Yama Sushi

Is sushi reeeeally as good as people make out? Disclaimer, before I begin on this rant: I do like sushi, sakushi and any raw fish used in sushi rolls (although I no longer eat it due to being a veggie).

However, “quite liking” sushi is not an acceptable position. People are not moderate in their opinions on sushi. They don’t just say “Yeah, sushi’s fine”. If someone claims to like sushi, they “LOVE sushi so much, it’s the best food in the world! You don’t like raw fish? You should just try it! It doesn’t even taste like fish!!”

This is because sushi is a fashion food. If you don’t “get” sushi then, well, you’re just not that cool. There are some other fashion foods, which I will now briefly cover, for the sake of completeness:

The social-network fashion food is currently bacon. People don’t just like bacon either, they ADORE bacon and is MAKES them happy. Yes, it MAKES people happy. Perhaps a clever little trend introduced by Christians (I don’t actually think this but ooh, wait it could actually be true! I’m sure it isn’t though)…veggies, Muslims and (Kosher) Jews will probably know what I am talking about. "But what about BACON?" these fashionistas cry, as if you'd suddenly realise your silly mistake: "Oh God, bacon....I forgot all about bacon! Let’s roast a hog!"

There is also a social-network fashion drink, which is gin. Sometimes people write "o'clock" after the fashionable drink, so they know when to drink it (NB: this phrase may also attach itself to beer, for the less sophisticated). Some fashionable people also drink gin in "slushies", although, that is still strictly a hipster preserve.

Cupcakes were a fashion food but I think that they are perhaps a little passé these days. Instead, they have been usurped by the revolting Krispy Kreme doughnut. KK is not only a fashion food but also a bullshit food because I doubt that anyone really likes them. Glazed, maybe. Strawberries and Cream? No way. They are VOMIT inducing. You say you like them? Well, I call bullshit. Take yourself down to Sainsbury’s and buy 5 jam ball doughnuts for 65p and come home crying to mama about the hundreds you have spent on bullshit in the name of coolness.

If Naomi Klein wrote No Logo today, I have faith that she would mention the extreme brand success that KK has had, what with its silly hats and all-American HUGE boxes, which I am CONVINCED that people only buy for a Facebook picture (and then are hilariously punished by having to eat 12 lumps of icing-covered shit).

Anyway, putting my KK rage to one side, I must come back to sushi because that is what I was hoping to write about before all those little gripes got the better of me.

You see, I know that I LOVE chocolate because even though it makes me fat, gives me headaches and causes me to be lazy, I still eat it as if I am on a lifetime mission to give myself diabetes. Therefore, logic dictates that it must taste pretty bloody good.

Now, let’s assume that sushi still tastes like sushi but instead of omega-3 fatty acids, it just has loads of normal fat. Instead of Kate Moss and Megan Fox as noted celebrity fans of sushi, Susan Boyle and a real-life equivalent of Alan Partridge eat the stuff as if there is no tomorrow. Kate doesn’t go near that shit.

You may say, “Well yes, OBVIOUSLY, we like it because it’s healthy as well!” You are right but you are also in denial. I like apples, I like bananas…and pears are nice too but if each had a sudden surge in calories, I would jettison them immediately. Do I update my Twitter about how much I love apples and bananas? No, I do not.

So admit it, you slaves to modern life; you don’t love sushi at all. You love being cool. You update your Facebook status about sushi because people will think “oooh wow, aren’t they sophisticated!” and if sushi stopped being so cool, you would probably stop eating it. It’s almost as if no one dares say to their supper companion “this stuff just isn’t as amazing as we’re pretending, is it?” So I’m saying it for you! Sushi is…..okay! I suppose Japanese people are allowed to LOVE sushi because otherwise that would be pretty British Empire of me wouldn’t it?

So, it is in light of the above opinions that I now turn to write about my trip to Yama Sushi in Sheffield. Yama are apparently one of the best purveyors of the cool stuff in the area.

This is my veggie sushi! (£6 and £4, I think)

Perhaps at the management’s behest, our lovely waitress went for a hard-sell on behalf of what I can only imagine to be two tonnes of soon-to-be-rotten eels out in the back. We were very polite in our declining of the eels but we were then asked another two times whether we would consider the eels.

When someone tries to make me do anything, warning bells ring! Dingaling! This person has some kind of evil motive! And then I start to worry that they are trying to kill me or sabotage my life and it all gets very out of hand. I don’t think this waitress was trying to destroy me but I do think that perhaps the restaurant had accidentally purchased too many eels that day.

Tuna sushi - this was probably about £6. I can't remember and I am a terrible reviewer!

 Yama is known for its good sushi and as far as I could taste, the sushi was very good. However, my silly boyfriend decided to plump for a rice and seafood dish even though he likes sushi. I think he was just a bit overwhelmed at the choice of food and panicked (which is something I would normally do, so I felt rather smug).

Anyway, the seafood dish was apparently not that nice. From what I could see, it looked as if the seafood originated from one of those Iceland Frozen “Various Seafood” bags. Also the rice was egg fried (it did state this on the menu, by the way) and apparently, egg and seafood are not a good combination.

