Sushi Yah!

Sushi Yah! This is the sushi outlet from the same people who run Industry Zen. Inside the Eastridge Mall they never fail to deliver on fresh tasty rolls, deep fried goods and on rice meals.
This small hand made sushi joint has a steady stream of customers but the servers always remains consistently organised and cheerful. The sushi is not refrigerated here. If you’ve ever been to Japan, you’ll know that chilling sushi is simply not good sushi! Sushi rice texture goes bad when chilled and NZ national guidelines require rapid cooling of rice, safe handling and the addition of vinegar to sushi rice to decrease odds of bacterial issues. Not refrigeration. At Sushi Yah they have a chef in the back rolling fresh rolls all morning stocking the cabinets wooden boards and by 3pm they box the sushi into 3s and sell it for cheap.
Before 3, they heat clip your takeaway sushi selections in plastic boxes or you can load up your plate and take a table to people watch.
Their handmade rolls are large, think 2 inches diameter! And you can often find thicker cut ends of the rolls up to an inch thick — bonus because even the standard cut pieces are only $ 1.30+. I’m no vegetarian but I love their two vege options, one is wrapped in yellow tofu skin and has a vege fritter rolled in, the other is in a green tofu skin and has cream cheese. The spicy mexican teriyaki chicken is a hugely popular choice, along with the usual suspects like salmon and avo, teriyaki chicken, tuna and egg nigiri.
I have not tried their chicken on rice, I see ALOT of people buy it but it’s not so colourful so doesn’t appeal to me. I also have not tried their spring rolls and prawn twisters in the warming cabinet.
This place is great and totally undeserved of the poor review it has prior. I’ve got a sensitive stomach and would be the first to feel ill from food poisoning but have eaten here a dozen times without problems.

Now I’m not the health inspector, but I’m pretty sure that sushi is supposed to be refrigerated, right? Well apparently, Sushi Yah! don’t think so. The food here is a help yourself then pay at the counter type of affair and all of their admittedly tasty looking salmon, tuna and chicken sushi rolls are just out on display. Not refrigerated and not covered by any sort of plastic or mesh to keep flies and other peoples grubby fingers off the food you’re about to eat.
Now, because I’m such a dedicated Scout, I tried one of their unrefrigerated spicy chicken rolls and it was actually very nice and flavoursome, and I’m pleased to announce that it didn’t make me ill. But it still didn’t do anything to win the place over for me. I just think next time I want a quick, cheap (all of the rolls in here are priced between $ 1.30 and $ 1.80 each) snack on the go, I’d rather go somewhere where I’m not playing Russian Roulette with food poisoning.