One thing that sticks out in my mind about my recent London foray was the sushi bar at London's posh Selfridge's department store on Oxford St. I was just walking by the ballyhooed food halls, oogling the ceramic murals related to butchery, etc. and i saw folks sitting at a counter that had a moving belt on which were dishes of various sushi and folks would grab them off the belt as it moved by. Kind of unique. Selfridge's Food Halls, ground floor, have several such sitdown counters and endless gourmet delicacies to take out - for a fancy picnic stuff head here.

There is a restaurant in London called Yo Sushi where they have the same Kaiten conveyor belt sushi.
My son goes to the one in Tokyo,I think it is called Sushisei ..

Maybe these things are endemic with sushi bars - news to me but i wouldn't know rarely being in one but interesting that it may be a Japanese institution. makes sense then that Selfridge's would imitate that. thanks.

They have these in Vancouver.

There is at least one in NYC now too

Here's an old thread that mentions several other US locations for " movable" sushi feasts.
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1405651

Oh, I'm so glad that the "moving" you are talking about is the belt that takes the food around! I had visions (not very tasty ones at that) of raw sushi not being really raw, moving around of its own accord....:

Lol, Mermaid, ick ick
I think it is a great way to have sushi! They charge by the color of the plates you have in front of you

I think this is what I saw in the movie Wimbledon

could not help reply to this post.
the first time i saw a moving belt with food on it, and it blew my mind.. was at jfk or la guardia airport.

34 yrs. ago i was coming home after having spent several months immersed in simple spanish life...
and i went for a snack to wait for my flight.
there weren't many people at the counter, but suddenly i see a hamburger, then fries, march right past me.

it was the epitome of american novel ideas , along with the basic food choice.. and for some reason, i just sat there and shook my head.

Yo Sushi is just a basic kaiten sushi chain--they are all over, from Paddington Station to Selfridge's. Sometimes we grab a couple of inari, etc., at the Paddington Station branch while waiting for a train. As far as sushi goes, Yo Sushi isn't that good...A full list of their branches is at www.yosushi.com On their web site, they used to have an announcement that they were planning to build a Japanese style "capsule" hotel in London. But they're taken that bit off, plans must have fallen through.
for the moment, our favorite sushi bar in London is Kiku on Half Moon Street near the Green Park tube stop.

Yes of course they are all over Japan and many countries, but we have one now in Cardiff.
http://www.zushi-uk.com/

Great food and the take away sushi is fabulous.

Muck

My dear, that's old hat now, and Selfridge's food hall's foods are very very mediocre. I happened to be there, and required something for a light early evening meal, so I bought a selection of salads...the potato salad, and the cucumber/dill one were absolutely tasteless and lacked seasoning, and were not reasonable at all! Marks and Spencer is just as good.

Now Harrods/Fortnums foods are of much higher quality, and are worth spending money on. As for the sushi, I'm very underwhelmed by the whole concept, and the product is really rather boring for my palate.

Re sushi on a conveyor belt:

One of the pleasures of a sushi bar is watching the chef prepare the food.

It also allows one to see the quality and freshness of the ingredients.

Stuff being delivered on little plates from an anonymous kitchen is one more example of the general lessening of standards.

Selfridge's lowering standards? Will Harrods be next?

Ira, I think you have the wrong idea. The conveyor belt places I've seen are circular and the chefs are still preparing the sushi right in front of you as the belt circles them.

My favorite though is in San Francisco where the belt has been replaced by a channel of water and the sushi floats by on little boats. You grab the plates off the boats. And again the chef is in the middle preparing it all and replacing what has been taken.

Do you win a prize if you pick the right little boat?

Folks, I hate to disabuse you of the notion of "lessening of standards" but, the concept of conveyor belt sushi, or "sushi boat" restaurants originated in--Japan, and they are all over. I know of 3 places in San Fran. that do this, just off the top of my head.

In fact, just this last April, when I was in my favorite part of Tokyo-the Asakusa district, one of Tokyo's oldest, where one can still see glimpses of old Edo, in the shadow of Sensoji temple, in the warren of small shops just off from the temple, what should I find? Why, a conveyor belt "sushi-ya." Walked in, sat myself down, it was crowded, everyone was laughing and having a good time. I was the only "gaijin" in the place, and the sushi was delicious.

>I hate to disabuse you of the notion of "lessening of standards" but, the concept of conveyor belt sushi, or "sushi boat" restaurants originated in--Japan,...<

Japanese standards don't lessen?

I walk by the floating boat restaurant in SF that Partick mentioned quite often...I have always been a little concerned about the freshness of the food myself. How long will they let it float around before discarding it? I suppose it's best to eat there when the bar is full with other patrons so the supply is being replenished frequently.

There are so many great sushi places in SF, I'm wary of the boats!