IF THE publicity blurb about this place is anything to go by, its first week of opening broke all records for the restaurant chain. I wasn't convinced a sushi eatery would go down well in the hallowed walls of Newcastle's most famous department store. But having now been there a couple of times I am happy to be proved wrong. Yo! Sushi was simply buzzing, as shoppers and food lovers alike had (many for the first time) a go at the Japanese delicacies. Sitting by the conveyor belt of dishes on offer took me back to the days of The Generation Game - but there are no cuddly toys or kettles here, rather mouth-watering dishes to appeal to all tastes. Misconceptions abound about sushi, and I was among those who was filled with them. Raw fish? Nah - not for me. As for my other half - well, hates any fish and meat! We've walked into and then out of sushi restaurants in the past. How wrong we were! Here's how it works at Yo! Sushi. Each dish is colour-coordinated and the prices range from £1.50 to £5. Portions may look small, but on the whole they are very filling and packed with protein and goodness. You can help yourself to anything on the conveyor belt and with more than 100 dishes on offer, you are spoilt for choice. The food is freshly prepared throughout the day (you can see them hard at work in the kitchen area) and no fish is on the belt for more than two hours. With the plates colour and price-coded, the empties are added up at the end of the meal and the bill totted up. We enjoyed a lovely bottle of Cape Promise Sauvignon Blanc (£13) with our meal and for starters tried out the classic miso soup (£1.75). This soy bean broth with seaweed, tofu and spring onion is a pure delight on the palate. The teriyaki chicken (£3) is pretty filling but the sweet soy sauce is very moreish and we ended up having two plates. Talking of moreish, check out the prawn katsu (£3.50) - fantastically crispy fired pieces of prawn in a deliciously fruity sauce. The other half was more interested in the pumpkin korroke (£2.50), in the same sauce as the prawns, but the mix of flavours give it a much more sedate taste. I can take or leave prawns, but the hairy prawns (£3.50) had been recommended to me, and having lapped up the katsu, I decided these needed a go too. Would they be hairy scary? Not at all. In fact, it ended up my favourite dish of the lot. Intrigued? Well, they are crispy, kadaifi pastry-wrapped black tiger prawns with wasabi-ginger mayonnaise. Truly magnificent. What of the other dishes? Vegetable yakisoba (£2) - noodles in a mild sauce - vegetable futomaki (£2.50) which is cucumber, kampyo, pickled radish, sweet omelette and red pepper, and assorted nigri and maki (£5) - salmon and tuna - all went down a treat, as did the mushrooms (£2.50), which consisted of wok-fried enoki, shitake and button mushrooms, which we both deemed to be perhaps the best we had tasted in years. Yes, I tried the raw fish. Yes, I enjoyed it. But as I pleasantly discovered, sushi is about much more than raw fish. There are even desserts and the colourful mochi (rice cake with variety of fillings, £2.50) and pistachio fruit charlotte (sponge with cream and berries, £3.50) concluded a very enjoyable meal. One old dear walked past and asked if she could have a nibble of one of our dishes. She loved it and said she would be coming back next time she was doing a spot of shopping. Yo! Sushi looks like being a hit at Fenwick. But be warned, it is only open during the store's opening hours. For a full-on meal, or simply a quick, wee treat, this place is Yo! Cushty! | 
