 Packed full of minerals and loaded with anti-oxidants, sushi is perfect for a wholesome diet. Health Reporter Jane Picken visited Tyneside's latest sushi bar to discover more Mouth-watering miso soup and tempting teriyaki salmon are just some of the dishes Tynesiders are tucking into at Newcastle city centre eaterie YO! Sushi. With dishes loaded on to two conveyer belts, winding their way past customers' seats offering a colourful array of cold meals and hot options to order, the restaurant is an original addition to eating Japanese style in the North East. A closer inspection of the menu reveals a vast array of raw and cooked ingredients perfect for a healthy balanced diet, from iron-rich seaweed to fresh salmon packed with Omega 3. But sushi has long been recognised as one of the best ways to boost the body's vitamin and mineral intake, especially as many ingredients are raw and have not been stripped of their natural goodness during the cooking process. Ingredients including pomegranate, soy beans and seaweed - almost alien to the staple British diet - are being heralded by YO! Sushi as superfoods for those wanting to boost their health. "There's a lot of health benefits in eating sushi," says YO! Sushi's development chef, Mike Lewis, over a tasty plate of tofu and wakame salad at the Newcastle restaurant, situated in Fenwick next to the store's food hall in Northumberland Street. "Seaweed is full of iron and minerals; soy beans contain a lot of protein, so for a vegetarian it's about the best vegetable you can have - and there are a lot of antioxidants in miso soup and green tea." Sushi is broken down into different groups. There is maki, which are the small rice rolls - just the right size to neatly dip in some soy sauce and pop into the mouth. Nigiri is two blocks of rice topped with raw fish or vegetables, and iso is a large roll where rice is on the outside with a layer of seaweed rolled into the middle alongside a filling of, for example, fish or meat. Futomaki is thick rolled sushi packed with fillings. Salads featuring tofu and more raw fish also appear on the sushi menu. And later in the summer YO! Sushi will be introducing 10 superfood dishes to the Newcastle menu including jasmine agar agar with super fruit, braised pumpkin salad, and spicy seared tuna futomaki. "People think sushi is just about raw fish, but we try to cover all the Japanese food groups, including a lot of hot food which makes up about 30% of our menu," said Mike, who has worked for YO! Sushi for the past five years. He says: "We try to teach people as much as we can about sushi, especially so they easily understand what's in the dishes. We find once customers try something they'll like it and have it again. "But in Newcastle, from day one, people have been going for the raw fish and seem to love it. They're not afraid and are going for the most exotic things on the menu." It is no surprise that the Japanese have some of the highest life-expectancy rates in the world, a fact which is often attributed to their fish diet. Freshwater and oily fish are super-rich in Omega 3, while miso soup is thought of as the elixir of life by the Japanese, as well as a tasty tonic for a hangover. Wasabi - the Japanese equivalent of horseradish sauce - has natural anti-bacterial properties which can help keep gums healthy. If you cannot make it to a restaurant sushi is easy to make at home. "The rolls are quite simple to make," says Mike. "All you need is Japanese rice, sushi vinegar, nori - or seaweed for wrapping, a small bamboo mat for rolling and a filling which can be anything you want." --------------------------------------------------------- Stretching around the world The restaurant, which has branches across the world, only stocks the freshest sushi available and the fish is on the conveyor belt for a maximum of two hours. All the dishes are prepared on site in front of customers in open kitchens. Yo! Sushi fish, including crab, cuttlefish, mackerel, salmon, squid and tuna, is line or net caught from farms, protecting dolphins. The chain boasts 2.5 million customers every year, who consume: 15 million plates (if laid end to end they would stretch for 2100 kilometres, London to Moscow) 210 tonnes of sashimi grade fresh fish, of which 150 tonnes are salmon, 60 tonnes are tuna 325 tonnes of rice 82,500 litres of soy sauce 45 tonnes of pickled ginger 3.75 tonnes of sesame seeds 290 tonnes of fresh prawns 1375 tonnes of crayfish tails 3.5 tonnes of fish roe 96sq kilometres of seaweed (equalling an area the size of Portugal) 4.5 million chopsticks --------------------------------------------------------- Fifth sense Sushi rolls usually come in pairs as it is supposed to symbolize a husband and wife. The Japanese wife would make two of each item in anticipation of her husband returning for dinner. Sashimi (prime cuts of raw fish) are served in odd numbers. In Japan sushi chefs are traditionally male as women's hands are too warm to handle the delicate rice and toppings. Umami, the fifth taste sensation of the tongue (after sweet, salt, bitter and sour), is stimulated by Japanese cuisine. --------------------------------------------------------- Firm and fresh A whole fish should be a natural bright colour, not dull, and the eyes should be bright, glossy and bulging. The gills should be bright red, the flesh should be firm and the fish should have a pleasant sea smell. Fish fillets should also be firm with no water oozing out when touched. Never buy mussels and oysters if the shells are cracked or open and do not close shut when tapped. Discard any that do not open during cooking. You can get food poisoning from preserved fish including smoked, salt and pickled. The only way to prevent this is by buying super frozen fish which is fish frozen in special chillers down to -60c. Ideally the fish should be consumed on the day of purchase. But if stored properly and depending on the freshness of the fish then up to two or three days. Fish should always be stored in a fridge wrapped in greaseproof paper as this prevents the fish from sweating and any moisture from coming into contact with it. Always avoid fish when it has a strong smell of fish or ammonia whilst fresh fish should smell of the sea. --------------------------------------------------------- Soft shell crab and mizuna hand roll with yuzu tobiko Ingredients: 1 tempura soft shell crab Mizuna leaf Takawun and Sakurazuke Japanese Pickles Sweet chilli mayonnaise Yuzu tobiko (flying fish roe) Nori sheet Seasoned sushi rice A light crispy fried soft shell crab, seasoned sushi rice, mizuna leaf, crunchy sweet pickled radish and sprinkling of yuzu tobiko all drizzled with sweet chilli mayonnaise then hand rolled into a cone shaped from nori. | 
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