Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
For a long time I had wanted to go to a sushi place where little coloured bowls snake around the tables on a conveyor belt. For a British person this is an insight into a type of Japanese eatery, ‘Kaitenzushi’, characterised by their use of sushi trains. These restaurants are known for being inexpensive and convenient. And in Cheltenham, these qualities could apply to YO!.
The restaurant was sleek and modern, with not much décor. Function was at the heart of the eatery, but the space was filled with texture and lines that crossed the walls, glass and ceilings to tie a theme together. Being a vegan was easy in this restaurant. There were plenty of choices, so many that I had trouble deciding what to have: a very rare moment indeed for someone who can normally only have two or three dishes!
With the smaller portion sizes, it was a nice pick and mix to be able to choose a couple of menu items and have a nibble on more than one dish. They had a really good offer on where you could choose any three dishes from a selection of 30 for £8.95 which I would have taken advantage of had I been more hungry. Instead I chose two items from the menu which costed £6.80 after applying my 20% off student discount, which was incredible value. There was an online ordering system which in most restaurants is a pain in the ass, but here it was very easy and straightforward. I reckon my Grandad who doesn’t use the internet could figure it out.
Brought to me first were the inari tacos, described on the YO! menu as ‘golden tofu pockets filled with rice, avocado, ponzu salsa and vegan sriracha mayo.’ They were utterly delicious. The tofu pockets had an egg like taste and texture, without actually being eggs. Just perfect, really.
Secondly I had a veggie yakisoba which was also really nice. On the menu they were pictured as ‘fresh yakisoba noodles stir-fried in a tangy sauce served with crunchy vegetables.’ I liked the smoky taste of the noodles, the sauce had a nice edge to it and wasn’t just really sweet which sometimes stir fry sauces can be. And the veg definitely had a nice crunch to it to create more layers of texture in the dish.
I’m already thinking about when my next visit could be. The restaurant was a great place to grab a more casual meal, with great service, prices and food. If you like Wagamama but want a more affordable (and I dare say better value) Japanese meal out, then YO! is certainly the place to go.
