Eat My Words: We review GA Sushi in Newark

I suppose most people have heard of the Cookie Monster — well I am the sushi monster, so I had to take myself to Newark’s first sushi restaurant.

My friend Lucas is also a big sushi lover, so we headed down to Paxton’s Court in Newark to try the new GA Sushi, which had been highly recommended on social media. Let me tell you from the outset, the sushi did not disappoint.

However, I did feel slightly let down on a customer service basis as we were seated upstairs and had to go down to place our order, and go up and down to get water. Perhaps some water upstairs might solve this?

With a big appetite after an evening of walking around Newark, we sat down and decided to order half of the menu (I am joking but probably it wasn’t too far off) as we wanted to try as much as we could.

We ordered three different rolls of sushi, two temakis, and two hot food mains and it might not sound like a lot but after finishing every last bite, we happily rolled to the train station.

The first dish to be served was the California roll which was very good but we felt that the amount of salmon compared to the other ingredients was a bit unbalanced, however taste-wise it was very good and the rice was cooked to sushi perfection in my opinion.

The California roll is made with salmon, tobiko (flying fish eggs), crab stick, sushi omelette and cucumber.

The temakis — a type of sushi rolled in a cone shape with seaweed nori and filled with rice and other ingredients — came on the same tray and we ordered a panko king prawn one and a spicy tuna tan tan as we thought the last one had quite an intriguing name, and both were absolutely amazing.

As the tray only came with one small pot of soy sauce, we asked for some more soy sauce and also sweet chilli sauce, which the staff member agreed to.

We waited and only when the second tray arrived we got our sauce, but there was no sweet chilli.

The second sushi roll was the king salmon roll and it was probably my favourite because when I first saw the little bits of panko prawn on top I knew it would be good, and every bite confirmed this over and over again.

The roll had salmon, king prawn, avocado, cucumber and topped with tobiko which is mayo and unagi sauce — it was simply amazing and couldn’t recommend it more.

After we devoured the first two sushi rolls we got our rainbow roll which once again, did not disappoint, it had the ingredients just as described on the menu and you could taste the quality of it, which doesn’t always happen with sushi, especially when you think of supermarket sushi.

The rainbow roll is made with king prawn, avocado, cucumber topping with salmon, tuna and wasabi sauce.

With such a variety of sushi, when we decided to order the hot dishes I was sad to see that they didn’t have a prawn or fish option on the ramen and udon menu. Both ramen and udon are different types of noodles.

The only option that was pescatarian or vegetarian was the mixed vegetable with shoyu (soy sauce) and we ordered it with udon but when it arrived and we first tried it, it didn’t quite cut it.

Yes, it was warm, and it had udon noodles and vegetables but the taste was very plain and after a few attempts of ‘fake till you make it’ and adding the leftover soy sauce, I decided to give up.

But all was improved once we tried the Japanese curry katsu prawn with rice as the flavours were strong and hit the spot exactly, so, in a way, it made up for the sad udon noodles experience.

The prawns were crispy and golden, the rice cooked to perfection and the sauce just beautifully seasoned.

Overall I really enjoy the food, definitely one of the best sushi I have had in England and would I massively recommend it. Now having tried so many dishes, I know what I want and don’t want next time.

The atmosphere was friendly, with low light, ambience music and flags hanging around the walls. However, on the occasion we visited, that the bathroom was unclean and not what you’d expect to see in a restaurant where food quality and hygiene are valued.

Out of five:

Food: The food was very tasty, especially the sushi, so it is a place I would recommend to friends and family to try. ****

Drink: We both drank water but there was a range of drinks available. ****

Decor: The decor was simple and friendly, it made one feel comfortable in the premises. ***

Staff: The staff were polite to us, but perhaps the customer service will improve with time. ***

Price: The overall price was £78.70 which I believe it is a fair price for the amount of food we ate and the quality of the food. ****

Have you had a great meal? Share your own Eat My Words reviews or tell us where to try by emailing: news@newarkadvertiser.co.uk