Become a sushi masterOne thing we’re not short of here in the South West is fresh fish, so it’s not surprising that a number of places where you can learn to make sushi yourself have sprung up recently.

One of the leading sushi schools in the UK is Your Sushi which is run by Frenchman Emmanuel Letellier, who says, ‘Sushi has been democratised - you can even get it in the supermarket - but a lot of people eat the same thing over and over - usually nigiri and California rolls. The truth is that it is very easy to make yourself, and you can get astonishing results very quickly. You can’t really learn it from a book because there are lots of little tricks, plus the visual aspect, the smell, colour and the shine on the rice. If you want high quality nigiri and sashimi and things like that you should go to a good sushi restaurant but for fun, healthy eating you can make it yourself at home.

‘The most important thing to know is that the secret to good sushi lies in the rice. Sushi literally means vinegared rice in Japanese. To train as a sushi chef takes seven to ten years, and in the first three years you only deal with cleaning, and the rice. There is a big misconception in Europe that sushi is the fish, which it’s not. So you can make sushi with anything - you don’t need to have raw fish. At the classes we always have lots of vegetarian options and we do things like a blue cheese and fig sushi maki roll and people think it’s amazing. You can have loads of different flavours: you can open your fridge and make sushi out of

whatever is in there, as long as you get the rice right. That said we do cover authentic sushi, and, in the masterclasses, ways of cutting sashimi.

‘The thing is that people eat sushi nowadays from a lot of different places and they don’t necessarily want octopus, they just want to be able to make it at home easily - and that’s what we do.

‘We hold courses all over the UK with highly-trained sushi chefs and keep to a low number, say four or five people, so the classes are very personal, which is the key to learning. Each person has the attention of the chef, who is always behind them showing them how to do it, so they learn so much more - it’s very hands on and fun.

‘We have two courses: Let’s Roll, which teaches people the basics - how to cook and prepare the rice, and to make four to five different types of sushi rolls, lasting two hours; and the Sushi Masterclass which lasts three and a half hours. In that one people learn a lot more - from filleting fish to making nigiri and cone shaped sushi. It’s for the serious sushi lover.

‘Originally we started by giving private classes only at home, which we still do all over the

UK, but we now run the Your Sushi workshops everywhere too.

Let’s Roll costs £65 and the Sushi Masterclass £85. Your Sushi sells vouchers valid across the UK for 12 months. Emmanuel says, ‘Nibbling is compulsory on the courses and people go home with a full bento box, miso soup, pickled ginger, chopsticks, soy sauce and a full belly.’ See the website for courses coming up. www.yoursushi.co.uk

Get the kitNowadays you can pick up a fantastic range of sushi-making equipment online. A site worth making a bee-line for is www.sushisushi.co.uk which is a great find for everything you’ll need other than fresh fish. In addition to the essentials such as sushi rice, vinegar and nori, there are also sushi-making kits. These start at £5.99 and proprietor Sushi Stu says, ‘The smallest kit will enable you to make enough sushi to feed four people, and we’ve kits which go all the way up to £200 which include rice cookers and tableware.’ Check out Sushi TV on the website for online tutorials too. www.sushisushi.co.uk

‘the truth iS thAt it iS very eASy to mAke

yourSelF, AnD you cAn Get AStoniShinG reSultS

very quickly.’

Sushi love if spankingly-fresh raw fish and vinegared rice is your idea of heaven, you may bemoan the South West as a place to feed your habit, but there’s some fine stuff out there if you cast your net wide.

Advertorial feature

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BriStol AreA

Obento69 Baldwin Street, Bristol, BS1 1QZ.Tel. 0117 9297392. www.obento-bristol.co.ukWith its contemporary interior, Obento is a great place for a whole range of Japanese dishes, but especially sushi. Japanese chef Kwok Fung from Kyoto has over 30 years’ experience and focuses on Californian style sushi with a speciality Tobiko California roll of crab, egg, tuna, mayo, cucumber and orange fi sh roe on the ends. There’s a wide range of sushi and sashimi in addition, made with Cornish mackerel, sea bass and salmon, and served with authentic Japanese wasabi and gari (ginger).

Noa12-13 Waterloo Street, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4BT.Tel. 0117 9732881. www.noajapanese.co.uk Clifton Village’s chilled out restaurant serves a broad and authentic Japanese menu which includes a sushi and sashimi list and maki rolls. Mackerel, eel and sea bass sit alongside egg and salmon sushi and you’ll also get spoiled for miso, edamame and the rest. The food is accompanied by a drinks list which includes sake, shochu and Japanese beers.

Yo Ji 25-27 St James Street, Weston-super-Mare.Tel. 01934 620800. www.yo-ji.co.ukWe haven’t managed to get to Yo Ji yet, but the signs look good: Japanese chefs, a bar you can sit at to watch the chefs at work and a good-looking sushi menu which can be eaten in the smart restaurant or bought to take away. Give us your feedback when you try it - if we don’t get there fi rst!

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Rick Stein’sRiverside, Padstow, Cornwall. Tel. 01841 532700. www.rickstein.com.The seafood bar in the middle of The Seafood Restaurant is just the place to soak up the atmosphere of the restaurant and watch the chefs assembling platters of sashimi. The especially good news is that you don’t have to book to sit at the bar (although you do have to be over 18), so you can pop in any time to sample some top-class sushi and other seafood dishes from the à la carte menu. Also at Stein’s is the one-day Japanese sashimi and sushi cookery course, where you can learn the techniques for selecting, fi lleting and slicing fi sh and preparing sushi rice, wasabi and the dipping sauces. It’s a mix of demonstration and practical, hands-on cookery. At lunchtime, students sit down together to enjoy the food they’ve prepared, accompanied by a glass of vino.

So Sushi at The Atlantic HotelDane Road, Newquay, Cornwall, TR7 1EN.Tel. 01637 872244. www.atlantichotelnewquay.co.ukCornwall’s fi rst sushi train restaurant gives you the chance to peruse the authentic dishes as they whizz by on the conveyer system. You pick your dishes and the plates are counted up at the end to make your bill. The atmosphere is relaxed and informal with Japanese beers and terrifi c views.

Devon

Yukisan51 Notte Street, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2AG.Tel. 01752 250240. www.yukisan.co.ukThe fi rst Japanese restaurant in Devon, Yukisan’s highly-trained sushi chefs have been preparing top-quality sushi, sashimi and maki rolls at this huge restaurant since 2004. The chefs use a wide range of seafood from turbot to lobster and there is also a special house sashimi of lobster, oysters and seasonal fi sh, plus a few sushi set dishes which come with miso, to give you the opportunity to broaden your sushi horizons.

AlSo in the South WeSt

Yen Sushi in Bath, and Yo! Sushi in Bristol, Bath and atCribbs Causeway.

Sushi love

We have an exclusive competition for two lucky food readers to win places on the beginner’s let’s roll sushi class. See the website for details of classes and fi ll in your details online with the answer to the following question:

Q. Which term means “raw fi sh”: sushi orsashimi?

www.yoursushi.co.uk/food

Where to eat sushiyou don’t just stumble across cool places to slurp a bowl of miso and savour sashimi, so we’ve pulled together some worth travelling to, right across the South West.

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