Wasabi

BIG ON JAPAN

There used to be a time when sushi and bento were considered too exotic for all but the most adventurous Western palates. When I first started out as a young lawyer in the City, the only way you could get Japanese food for lunch was to hunt out dedicated restaurants and sushi bars tucked away in obscure corners of town. In my case, that meant either a trip to Moshi Moshi Sushi – a conveyor belt style establishment hidden behind Liverpool Street Station – or for a more involved, traditional sit down meal at an independent family run eatery. In both cases, the experience of locating these places was as hard as finding the means to pay for them. Happily, with the advent of the Yo! Sushi and Sartori chains, and the adoption of pre-packed sushi in high street supermarkets like M&S, Waitrose and Tesco (and to a lesser extent, noodle bars like Wagamama), Japanese food in general (and sushi in particular) has long ceased to become the exclusive province of moneyed businessmen on expense accounts. However, until recently, accessibility came at the not inconsiderable cost of quality, but a new chain has emerged on the streets of the City of London that aims to bring affordable, takeaway sushi (and bento) of a decent standard to the masses. That chain is Wasabi.

RAW FISH? FOR LUNCH?

Mention sushi and you will invariably get a wide range of reactions - ranging from abject horror and disgust to sheer delight. There aren’t many accessible “foreign” foods that polarise Westerners to such a degree. The idea of eating raw fish seems too much of a conceptual hurdle for many people, even if the same person is completely at home with smoked salmon or Parma ham (both are also raw meat, albeit cured). However, properly (and freshly) done, there are few convenient lunchtime alternatives that can offer the healthy eating and nutritive value of sushi (low in fat, high in protein, complex carbohydrates and chock full of Omega 3 and minerals). Sushi itself is a general term that covers various different types of preparations, all of which, in one form or another, use vinegar-flavoured sticky rice as a base. The most popular forms are nigiri (thinly sliced raw fish on a shaped and cooked rice base), hosomaki (sushi rice, plus ingredient, rolled in a thin layer of dried, edible seaweed, called “nori”) and uramaki (the rice is on the outside, usually covered in sesame seed, with the sushi rice and ingredients on the inside – think California roll).

A BIT ABOUT THE CHAIN

The Wasabi chain, which has around twelve branches scattered across the business districts of London (ex. Canary Wharf, Fleet Street, Finsbury Pavement, Waterloo & Victoria Stations) offers both ready-made sushi and bento (rice, fish/meat, and vegetables arranged In a single takeaway box). The name of the chain comes from the hot green and strongly flavoured garnish usually served with sushi, which is also sometimes known as “Japanese horseradish” (although the way it gets up the nose and into the sinuses, it’s more akin to English mustard). More detail about their locations, menu and a short history can be found on their website at: www.wasabi.uk.com

HOW DOES IT WORK?

I consistently use three of their outlets (they can’t really be called restaurants as they have very limited seating space – similar to Pret-a-Manger in style) and each has a very similar layout. The design is fairly minimalist and industrial in feel. As you enter, there will be a series of large, open chiller cabinets with pieces of sushi individually wrapped in plastic and set out on the shelves (nigiri and uramaki are wrapped singly, whereas hosomaki – the smaller rolls, are wrapped two by two). If you are after hot food, the bento bar is against the back wall, near the cash registers, and is manned by the (usually) Japanese staff. There is a wide selection of cooked Japanese meat and fish specialities (ex. teriyaki, yakisoba, katsu and yakitori), noodles, miso soup and vegetables, and you simply queue and ask for what you want, which is then made up for you. For sushi lovers, you take a cardboard tray from a rack near the entrance and select the pieces of sushi you want, filling up the tray as you go along. Pieces of sushi can be bought singly, but a modest discount is offered for buying two pieces at a time. Typically, you will find around twenty varieties displayed, and they are repeated randomly throughout the cabinets to allow the lunchtime crown quick and convenient access. What you see is strictly what you get – with the exception of hand-rolled sushi available at the bento bar, sushi is not made to order.

Amongst all the raw fish, the less adventurous palate is catered for with Westernised favourites like tuna sweetcorn sushi and California rolls, as well as vegetable hosomaki (i.e. cucumber and red pepper fillings instead of fish, and patently non-Japanese ingredients like sundried tomato and mozzarella). A selection of soft drinks (and a few Japanese specialities like Calpico and Green Tea) are also available.Once you are happy with your selection, you queue up to pay. Wasabi can get very busy during the lunchtime rush hour (around noon to 2pm) and queues out the door are not unheard of. However, service is usually quite fast and I have never waited for more than four or five minutes. Condiments are not free – a small charge of 5p per sachet is made for wasabi, gari (ginger pickle) and soy sauce, all of which are available in front of the tills. You will be asked whether you want to eat-in or take-out, but as I have never bothered sticking around, I don’t know if there is a VAT surcharge for using the small number of tables and chairs provided. Your sushi is packed in a plastic bag with chopsticks and napkins. If you bought soy sauce, a small plastic container is provided for you to dispense it into. Most major credit and debit cards are accepted.

QUALITY & COST

As mentioned earlier, the sacrifice you generally make for cheap and quick sushi is generally the reduction in its quality. The food at Wasabi is no exception, but that said, it is a sacrifice that I am perfectly happy to make. A typical tray of sushi (for me, that’s two salmon nigiri, two tuna nigiri, and four each of tuna, salmon and crabstick hosomaki) makes a substantial lunch and comes to around £5, including the condiments. Likewise, a bento box goes for between £4 and £5. To be honest, I go for the sushi, so don’t feel qualified to comment on the bento selection. The sushi is individually wrapped (by imported sushi robots – I kid you not!), keeping it sealed and fresh and stopping the sushi rice from drying out. It’s fast and convenient, but perhaps not best suited to eating on the go. The wrapper can be a bit of a pain to get off, so the food is best taken back to the office or a park bench, especially if you plan to use provided chopsticks, the garnishes and the soy sauce for dipping.

The prices charged are fairly similar to what you would expect to pay for an equivalent tray of sushi at M&S, and less than a third of the price of a similar selection at Yo! Sushi. In my estimation, the freedom of choice, the freshness of the ingredients and the significant improvement in quality over their supermarket equivalents makes Wasabi sushi excellent value. The food is made fresh daily and turnover ensures that what is put out in the chillers has not been hanging about too long. Anything not used is thrown away at the end of the day. My only niggle is not with the food – it’s with the packaging. At the end of a meal – between the tray, bag, wrappers, sachets and used chopsticks, there seems to be a pretty big pile of waste, some of which can be recycled, but some which can’t (the abundant plastic sushi wrappers being the main offender). This seems a disappointing oversight in an otherwise slick operation.

OTHER SERVICES

Wasabi’s full menu is available on their web site - the address for which is set out above, but, as mentioned, not all branches will have all of the options available. However, without necessarily descending into a review of their web-site, you can also place advance orders for delivery or collection on-line (or by telephone) from selected branches. If a delivery service is offered, choosing the branch to order from (for instance, Finsbury Pavement) will bring up a list of the streets in the area they deliver to. I haven’t yet used this service, so can’t comment on efficiency.

VERDICT

All in all, Wasabi provides and excellent new entry into the very crowded lunchtime shopper/office worker market, providing fast food of good quality at affordable prices (a rarity for decent sushi). With a newly opened establishment at Waterloo Station, late night returns home from town just became a lot more interesting. Fortunately, I am also blessed with one very near my new place of work, which I plan to use at least once or twice a week.

Highly recommended.

© Hishyeness 2010