I have a habit- if I visit a restaurant once and enjoy it- I will keep on visiting the same restaurant over and over again. In Sheffield, this is true for Sushi Express and Yummy’s Noodle Bar. I place the importance on growing with a restaurant and of course, at the same time, I know that I am guaranteed the comfort and return on my food investment.
It has been around 4 years since Sushi Express open its door. I remembered the first time when I visited the restaurant- everything was so minimal, there wasn’t a clear concept and it felt as though it was a bridge in between what seemed like a really clean Japanese takeaway and an open kitchen type of restaurant, similar with Wagamama- with the exception that when both serves Japanese food, Sushi Express do serve Sushi as the name would suggest and there seems to be nothing so ‘express’ about it. Not to say that the service is slow but I do associate express with a takeaway like, low quality establishment- which Sushi Express has nothing to do with. Potentially it is a psychological trap- with the restaurant trying to attract more customers by suggesting that it is similar to a takeaway restaurant- which is a shame because it is such an elegant and exquisite place!
I had never been to Japan so I can’t comment on the authenticity of the dishes served and to be perfectly honest, when I was still living in Malaysia, I was never fond of Japanese food. My brother, on the other hand, had always been a huge fan and if it was his turn to choose the restaurant where we would dine at, I would have to just stomach it. Probably salmon, tuna and all other main Japanese food ingredients are hardly associated with tropical countries such as Malaysia- so the sense of freshness of the food served was lost.
Ironically enough, my curiosity and enthusiasm when it comes to Japanese food started with Wagamama. Wagamama is probably not the most authentic of Japanese restaurants around but when I came across the establishment, I was living in Canterbury and the selection of restaurants to dine at was limited. Even with Wagamama, I eventually got bored within a year or two and having said that I only visited the restaurant when my parents were in town- there had always been something that was not quite there. The food felt lacklustre and more often than not, there is a disconnect. Take the prawn chilli men for instance, the soba noodle often tasted under-seasoned and then when combining the sauce with the noodles, the noodles simply doesn’t absorb the sauce, leaving the dough-y noodle after taste. The yasai cha han- Japanese fried rice is an absolute waste of money- I can fry it with my eyes blindfolded- but probably won’t given how I burnt my legs before stir-frying noodles almost a month ago. I didn’t mind the raisukaree, I actually quite enjoy it- to me it felt like a lighter- fresh cousin of green curry. However, my favourite for Wagamama had always been the amai udon- it is a shame that when I checked the menu online today, it is no longer there. Instead I was presented with yaki udon which seems similar based on the description. Ever since I moved to Sheffield, I had only been to Wagamama three times and I’ve lived in Sheffield for five years now.
Although Wagamama sparked my interest on Japanese cuisine, the two years that I lived in London changed my Japanese food experience drastically. I learnt to love Ramen- which I never did before until my bestfriend introduced me to my love at first sight- Shoryu. The Ramen broth was so spectacular that it left me speechless EVERY FREAKING TIME!!! In fact, I would bug my bestfriend to have lunch with me given that the distance from her office to Shoryu on Regent Street is only 5 minutes. She always informed me so as to not get my hopes up ‘Just bear in mind that if there is a long queue, we can’t!!!’ Thankfully, for all the times that we planned on going to Shoryu, it will be packed but we never had to queue. At the moment, I am still yet to dine at Bone Daddies– which is apparently similar with the exception that at Bone Daddies- it will get messy! There are also other Japanese restaurants such as Ukai at Westbourne Grove which serves a limited menu but everything is fresh and if I remember correctly- they don’t serve hot meals; Tokyo Diner is truly forgettable, You Me Sushi is average- never quite like the Teriyaki dishes plus the sushi is a bit too ‘mushy’ for my liking, Mori is OK if you can close your eyes while paying for the meal etc. Chotto Matte which is the Japanese- Peruvian fusion restaurant was OK although it could have been amazing. When I went there, thanks to my ‘paparazzi’ behaviour, we managed to identify that they had missed out on one of the dishes as we opted for the tasting menu. It was quite disappointing in the sense that a tasting menu should work similar to a symphony- there should be a coordination- one should come after the other so when we missed out on one dish and even worst having had to clarify with the servers on their mistake instead of them realising that they have made a mistake, I would say that in the end I am 50-50 on it. There are of course a longer list of Japanese restaurants that I do wish to visit at some point.
