Marks and Spencers Sushi

There are really only two places to get sushi in MK. Pret a Manger and Marks and Spencer. There's also a chinese restaurant here that supposedly has okay food and sushi's on the menu, but since a) sushi is not chinese, and b) I don't usually agree with MK restaurant reviews, I am reluctant to try it.

I love sushi. Tom got me started with it when we were living our fabulous west coast life. We'd met in Hawaii for a long weekend and my mom's cousin Gary and his wife took us out for dinner. (They live there.) We ordered sashimi and sushi appetizers and, though I protested that it just wasn't my thing, Tom shamed me into trying it by pointing out that picky eaters aren't attractive. And I admitted that I was wrong. In fact, not only did I not not like sushi, I found it to be delicious!

You can get good sushi everywhere on the west coast, so we kept expanding my horizons...soon I was eating maki and nigiri and sashimi any time I could. And not just limiting my selections to prawns and crab (cooked) or salmon and tuna (safe.) Sushi now ranks as one of my favourite foods. I've even taken a class at Cooks of Crocus Hill to learn to make my own.

So you can imagine my dismay when I moved to MK and discovered all of my options were mediocre at best. The Pret sushi is passable. It's relatively fresh and, though unimaginative, it isn't offensive, either. They never give you enough wasabi in England, but what can you do? The M&S sushi, however, sucks ass. Their snack sushi doesn't actually have fish...it's all rice, seaweed and carrots or ginger. (NO wasabi with that one.) The lunch size sushi is just nasty. They make a tuna teriyaki roll that is basically CANNED tuna in teriyaki sauce rolled in rice and nori. There's a crab roll that is mostly mayo. The tamarind tomato roll is good, but I don't think of it as sushi. They skimp on the pickled ginger. The salmon they use tastes more like lox than sushi. And they don't give you chopsticks with your takeaway.

Yet somehow, I never learn my lesson. I was running an errand at lunch today and stopped by M&S to pick up something to take back to my desk. I had numerous choices from their delicious ready-made collection. Sandwiches and wraps. Salads aplenty. Delicious fruits packaged for individual snacking. Curries that are palatable. Chocolate mousses with only 99 calories per serving. Fool that I am, I selected the sushi sampler. Mmm sushi sounds good! Maybe that tuna salad roll isn't that bad!

I am a fool. A fool with canned tuna sushi stuck in her throat.

Comments

Pam said…
Hope springs eternal. Though I am here to tell you that if you buy the plastic box of insta-sushi in Seatac airport, you will be shockingly less disappointed than you anticpated - it's downright edible and comes with plenty of wasabi.

Food and Britain go together like...hmm, Ann Coulter and Ann Richards?
lulu said…
I know the Brits are rabidly anti-redhead, but now you're telling me that they actually take the poor Gingers and make sushi out of them? That seems a bit harsh, doesn't it?
Melinda June said…
I believe you, Pam. Sushi from the BP would be great in Seattle.

So THAT'S what's in that mystery roll! Thanks for clearing it up, Lu!

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