BELFAST GETS A SLICE OF URBAN TOKYO, YO! SUSHI OPENS FIRST EVER NORTHERN IRISH RESTAURANT

YO! Sushi, the iconic Japanese restaurant, makes its Northern Ireland debut with its first ever Belfast restaurant opening its doors on Wednesday 17 December 2014 in Victoria Square.

YO! Sushi will be serving up food on the restaurant’s iconic ‘kaiten’ conveyor belt, offering fast, fun and fresh Japanese inspired food – the perfect choice for anyone who wants to enjoy a slice of urban Tokyo in a uniquely designed dining experience.

Diners will be able to choose from over 80 delicious hot and cold dishes including soups, rice or noodles, salads, tempura and hot classics like our best-selling Chicken Katsu Curry, Salmon Teriyaki and Yakisoba noodles.

Situated on the ground floor of the Victoria Square shopping complex, located at the Ann street entrance next to Urban Outfitters, the new 74-seater restaurant will create over 30 new jobs in the local area and has been designed to appeal to busy workers, shoppers, families and visitors to the city.

Opening 17th December!
Yo! Sushi at Victoria Square pic.twitter.com/qpM5bRBwEW

— Love Belfast ❤️ (@love_belfast) December 14, 2014

The local management team have together have turned their enthusiasm, focus and passion to the art of modern Japanese cuisine to bring you an experience that will be second to none. Robin Laird, General Manager, has a wealth of experience across many different types of businesses, and Nicky Reid is a local chef with an award winning background.

Vanessa Hall, CEO at YO! Sushi said: ““We are so excited to be bringing the YO! Sushi concept to the beautiful city of Belfast for the first time. From our new winter warming, great value for money Super Mega Bowls to our bestselling Katsu curry and traditional sushi – Victoria Square is in for a real treat and we look forward to welcoming the local residents and community into the restaurant to try our delicious hot and cold dishes and offer them a taste of contemporary Japan.”

My Review…

It’s a pretty futuristic looking venue. Diners can choose to eat at the counter, or at booth-style tables which offer a more relaxed dining environment. We chose to sit at the counter, giving us an easy view of the tempting plates of food that passed us by…

When sitting at the counter, you have everything you need to hand: stacks of empty glasses and taps for both still and sparkling water, chopsticks, napkins, wooden cutlery, soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi. Counter stations also have a button you can press for assistance, with a blue light tube in front of you that glows red and speaks when the button is pressed, alerting the service staff of the fact that they are needed.

I love the simple concept of the revolver belt and different coloured plates that translate to different prices. The menu with pictures and how calling the waiter is simple. Self serving plays a large part in the experience from selecting your own plates and essentially curating your own meal, refilling your own water and calling the waiter when you wish.

There’s a great deal of choice, and some fantastic new dishes on the menu that will appeal to non-raw fish lovers too. There is a great choice on the menu including noodles, curry and rice and just like the cold dishes they are all colour coded according to price.  The Katsu chicken (crispy fried chicken in Japanese breadcrumbs with a curry sauce) was delicious. The variety on the menu is excellent and there are plenty of vegetarian options covering most dishes.

It is not just sushi going round on the conveyor belt, there are also unusual looking desserts just waiting to be picked up. I was tempted had some kinda chocolate dessert while waiting for the hot dish to be made.

I do love the concept of serving yourself, and when we ordered hot dishes, the service was prompt and friendly – and the environment in which you eat is quite futuristic and something a bit different. Recommended.