The Irresistable Shoryu’s Ramen
In Sheffield, I had been to Wasabi Sabi, sadly Yo Sushi and had ordered from Sakushi. It must have been quite awhile since I visited Wasabi Sabi that all I can remember was- amazing ambience, expensive and small portion of food served and to top it all- came back home still hungry. For Yo Sushi, I must have been extremely hungry to even walk to the food court at Meadowhall- since lets face it, if anyone can avoid or refrain themselves from dining at Yo Sushi- PLEASE DO SO! For Sakushi, the portion is small and it never taste fresh- the only time I will order from Sakushi is if I don’t have any cash and is craving for Japanese food otherwise I won’t bother.
The first time when I went to Sushi Express- I came with Joule. We were both on our way back home- I was still staying at Trafalgar St, behind Devonshire Chippy then. I ordered the beef with tokyo sauce bento- it was ok, nothing special. However, Joule ordered a whole bunch of food which I was able to steal. At that time, I wasn’t certain if I would visit Sushi Express again but my family came for a visit that summer and one of the day when I had just came back from the IC, I decided to stop at Sushi Express- at that time they sold assortment of ready made sushi. I grabbed a box, bought it and gave it to my brother. My mum who had never been a fan of sushi nor Japanese food- took one and couldn’t stop praising on how tasty it was. I can still remember her words- Rice was cooked perfectly, the fish/ seafood weren’t slimy and there was no fishy smell. Few days after that the three of us dined at Sushi Express- we had what would eventually became the common food that I would order up until today.
The first dish is the unadon, comes at a hefty price of £13– the sauce is amazing and so is the fish- I didn’t mind paying that much for it although it is the type of dish that is more of a luxury than a repetitive habit. In comparison to Sakushi’s Unagi Kabayaki Don, Sushi Express is better in terms of the portion, the price is £0.45 cheaper and Sakushi’s has a slight taste of earthiness to it- which could indicate that the eel has not been cleaned properly. Four years later and nothing changed for Sushi Express- the portion size is still the same, the taste of the food is the same too and if I had to pick on something, I don’t seem to remember the price then. However, I did feel that the ratio in between rice to eel is imbalanced- there should be more eel or quite simply lesser rice. The unadon should come with a free miso soup, PLEASE ASK IF THEY FORGOT about this- the miso soup however, is a hit and miss- sometimes it can be a tad bit salty, sometimes it is enjoyable- so NEVER ORDER IT (It is £1.50 for something that is so uncertain too!)
Unadon at Sushi Express
Another one of our favourite is the 8 pieces Deluxe Dragon Maki at £12. It is an inside out sesame coated roll filled with blanched king prawn, ripe avocado and topped with tasty teritaki eel. Garnished with mayonnaise and flying fish roe. The sauce that accompanies this dish is amazing, the sushi itself is spectacular that to me, it deserves a standing ovation. I didn’t order this dish during my pre-bday dinner this year but I did so last year and last year’s summer. During both visits- they managed to maintain the quality.
Deluxe Dragon Maki at Sushi Express, October 2013
Krish ordered the Salmon Sashimi at £5.80 when we went there recently. Personally, for a better value for money, I would opt for either the Salmon & Flying Fish Roe Don at £4 or Salmon & Salmon Roe Mini Don at £4.50. I’ve ordered the mini don but not the flying fish roe, and it is a bowl of joy! I couldn’t observe any drastic difference in between the two roe-don dishes and the salmon sashimi but only the benefit of having rice and roe at at least £1.30 cheaper.
The 2 pieces Roasted Salmon Nigiri at £2.60 is good- they have managed to cook it to perfection- some restaurants did manage to overcook the salmon thus left it dried. This is one of my brother’s favourite. However, they definitely have downsized the portion as last year, again uncertain of the price charged then but it was priced for 3 pieces instead of the 2 pieces as currently offered. My brother would also order the 2 pieces Roasted Crab Stick Nigiri which costs £2.60. I would not order this as I would avoid eating artificial food at all cost- so I am in no position to comment. However, they didn’t downsize this dish- there were 2 pieces then and there are 2 pieces now.
Roasted Salmon Nigiri and Roasted Crabstick Nigiri at Sushi Express
I had also tried the Octopus Nigiri, Squid Nigiri (2 pieces for £2.60) and Surf Clam Nigiri (2 pieces for £3). I enjoyed the octopus nigiri thoroughly, not a fan of the squid nigiri- it was just OK and first time ever that I tried surf clam and hadn’t done so since (clearly not memorable enough or simply not value for money- probably would do so for my next visit just to remind me of how I felt about it).
