itsu, Cornmarket Street, Oxford

A death knell can be heard booming over Oxford. If you listen closely it sounds like the demise of a thousand burgers and fried chicken buckets, the shrieks of fillet-o-fishes and whoppers echoing in the distance.

Yes, it would seem that the days of fast food as we know it are over. Having spent our youth being tempted by the dazzling yellow arches and its counterparts, gnawing away at fried chicken, burgers and calorie-condensed cocktails of ice cream, milkshake and fries, we knowingly laughed in the face of our sugar consumption, fat intake and acne. But hey, it was the 90s and this was where fast food was at.

The next generation knows better, much better. Watching our obesity and heart attacks spoilt all their fun. They are averse to clogging up their arteries with the worst food known to man, as we did, paying for the privilege.

So if you haven’t seen your kids for a while, you’ll find them in itsu, which has just opened opposite WHSmith in Oxford and is packed from morning to night by a clear- faced, thin, slightly worthy breed of youngsters, students and anyone else choosing health over habit.

If you haven’t heard about it, itsu is a chain of sushi-style restaurants opened by Julian Metcalfe, the man behind Pret A Manger. Oxford is its first venture outside London and it’s certainly hit its target audience.

But my, times have changed. When I was a student we lived on a liquid diet and ate whatever we found down the back of the sofa. Judging by the eager beavers straining to buy salmon and tuna tartare mixed sashimi, with which to feed their enormous intellects, this is a thing of the past.

They know something we didn’t, something about feeding your body and soul, although I wouldn’t have changed three years of pot noodles and fishfinger sandwiches for all the wasabi in Japan.

But I digress and all the facetiousness in christendom won’t change the fact that I loved itsu. Not only did I get it, but next time I’m a bit peckish and don’t want the whole rigmarole of a proper sit-down meal, I’ll know where to come. To put it in context, an itsu freshly poached salmon teriyaki, garnished with miso and a furikake on a bed of seasoned sushi rice with edamame beans and homemade teriyaki and ginger sauce, served in a bento box, costs just £3.89... less than a McDonald’s chicken burger.

The Cornmarket venue is a big old premises whose left-hand wall is full of cold salads, sushi, beds (a sandwich without bread, on rice in fact) etc, and you can see the Pret influence a mile off, although the only bread is Khoebz.

Get up to the counter and the hot food is available in a variety of cheerful paper pots, varying in size and content. As we were visiting post-theatre (itsu is open until 10pm) hot food was the way forward. So we joined the queues and ordered a variety of potsus with chicken, duck or vegetables, choosing to eat in and seizing one of the big, clean, varnished trestle tables.

Our food was delivered before anyone could even send a text (I was with a gang of teens) and before we had managed to share the paper-thin strips of seaweed, wasabi peas, and chocolate-covered edamame beans (the latter were revolting, the former delicious and the peas were so hot they made your nose bleed).

The pots come in two sizes: medium and original, and as it was late and we were hungry we all went for the hot food in the large size: miso soup (£1.99), dumplings with vegetables and noodles £4.99), chicken and rice £(5.99), duck and rice (£6.49) and the 7 veg and rice £4.99) because how filling can healthy food be?

Very filling as it turned out and delicious to boot. Some have tried to compartmentalise the potsus as posh Pot Noodles but they are so much more than that. For a start most of us opted for rice in ours, and the sauce and fillings are so rich, textured, fresh and bursting with novel ingredients, good chunks of meat and vibrant vegetables.

Halfway through I had to admit defeat, although the others managed to finish and were heartened by the promise of a frozen yoghurt — 0% fat of course, oh the virtue! Filled to the brim with pomegranate seeds, strawberries, blueberries and caramel chunks (there has to be some fun left in life), they too were delicious in their healthiness.

Eight of us ate for £50 with drinks (the detox zinger was a highlight at £1.85), which I thought was brilliant value for money. And as we gathered our coats and headed off home, halos shining brightly, one of the girls summed it up perfectly. “We used to pop into McDonald’s for a McFlurry when we were hungry, but now we come here because it’s so delicious and it’s good for you.”

What more can I say? And why is that funny clown with red hair and yellow dungarees running off into the distance weeping?

Opening times: Mon-Sat 10am-10pm, Sunday 11am-9pm
Parking: It’s on Cornmarket, so no.
Key personnel: Julian Metcalfe owns it, manager Ben Ambridge
Make sure you try the... itsu sale, half an hour before closing everyday when all ‘boxes’ are half price.
In ten words: This is fast food reinvented for today’s more conscientious world.