Whilst choosing where to go for dinner the other day, I came across this on the Merivale website: All you can eat sushi for $20 at Sushi Choo. This can't be bad. Being suspicious in nature, I had a look around the web for reviews and found the opinions mixed: some people loved it, some didn't. I decided to find out for myself.
I called up in advance to book, but they told me it wasn't busy so I could just show up. At 6:30pm on Thursday, I met up with Simon after work and headed over.
The first impression was great, located just behind the Ivy complex, Sushi Choo was another brainchild of the Merivale group and the decor was a mix of anime Japanese with modern twist on the red lantern. Overall it felt quite stylish without being overbearing.
The waiter was very friendly and seated us straight away and offered us tap water without us asking.
We got settled quickly and helped ourselves. There seemed to be a decent selection: salads, sushi, nigri, hot side dishes. However as suspected - there was no sashimi in sight - after all they are in the business to make money...
Simon and I started with the dumplings, which were lovely. I then moved on to try the salmon and tuna nigiri, which were not bad, though I've had better.
Simon fell in love with the prawn tempura, and proceeded on to have 3 plates of that (I've never been too much of a fan).
We also had some salad to get our daily diet of leaves. The marinated seaweed I found was particularly tasty, and we shared many plates between us.
We asked for some green tea, which ended up costing $3.50 each (unlimited top-ups) which I thought were a bit pricey.
Funnily, they didn't have any normal sushi, instead they offered inside out sushi (to try and fill you up with rice?) which didn't taste great.
For me, I'd rather pay $10 extra and have better sushi (maybe hand rolls or at least inari (rice wrapped in fried tofu skin) or miso). Some desserts (mochi or green tea icecream) would also finish the meal nicely.
Overall, I loved the decor and the service was great. For $20, it was worth it for the experience. In terms of food quality, I rather go to a 'proper' sushi restaurant and spend $40 on a sushi boat to get fresh sashimi and sushi...
