Pick And Mix

You’d think my son had entered some kind of ‘eat as much as you can’ competition, had you watched the plates piling up around him at our table in Yo! Sushi.

There was even a theme to his greed – poultry. In fact, all chickens should give him a wide berth from now on, given how much he ate of their feathered friends in just one sitting.

In fact, it was a bit like feeding a goldfish – provide the food and he’ll keep eating it without a thought for capacity.

And so after his blowout, he sat rigid in our booth and quietly said he needed to go home.

But that’s why Yo! Sushi is such a roaring success, because people just can’t resist the endless array of food being swirled tantalisingly in front of them, and the temptation to try a bit of this and a bit of that is just too much. It’s almost hypnotic.

Picture Hugh Heffner at a Miss World competition and you get the picture.

So, with a list rivalling The Hungry Caterpillar, he consumed: a bowl of chicken dumpling udon broth, some pumpkin korreko (croquettes), a chicken katsu curry with rice, two portions of chicken dumplings, two portions of dorayaki (Japanese custard pancakes with raspberry sauce) and a portion of chocolate and raspberry truffle. Hmm.

Add to this a nibble on our sushi, miso broth, crunchy tofu with a su-miso sauce, two plates of kaiso seaweed salad, three plates of fresh fruit and the edamame beans, plus a plate of mochi (glutinous rice cakes) all washed down with a pot of green tea, and you can understand his belly ache.

So how does Yo! Sushi work?

The food is moved literally along the edge of your table on a vast conveyer belt that circulates the room and you just pick the dishes off that take your fancy while trying to identify them on your picture menu.

My second son was far more excited about the mechanics involved and kept asking questions about whether the conveyer belt heats the food along the way and what the stickers were for on each pot (eat-by times to ensure they are always fresh) so didn’t manage to consume as much as his brother.

In all, 22 dishes piled up on our table, between three of us.

And while you might think this amounted to bad service, then you don’t know how Yo! Sushi works because the bill is calculated by the number of plates and their colours (ranging from the green £1.70 to the grey £5) left on your tables after you’ve finished stuffing yourself, which is a bit shameful.

It’s like your parents counting the empty bottles after a very good teenage party.

So what did you think?

Yo! Sushi is a brilliant idea and a fabulous concept. The decor is very uber and encourages a whole new audience of diners to try Japanese food, even if you don’t like sushi itself.

If nothing takes your fancy on the conveyor belt, the waitresses do the rounds constantly taking orders for anything else on the menu, all for the same price.

Ours also told us that students tend to average about four plates and couples about 20, so we were almost under parr which I found staggering. As for the food, it had its high and low points.

The chicken dumplings and seaweed salad were delicious, while the tofu and edamame beans were cold and rubbery.

But then at under £5 a dish, if you get it wrong, it’s not the end of the world. The service was also both fun and impeccable.

So if you fancy something a bit different I’d definitely give Yo! Sushi a try, if for nothing else but the novelty factor.

The experience is certainly a one-off and kids and families will love it, because it’s entertaining if nothing else.

Yo! Sushi is on George Street in Oxford so pop in or go to yosushi.com