The egg-fried rice and mixed seafood dish was not highly rated :-(

Now, those are all the negative bits but MY sushi was actually really quite nice. My boyfriend’s sister had some tuna sushi rolls and a tempura prawn thing, which came in a cone of seaweed and apparently these were nice too.

Should you go to Yama sushi? Yes! The sushi is nice and this is a restaurant where you can sit down, rather than just have a takeaway. It’s also a bit out of the centre so has a more laid back feel to it. If you do go there, I would go there to eat sushi…not anything else.

Yama Sushi has a website here and is located on London Road in Sheffield. If it's a popular night, you might be wise to make a booking beforehand. 

P.S.: Of course I felt hip taking photos of my sushi!

NB: I wrote this post last night and then went to bed, CRAVING sushi (raw fish sushi). Maaaaan. Then I thought “what if sushi really is brilliant and everything I have written is wrong?” It’s too late (read: I am too lazy) to change it, so comment and let me know whether you think it’s overrated or not. It will be my first comment!!

Tweet Pin It Now!

Edo Sushi

I left my job in the City with a magnificent leaving do. We went to Sushi Samba (where I had 1 of my 4 minor vegetarian fuck ups this year) and we went to a wild club where our table cost more than my law degree. We lost one of my bosses in Soho and as the most sober person, I was sent to find him (he had gone to score and later returned, courtesy of a bemused rickshaw driver, with all the buttons missing from his shirt). My other boss had blood all down HIS shirt and claimed not to know why. His PA looked like the woman at the beginning of that anti-binge drinking advert. She then looked like a naked version of that woman in the advert when I caught her with my (also naked) boss doing something that adults often do when they are naked with other people.

I left my job, not because I didn’t like it but because it wasn’t something I wanted to do forever and at 24, you have to start thinking about what you are going to do forever, don’t you? The ideas of a house (not a room), a mortgage (not rent), a marriage (not fucking around) and, gulp, a brood (I don’t even know) occasionally creep into your drug addled thoughts.

But then, you’re only 24. So you swiftly assure yourself…”Fuck this, I’m only 24!!! I don’t need to think about serious things for ages; possibly not for 20 years or forever!!”, so I joined the music industry!

I didn’t go to a label or a recording studio, I became a management assistant! In management, you have to be really organised and motivated and organised and a bit of a servant and organised. I quickly realised that I wasn’t doing any of the work I was meant to be doing, unless it was something I couldn’t get away with not doing.

For example, “Laura, could you please get me a Starbucks and water the garden?” “Yes, of course” and I did!

Or…

“Laura, could you please find us some artists who you think would go well with these producers, then burn some CDs and then research some recording studios and then find me a new cleaner?” “Yes, of course” and I didn’t!

All this work was piling up and I was very worried. As I may have said before, I am an 80% panic/20% work type of person. I pretended that everything was fine whilst doing absolutely no work. One weekend, I thought about this mess and instead of rationally deciding to stay late a few nights and do the work, I panicked.

On Monday morning, I went into the office, made my boss a cup of tea, set up her diary for the day and quit. I said that I didn’t want to be in London anymore and that music wasn’t for me and that…and that…..I wanted to be a teacher!

In actual fact, a terrible realisation had hit me: I wasn’t a manager at all; I needed a manager!

They were very mad: “You have really left us in the lurch here. Do you know that Diana Vickers’ sister wanted this job? We turned her down you know because we thought you would be better. We waited for TWO months for you to work your notice. TWO MONTHS. Even though we needed someone straight away. We could have had Diana’s sister; she really wanted this job you know”.

I didn’t care; I just thought “get me out of here right now”.

I put my room on the market, lugged every belonging I had back up to my parents’ house and registered at a temping agency.

I was worried that being up north would mean there would be no good places to eat lunch. However, during my first placement at the temping agency, I was introduced to a lovely little sushi takeaway in Sheffield city centre: Edo Sushi.

It’s extremely tiny and you can’t eat in, which is not really a problem because you can trundle along to the Winter Gardens in Sheffield and just sit there and eat it, which is much nicer than a real indoor place. There is one particularly nice member of staff – a lady, who works on the front counter. I have a bit of a crush on her, I think. Not in a sexy way but just in a I wish you were my best friend and we watched films together and thought the same things sort of way. All the other staff are nice too.

The reason I am writing about this place isn’t because of the building or the staff but because it does good, authentic Japanese food that is in the centre of Sheffield, so may be good for people nipping out on their lunch breaks.

Veggie Edo Box - £4.50 at lunchtime (the fish one is the same price)

Aubergine Katsu Curry - usually £6ish but £4.50 if you ask nicely.

It's really fucking good.

Disclaimer: As I have no readers, it hardly needs to be said that I have not been paid in money or free stuff to write this post. Having said that, if Edo Sushi or anyone else wants to send me free stuff, I promise to be absolutely and utterly corrupt and write whatever you want me to say.

Tweet Pin It Now!