the easily bored. And first dates, it would appear, judging by the couple sitting across the conveyor belt. “Look at that girl, she’s eating raw fish!” he said excitedly, pointing at my plates. “Eeeew!” Well yes, this is a sushi restaurant. Maybe not one for hardcore sushi eaters.

A quick note, the loos are unisex, and you turn the basin taps on using a pedal by your knee. Do not be alarmed.