Beyond Sushi is a vegan’s paradise

When you think of sushi you probably think raw fish. Most people do. But it doesn’t need to be that way.

You can get rolls stuffed with avocado, cucumber, and all sorts of exotic plants too.

Vegan sushi is huge in New York City (think Beyond Sushi, above) and it’s getting there in London and further afield in the UK as well.

British Japanese restaurants – chains and independents – are experimenting more and more and serving sushi filled with Japanese pickle, all kinds of mushrooms and even tempeh (fermented soy cake – a rare vegan treat).


Menus are being more clearly labelled and ranges are expanding.



Here are some of the best places to go, and what to order at each one.

Yo! Sushi

Yo! Sushi has tons of vegan sushi options and they can do bespoke vegan specials too, depending on the branch.

The Japanese conveyor belt set-up now offers an impressive 19 vegan dishes.

Our top choices include firecracker rice, vegetable gyoza dumplings and tofu katsu curry (which won a Peta award).

You can also try the miso dumpling ramen, vegetable yakisoba, pumpkin katsu, inari pockets (great as a sushi side with the hot dishes), simple and sweet cucumber or avocado maki, kaiso gunkan and sunomono salad (this is really good).

Yo! also does a bespoke hand roll, so you can make it vegan, and they’re launching a new street food menu on March 8 called TokYO!

Metro taste test There’s a decent selection of vegan stuff here. I opted for a veggie hand roll (pictured) and asked to make it vegan. The brownish sliced miso baked aubergine tastes 10x better than it looks – crispy, caramelised and moist all at once. It’s sweet and salty with a bit of tang and melts in the mouth. https://www.instagram.com/p/BBXYAodSVza/ The tofu katsu curry is my favourite dish but not for its nutritional merits. It recently won the best vegan curry Peta vegan food award – and it doesn’t come as a surprise. It’s less than 500cals so relatively guilt-free if it’s all you’re having. The crispy tofu is deep fried and sits sliced on top of a mound of sticky rice, covered in a sweet katsu sauce with spring onion on the side. https://www.instagram.com/p/BBIF1sCyVwQ/

Wasabi

Wasabi’s generous yasai roll set (above) contains tons of vegan treats for just 165 calories.

You get inari (tofu pocket) with carrot, avocado, red pepper and cucumber; hosomaki with avocado, cucumber, inari and red pepper, salad with mixed leaves, French beans and edamame, and of course soy sauce, ginger and wasabi.

The chain’s tofu yakisoba also won a Peta award, this time for best vegan noodles. The dish features a generous portion of flavoursome noodles and tofu – perfect for lunch on the go.

Itadaki Zen

All the food here is vegan and everyone on Instagram loves it. The only downside is there’s just the one branch in London.

Itadaki Zen is a philosophical place, stating: ‘The Itadaki-zener believes that food is closely related to human consciousness as well as human body.’

In Itadaki-zen cuisine, it is ‘essential to eat a good balance of grains, vegetables and seaweeds. This will enable you to build a balance, healthy and slim body’.

Sounds good to us.

Itsu

Itsu’s healthy Asian salad combines greens, muki beans, Japanese rice, and sliced avocado.

You can get an edamame bean pot as a vegan-friendly side as well.

Sushikoo

This Newcastle sushi spot does lots of clearly labelled yummy vegetarian and vegan rolls made with wild black rice.

Try ‘salad’, veg tempura, pumpkin, seaweed, avocado, tofu, inari and shiitake, plus awesome and unusual tempeh or Japanese pickle.



Wagamama

There are several vegan-friendly dishes on Wagamama’s main menu.

Not strictly sushi but Japanese nonetheless. Try the yasai gyoza (steamed vegetable dumplings) or yasai itame.

Other options can be veganised simply by switching up the noodles and leaving out the fish sauce.

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