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‘Heaven has no taste.’


 ‘And not one single sushi restaurant.’

A look of pain crossed the angels suddenly serious face.’

Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Good Omens.

Chains such as Yo Sushi are not a good choice of Sushi restaurant because they just use the common denominator, tuna and salmon so customers miss out on the other flavours Sushi has to offer.  A fantastic recommendation for Sushi in London is Cooler Cooler off of Regents Street.


Uramaki (Inside out rolls).

Uramaki has a very interesting history.  The story goes it was developed in Little Tokyo on Los Angeles in the late 1960’s by Machita Ichiro the sushi chef in a restaurant called Tokyo Kaikan.

It seems the restaurant was having trouble obtaining fat belly tuna (toro) for its customers so it started to substitute avocado instead.  avocado has a similar consistency ands tends to melt in the mouth kind of like toro.  Later when the number of American customers started to increase, some disliked the texture of seaweed, so Ichiro turned the roll ”Inside out”; thus putting the rice on the outside, and the seaweed on the inside.  Kind of ‘hiding’ it.

Black roasted sesame seeds

Uramaki is one of the most popular types of Sushi in the US.  Its popularity has not been duplicated oin Japan.  The Japanese prefer the texture of seaweed. And since Uramaki tends to fall apart more easily when picked up with chopsticks and dipped in soy sauce they don’t prefer it over traditional Maki roll with seaweed on the outside.

White, black sesame seeds, dill

Wrap sushi mat with clingfilm.  Place half a sheet of Nori, shiny side down. Weigh 110g of rice.  Moisten hands with water – vinegar and evenly spread the rice over the Nori.  Add sesame seeds, shredded Nori, roe, dill onto rice.  Fold the mat in half to cover your roll and gently press to smooth out the surface of the rice. Now flip the whole thing over so that the rice is face down on the rolling mat.  Then place your fillings in a line, 2cm from the bottom edge.  Roll tightly over the filling and continue rolling and complete.

Nigiri (hand made squeezed sushi).

Nigiri is one of the most traditional types of sushi, consisting of fresh fish or vegetables draped over small pods of seasonal sushi rice.  Perfect with a cup of Japanese tea or a little sake.

Salmon and butterfly prawn

Dip your hands in the vinegar water.  Form a rectangular piece of rice about 5cm long, 2cm wide and about 2cm tall.  Add more water to hands while shaping to stop rice sticking.  Nigiri needs to be firm and pressed together. Add a smear of wasabi onto rice if using.  Carefully lower the salmon, tuna, butterfly prawns onto the rice and gently squeeze the top and bottom and the sides to stick together.  You can make square rolls by using the table.  Flatten sides to give square shapes.

Stay tuned to SurreyK for how to make Teramari Sushi, Temaki and for some Sushi jokes that are so bad they are good.


Emma xxx