Inviting a vegan friend for sushi may not seem the most sensible idea but it just goes to show that no type of cuisine is totally closed off to someone who doesn’t eat animal products. I was offered a £30 voucher to try YouMeSushi, a delivery chain with five branches around London (soon to be six). They have been around since 2008 as a sushi takeaway and now deliver as well.
We were at my friend’s flat not far from their Gray’s Inn Road branch so we ordered from there. It did involve explaining to three different people about my voucher but this isn’t something that would be an issue for regular orders.The menu online is divided into different sections by types of sushi eg nigiri (oval shaped rice with a topping), maki roll (roll of rice wrapped in seaweed with a filling) and so on. There was just so much that I didn’t know what to choose, but luckily YouMeSushi is prepared for that and can make life easier by offering selection boxes and platters, from the low-fat ‘detox box’ (£7.95) containing 9 pieces, to the £12 deluxe box, with 14 pieces of four different types, to the 130-piece party box for £99. We ordered the 18-piece YouMe Nigiri box, containing two salmon nigiri, two tuna nigiri, two prawn nigiri, six salmon and avocado uramaki rolls and six tuna maki rolls. These were really good though I think the pieces of tuna could have been a little thicker.
We also had two of their hot dishes which came in large plastic bowls that we could eat straight out of. My friend had the vegetable noodle dish with tofu, which came with thich udon noodles, various stir-friend vegetables and teriyaki sauce, and I had the same thing but with prawns. We also asked for some extra teriyaki sauce which came in a big cup with a lid.I had several large pieces of prawns coated in breadcrumbs, lots of veg, and noodles underneath. I wouldn’t normally have thought to order something like this from a sushi restaurant if it hadn’t been going through the menu to look for non-fish options for my vegan friend, and I really enjoyed it.
There’s a useful guide on their website describing different types of sushi, how to use chopsticks, sushi etiquette (don’t mix your wasabi into your soy and eat each piece in one bite – otherwise it’s a criticism of the chef’s skills!) which is quite fun to read even if you’ve eaten sushi before as you might still learn something. There’s also a blog with interesting articles about Japanese cultural events in London, news stories and helpful articles such as which sauce to choose with your order.
Delivery took 45 minutes which was a little surprising given we were only half a mile from the restaurant but I assume everything is freshly prepared – and I’ve had to wait a lot longer than that for takeaway before (2 and a half hours for a little Thai place in Carshalton recently!). The prices include delivery so while some prices may seem a little higher than picking up a packet of sushi in a supermarket, this is restaurant quality and on a par with any other sort of takeaway I’ve had, and something that I would definitely have again.