Yo Sushi - Harvey Nichols, Leeds

We are regular visitors to Yo Sushi, after A discovered the joys of sushi on his travels in America a few years ago. In Leeds, despite a number of Japanese restaurants, there appears to be slim pickings on the sushi front. So Yo Sushi, upstairs in Harvey Nichols, seems to be the best bet.

Luckily, it’s good. So instead of a heavy Sunday lunch of roast beef and all the trimmings, we went for the lighter option of fish, rice and soy sauce.
Yo sushi is always busy on a Sunday. A short queue had developed but we were quickly seated on the bar stools. Most seating is at the bar, wrapped around the kitchen, where the staff make all the food in front of you. There are a few tables that can seat about four people on one side.

The conveyor belt of small portions moves around the room, and customers take them off when they see something they fancy. Plates are colour coded for price, which makes it easy to keep a track of what you are spending. The empty coloured plates are added up by the waiter at the end and you are presented with a ticket to take to the till on the way out.

Many of the cold dishes are already on the belt – sushi, sashimi, sushi rolls, maki, salads and desserts. You just lift them off when you see something rolling past that you like the look of. Hot food and drinks are ordered from the staff. There is a button in the bar you can press to switch a light on to make an order.
Also built into the bar are storage areas where you can find your chopsticks, ginger, soy sauce and wasabi (hotter than it looks – use sparingly). These mix very well with the sushi rolls.

We both ordered hairy prawns to start – my particular favourite.



We then proceeded to take plates from the belt...

Salmon skin rolls (A’s favourite)



Tempura prawn rolls



California rolls



Avocado maki




All very good as usual. I particularly like the maki, as they are small enough to put in your mouth whole. The bigger rolls I feel the need to bite into, often spraying rice down my shirt. I think the right way is to eat them whole too. Contrary to popular opinion, my dentist reliably informs me that I actually have a small mouth.

The only issue is that sometimes when we go to Yo Sushi, the belt is full of plates and we struggle to decide what to have. Other times we arrive to find the belt mostly empty, or full of desserts. I am not sure why this is – whether they have certain times of the day when they fill it up, or whether it is an issue of staffing. Maybe I should ask. This is not too much of a problem though, as if there is something you want that is not on the belt, you can just order it. Maybe it just appeals to my love of buffets, having lots of food floating past that I can look at.

Yo Sushi sometimes has special discount offers. They also have a “Blue Plate Mondays” promotion, where more plates are blue (i.e. cheaper). It is worth checking their website for the latest promotions before you go.