This new spot off Oxford Street (sibling to Yoobi in Soho) specialises in temaki: little cones of nori filled with rice and fish. I like to think of them as how the Japanese might reinvent the burrito, a carb coma swapped for a light snooze. Temaki-only joints have been trending in the States for a little while but, apart from Yoobi and a couple of street food vendors, they’re fairly elusive in the UK.
Like most things here, they were enjoyable. Sure, they fell apart a bit, but Yoobi clearly knows where to get decent fish: the salmon and unagi (eel) in two of the temaki were of good quality, as were the fat, fresh slices of salmon tataki and tuna sashimi. My only gripes? An errant bit of unadvertised avocado in one of the temaki, and nobody explaining how or where to order (head straight to the till, fyi).
I get the impression this almost minimalist space of few tables and plenty of room for queues is aimed at the takeaway crowd. It’s certainly calmer than the slightly frantic Lexington Street original – and all the better for it.