Yo! Sushi Leeds Review

Reviewed by Sean Dodson

Leeds isn’t like most other northern cities. While other centres have struggled through the downturn, the commercial capital of West Yorkshire has kept chuffing on like a steam train steadily climbing up a hill. Later this summer, for instance, sees the opening of a new 13,500-seat Leeds Arena, with Bruce Springsteen opening the bill, but right now all eyes are on Trinity Leeds, a shiny, multi-level shopping centre – bang in the centre – housed beneath a glass dome that is as attractive as it is enormous.

The new shopping centre has brought new brands to Leeds, but also familiar favourites, including a terrace of restaurants on the top deck: the latest branch of Yo! Sushi among them. The new branch is a long, rectangular, glass-panelled room decorated by prints of saki bottles.  As usual, a “keitan” conveyor belt system ushers multi-coloured plates of Japanese delicacies directly to your seat. It was full to the brim on the Saturday afternoon we visited, but after a short wait our family-of-three was whisked to a booth overlooking the roof of the slate grey Holy Trinity Church that lies adjacent to the complex.

We sat down and – before you could snap open your chopsticks – menus and drinks arrived, along with a set of coloured crayons for our three-year-old. The great thing about Yo! is that you can start right away – everyone sits around the belt – and we were plucking plates from the belt like a family of busy potters in no time.

Now, a restaurant famed for raw fish might not seem like the obvious destination to bring a small child. But despite the lack of children’s menu, the staff helped select an appropriate bowl of noodles for our daughter (chicken yakisoba, £3.00). What’s more, because you pick straight from the belt, rather than ordering and then waiting for set courses, this allows a young palate to explore different textures and flavours without the pressure of finishing it all. What your child leaves, you can always polish off.

So, one minute she’s turning her nose up at a slightly salty kaiso salad (£2.40) full of seaweed and edamame beans (I finished it, with relish), but the next nibbling at pieces of raw fish and downing palmfuls of sushi rice (three pieces of salmon and tuna sushi, £4.00). It is all pretty healthy as well.

You can order menu items too. I was tempted by a large bowl of “mega” tofu katsu: essentially a Japanese style curry and rice: deep fried tofu (chicken and pork also available) is breaded and served with a large bowl of sticky rice and covered with a generous helping of curry sauce. The tofu, creamy and delicate at its centre, balanced thebreaded batter; the sweetness of the rice contrasted further with the curry, ever-so “chip shop” style, sauce. A snip at just £7 a bowl.

Soon, as the desserts began to catch our eye, the empty dishes began to grow like a stack of some brightly coloured child’s toy. The chocolate mochi (£3.50) was on the heavy side of gooey, as Japanese desserts tend to be, but the dorayaki (£3), pancakes filled with custard and accompanied with a pot of raspberry sauce, were gorgeous, as light and fluffy as fairy cake. Our daughter hoarded most of them, before proceeding to empty the pot of jam with the tip of a solitary chopstick.

This new branch of Yo! Sushi sits well in this glittering new shopping centre. It’s loud, a bit trendy and self-confident, a lot like Leeds itself. It’s also a good take of Japanese culture, as it weaves the natural and the artificial with some skill. After all there’s nothing more natural than a plate of raw fish, nothing so technical as delivery by machine.

Rating: 5/5

For more information, view menus or find your nearest Yo! Sushi visit www.yosushi.com