The Salmon Roe Gunkan is one of my favourite, there used to be an option to order just a piece (at £2.30) of it but now diners are forced to order two pieces at £4.50!!!!The price made me hesitant to order it but Krish ordered it, although now this left me feeling like a bad friend since I should have advised him to just order the Salmon & Salmon Roe Mini Don- it has everything that he wanted for a total price of £4.50, instead of the £9.80 that he paid for the sashimi and salmon roe gunkan.
Other than that, my brother had ordered the Rainbow Maki (8 pieces for £7.50), Dragon Maki (8 pieces for £8.50) and Summer Maki (6 pieces for £6) all of which are amazing but if it was up to me, I would stick with the Deluxe Dragon Maki. I did order the Spicy Salmon Maki (6 pieces for £4.50) just last week- They used shichimi togarashi to coat the sushi- Krish found it spicy, I didn’t. I found the portion rather small and at some point thought that they have downsized the size of the maki, but then I realised that was the first time I ordered it at Sushi Express. However, at my fourth piece, I was already full plus I did have my unadon before that. Taste wise- it is different than other spicy salmon maki that I have had- I was never made to taste shichimi togarashi before and quite honestly, it felt a bit alien to my tongue- but hey at least it was an authentic experience! In terms of whether or not, the spices mask the taste of the salmon- I didn’t think so, but then again I can handle my spices. Weird enough because we ordered the Kimchi (£3.20) and he was fine with that- the Kimchi was well balanced, flavour wise but if we weren’t splitting the bill, I wouldn’t have ordered it.
2014 Pre Birthday Dinner- Salmon Sashimi, Unadon, Kimchi, Spicy Salmon Maki and Salmon Roe Gunkan
The Vegetarian Maki (6 pieces for £4.80) and the Tofu Skewer (£3) are my mums favourite. Personally, I wouldn’t order the tofu skewer as it is a tad bit greasy. I had also ordered the Octopus Skewer (£.250) once and that was a total let down- octopus was tasteless- it wasn’t marinated well or probably should have been marinated longer. The vegetarian maki on the other hand is really refreshing- not quite sure how they managed to wrap the cooked Chinese leaves around it, but it is good.
Vegetarian Maki, Miso Soup and Salmon Salad
The absolute no-no for Sushi Express will be the Salmon Teriyaki (£7.80). The fish is a tad bit dried and I know that I can do a better job. Once in awhile, when I wanted to pamper myself, I would order the Kaisen Don (£8.20). This include a selection of raw fish sashimi slices including 2 salmon, 2 tuna, 2 scallops, 2 octopus and 2 sweet shrimp, crushed ginger, wasabi and Japanese omelette served on a bed of sushi rice. The sweet shrimp is probably a let down and probably I just can’t bear the thought of eating raw shrimp- but that is simply my personal recollection. The corn is a good touch (or I think it is corn) adds crunch to the whole dish. Oh and for my pre-bday dinner last year, a group of Japanese diners pre-ordered an octopus dish- THAT WAS AMAZING!!!! I don’t remember what it is called but apparently it is a special order. One of the waiter was really nice to allow us to taste it for free (thumbs up for that!!!)
The Mysterious Octopus Dish at Sushi Express
Salmon Teriyaki at Sushi Express
Overall, after almost four years of visiting Sushi Express- although there are dishes that I would avoid and sometimes I would smirk over the bill, it is one of the best Japanese restaurant that I had been to in my life- of course I had never been to Nobu yet, so I can’t make any comparison. The seafood is fresh- didn’t need much to be done to it, they definitely showed respect to the ingredients and allowed the ingredients to shine. Sushi at Chotto Matte was fresh too but Sushi Express certainly has more flare and personality with the food that they serve- in short there is love, care and attention! Reminiscing to the first two years of their establishment- I can still remember the times when they would hold some sort of food photography session, assuming that the pictures are to be used for their menu- always thought they didn’t need a lot of
marketing because the product that they are presenting is good enough to speak for itself. I felt that way then and I continue to feel the same now. There is also a sense of consistency in terms of quality- which is always something that is difficult for restaurants to achieve- the change in management, chef, suppliers could all contribute to the lack of consistency- but they didn’t seem to suffer from that- Not at all! I am glad to have this very special experience, especially in making my London foodie friends who are often so picky about their food to leave Sushi Express utterly speechless. So, for anyone reading this post, if you would like to recreate the same experience with your friends, visit Sushi Express at:
Livin On A Budget 