Yoshi

I love this place. So much. It’s in an area of Canterbury which isn’t very nice — right next to a dodgy-​looking Odeon and an even dodgier night club, right on the ring-​road. But once inside, you don’t need to look out of the windows. There are bamboo screens and an indoor water feature and it all feels Japanesey enough without intimidating a newbie.
The maitre d’ lady is great fun, very smiley and keen to assist in any way. We always have a lovely chat — even if we don’t quite understand each other! (The staff are all Asian but I couldn’t put money on them all being Japanese)
There is a conveyor belt with all the beautiful and freshly made sushi on coded plates, with a menu decoder alongside. The offer is 5 plates for £10 or 10 plates for £17.50 with a limit of one yellow (most expensive) plate. Or you can just pay for each plate individually.
The main menu is also very wide-​ranging with a lot of traditional Japanese fodder: ramen, miso, tempura etc. as well as Thai offerings (the restaurant is owned by a company which has a Thai restaurant in Canterbury and one in Thanet somewhere). The tom yum soup is gorgeously spicy with juicy fat prawns and just the right amount of lemongrass infusing the coconutty base.
The specials are most definitely worth a look. I managed to have the bento-​type platter with beautifully roasted duck, plum sauce, lovely light sticky rice… twice in as many weeks. Oh man it was good.
Yoshi is more personal than Yo! Sushi, with the friendly staff and quick service that I feel really makes the experience. We once ordered something that was no longer on the menu and they happily obliged and made it up quick as a flash. Wonderful people!
The menu is wide-​ranging enough that non-​sushi-​lovers and Japanese virgins (woah, that sounds weird but you know what I mean) can enjoy it equally and just talking about it now is making my mouth water and I’m booking my train ticket back to Canterbury. Right. Now.