Restaurant review: Prone to an off-day, sushi hotspot is still well worth a dinner visit

HAVING not been to Sushiya for far too long, it was with some excitement that I opened the door to the compact restaurant.

Full as always, there was a relaxing hum of atmosphere. We were sat down at a table, although given the small scale of the restaurant we were unfortunately near the door so that every time the door opened we were greeted with an icy chill. We ordered two Asahi super dry beers (£3.20 each) whilst we perused the menu. Tempted by the helpful pictures, we decided on the maki set and salmon sashimi (£10.90), the rainbow rolls (£10.50) and the spring rolls (£5.20).

The maki set came with a small mug of warming Miso soup complete with chunks of tofu and wakame seaweed.

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Three glossy pieces of salmon sashimi were cool and undeniably fresh; six maki rolls with cucumber and salmon were, as maki is, tasty if a tad unexciting; and four rolls with crab sticks and avocado were OK, but crab sticks have never been especially appetising for me.

The spring rolls were far more enticing and came stuffed with juicy prawns and rice noodles. With a chilli dipping sauce that added a touch of moisture, there either needed to be more sauce or less noodles.

Finally, the rainbow rolls, usually with salmon and tuna, came with sailfish as tuna was unavailable. A good hint that the fish is very fresh, the sailfish was a decent substitute. We both missed the unique taste of tuna, though.

We decided not to have any further dishes. Despite my proclaiming Sushiya to be one of the better places to eat sushi in Edinburgh, it seems it does have its off-days. However, I would still go again and even recommend it.

The staff are friendly and helpful, even if our choices didn’t satisfy us quite as we hoped.

n Sushiya, 19 Dalry Road, 0131-313 3222, www.sushiya.co.uk