Let's go fly a kaiten

A friend and I were planning to catch up over dinner last week and wanted something cheap and healthy. Some sort of Asian fare sprang to mind, and I remembered reading about a new-ish kaiten sushi place in Mount Lawley. I tend not to think of kaiten sushi in Perth as being cheap, but given that the two reviews I managed to find online of this place said it was really good, and sushi is generally pretty healthy (if you can resist the fried optional extras) we decided to give it a go.

Reading that Yuzu is quite small, I made a booking after confirming with my friend that my restaurant selection was acceptable. She then did some internet detective work, read the good reviews and also read that the restaurant is quite small, and also made a booking. Luckily our double booking was realised pretty quickly and we cancelled one. I hope no similarly sushi-hungry people called to book a table within that 15 minute window, but I guess they could have consoled themselves by eating at the nearby "mix Asian cuisine" restaurant Goreng² which is also owned by Kenny Chan, the owner of Yuzu.

It is true that Yuzu is quite small inside, with three tables that I guess could seat 4-6, and also bench seats up along the conveyor. We were up at the bench, with no awkward twisting or reaching over each other necessary to secure any morsels before they whizzed past. We got stuck into a few plates of sushi rolls, and then held ourselves back as I'd read that the hot foods tend to get added to the conveyor after 7:30 and we didn't want to fill ourselves up in case something delicious needed to be eaten. This was indeed the case, as fried deliciousness soon appeared and begged to be eaten lest it go cold. Here are a few of the things we tried, and also a couple of things that I would like to have tried but held myself back...

Popeye Roll (Chef's recommendation) - "Seasoned and cooked spinach coated with black sesame seeds" ($3.20)

The spinach in these babies was absolutely delicious. I wonder what it was seasoned with? Olive Oyl perhaps? Ho ho..

Philadelphia Roll - Smoked salmon, cream cheese, avocado and black sesame seeds ($3.90)

Delicious. I'm a sucked for anything with smoked salmon, and when it's this fresh and combined with these ingredients I'm sold. Yum.

Some sort of crab claw ball thing. Intriguing...

Neither of us went for a ball o' crab claw, though I was strongly tempted.

Avocado Prawn Katsu (Chef's Recommendation) - Katsu prawn topped with avocado drizzled with mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce ($3.90)

Yum! Fresh out of the kitchen so the prawns were steaming hot inside their crunchy coating. We shared this place between the two of us so we didn't feel too bad about succumbing to the fried goodness. Clearly however this got the fried parts of our bellies working, as we decided to order something from the menu - another Chef's Recommendation, the tempura sweet potato.

Tempura sweet potato

OK so maybe the "healthy" part of our dinner didn't quite go according to plan, but it is very difficult to resist freshly made tempura sweet potato, especially when it is presented like a puzzle. Hey, at least we didn't go crazy on crab balls. It could have been worse.

We also had some other of the usual sushi suspects which I failed to photograph but were also very nice and fresh.

We also saw quite a few hot meals coming out of the kitchen, which you can order off the menu instead of, or in addition to, eating from the conveyor. They all looked really very good, and ranged in price from $11.90 for the "chicken teriyaki classic" to $15.90 for "prawn itame". Quite a few options to choose from, and the ones we saw looked very generously portioned and freshly prepared. We already have plans to go back for dinner to try some of these.

Yuzu are also responsible servers of spinach:

Why thank you, Mr Happy Toothpick Man!

Yuzu Kaiten Sushi
Shop 11, 649 Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley
(in the building on the corner with Walcott Street, near Dome and Fresh Provisions)
Ph: 08 9227 1880
Hours: Tues-Sun 5:30-9:30