Yo! Sushi - Gatwick Airport

Yo! Sushi

Gatwick Airport - North terminal



Our exciting weekend trip to Amsterdam began at the airport...

Having travelled for two hours by train to Gatwick, and facing two more hours in the airport lounge/shopping area, we thought that something to ease the boredom and tantalise the taste buds might not go amiss. Of course we'd soon be savouring the best that the Netherlands had in store, but, well, a little something in the meantime would surely kill the boredom and excite the palate.

Gatwick has a selection of eateries, all with hyper-inflated prices to trap the weary traveller. A Brasserie Chez Gérard and a Caviar House Prunier Seafood Bar held up the high end, while the Garfunkles and Lloyds Bar catered for the 10am drinkers, and family groups. Neither set of options were appealing, and like a dog to its own vomit, we were drawn to the Yo! Sushi. If only we had flown from the South Terminal, we would have had delicacies such as the Big Mac and the Whopper to choose, over this overpriced and frankly disgusting chain.



Why did we choose to eat there? Well, to give you, dear audience, an honest and heartfelt review, of course. That, and we secretly hoped that our previous experience at the Oxford branch was due to teething problems, and that they deserved a second chance.

Having seated ourselves and quickly asked if we wanted drinks, we each ordered the miso soup and looked excitedly and apprehensively at the conveyor belt. Kaiten sushi is such a fun concept, and the water-on-tap (I, of course, invented the table-top wine/beer on tap many years ago) plus help yourself ginger and wasabi gave the diner just enough control to be interesting, without the constant odious self-service of Korean BBQ and Chinese hotpot (both of which, by the way, are highly entertaining and recommended when in the right company).

Unfortunately, the food, and the service, were both devoid of life and interest. As we were on a particular schedule (oddly enough, as people in airports seem to be), we were slightly peeved that after ten minutes, our miso soup had yet to make an appearance. It turns out that our server was stuck behind the till, fending off half a dozen customers who wanted to pay. When I enquired of our soup to a different passing waitress, she abruptly told us "I don't know, I didn't take your order" before walking off. Great.

The service wasn't only abrupt, it was oddly transient. At times, two or three 'chefs' would be in the central food preparation area, while most of the time, it was only one. Either one, two, or four waiting staff were hovering, although mostly looking busy and not getting anything accomplished.

Speaking of 'chefs', the main personality in the cooking area was this woman:



Who artlessly assembled pre-cut fish (tastelessly delivered in massive sterile platters) on to little plates, all the while consulting the colour-photo menu as to how the finished product should look.



Of course she, nor anybody else available, should be trusted with the sacred act of cooking and forming the sushi rice. In Japan, apparently, sushi trainees go through years of apprenticeship, the first three years of which they are to observe, and not touch the rice. Luckily, Yo! Sushi owns one of these amazing time-saving contraptions:



Rice goes in, nigiri comes out:







Cool! This machine poops out little rectangles of bland and loose rice, twice a minute. This was then put two to a plate, and had salmon draped over it. Pre-cut salmon, freshly removed from a big plastic box, is placed on to the sushi. This meant that a quick twist of the wrist to dip the sushi, and the salmon nosedives straight into the soy sauce. The rice quickly follows, and a salty, mushy mess ensues. Honestly, what is the point?



Well, with so many branches and a shortage of good sushi chefs, it makes sense to cut the fish (the most skillful art) centrally and use trained chefs, then have local crew arrange it, right?

We didn't manage to photograph everything that we ate, but a sample is:



Salmon sashimi (not pictured). Quite nice, but the pieces were cut very thinly, making five pieces no more than two mouthfuls in reality.





Tuna sashimi: this was a huge disappointment. The fish was fresh, but had an awful mealy texture. The taste was bland at best, and was definitely not a party in my mouth.



Salmon plate: three pieces of sashimi, two of nigiri and two small rolls. Bland, badly formed, and the deficiencies in quality were most definitely not made up by generous quantity.

Salmon roll coated with trout roe: No particular complaints not already voiced. The roe was crunchy, but imparted little taste into the sushi.

Miso soup: standard miso. Slightly too salty, but the inclusion of wakame and tofu was more than the Oxford branch offered.



Conveyor belt action.





Grilled squid salad. Actually, this wasn't too bad.

When the bill was requested, a standard 'how was everything?' was asked. We let the waitress know that the salmon and tuna slices were both mushy, and oddly bland, and the sushi was actually quite badly prepared. The hapless waitress looked rather taken aback, but offered no apology. I don't think any customers ever bother to complain: something that's sadly lacking, as restaurants could really improve with honest feedback.



The damage: two bowls of miso soup and five 'plates' total £25. Think of all the things that you could purchase for that price instead of terrible 'sushi' served by rude and incompetent gnomes?