Mr Reviews: Sushi Gourmet Stand in Sainsbury’s

I have a love/ hate relationship with grocery shopping. Sometimes the worst feeling on a Friday evening is knowing you have to make a weekend trip to the Supermarket. If you do it Saturday it feels like you not using that time to do something enjoyable. If you go Sunday then that’s eating up your rest day. But other times I like it, especially when I know we will be picking up some ingredients (and some dessert) for a Saturday night meal. Then there are times I come across something that makes me want to do cartwheels. What might make me do cartwheels…sushi!

So myself, Mrs Reviews and Baby Reviews made a very late trip to Sainsbury’s on a cloudy/ sunny day. I never really used to go to Sainsbury’s because back in my hometown definitely I didn’t have one close by. However, we enjoy the one near us now especially the homeware section. Funny enough, it was during a conversation with my wife over garden chairs that in the corner of my eye I saw a stand. The closer I got the more my heart started beating faster. Okay, I’m just being silly, it was the below Sushi Gourmet Stand.

Let me just reiterate that I love sushi. So when I saw the above stand in Sainsbury’s I was ecstatic. I mean, how cool does this look? I have never heard of Sushi Gourmet and initially, I thought it was something Sainsbury’s run. After some researching online and found that Sushi Gourmet is a business that provides fresh sushi stands in Supermarkets and food retailers. They actually have chefs who make the sushi in front of you but we got here late. Here is the link to their website if you are interested to know more about them.

They had a good mixture of sushi from hand rolls, sashimi, maki rolls with plenty of vegetarian selection. There are other Japanese items sold too from snacks, coffee and even the well renowned Japanese mayonnaise.

The sushi’s were priced between £4.95 to £6.95. One or two items were a bit more such as the Salmon Sashimi. The size of items felt like they were for lunch-goers so it was a little expensive. Don’t get me wrong, sushi is generally an expensive food and I have paid silly amounts for it in the past.

Unfortunately, we had dinner arrangements planned already so I only picked up a small pack of salmon cheese roll. For about 6 pieces I paid £4.95 which again was slightly expensive. I also got a tiny bottle of sweet soy sauce although they gave you a small pack in the box (rookie mistake).

Now my scepticism over the price was eased when I tasted the first roll. It was delicious. The salmon sashimi was soft and just melts in your mouth. Rice was tender and wasn’t hard like most chilled sushi. To back it all up there was the creaminess from the cheese filling. I also need to give some good feedback to the sweet soy sauce, it just enhanced the flavour of the sushi. I am glad I got the small bottle which will be used when I make sushi at home.

To conclude, this is the best sushi I have had from a supermarket. I know it’s a company using space in a supermarket but this is a really cool concept. The sushi is better than ones I have gotten in restaurants. I felt the price was slightly expensive as you are not getting the dining experience. They could easily fix that with some seating arrangements around the counter. Sainsbury’s need some credit for allowing a sushi stand that trumps there own chilled sushi. But can you blame them?

Finally, I welcome the idea for more Sushi Gourmet stands in supermarkets. I am most definitely going to re-visit Sushi Gourmet in Sainsbury’s again. There are other items I really want to try so expect a Part 2 on this sushi indulging journey. 

Salmon Cheese Sushi Roll

£4.95

7.6

Value

6.3/10

Quality

8.9/10

Pros

• Great tasting
• Quality salmon and rice
• Delicious sweet soy sauce

Cons

• Slightly expensive
• Needed more than 6 pieces