The supermarket sushi chain led by top Merivale chef

ONE of Sydney’s most awarded sushi chefs, Nobuyuki Ura, has left his post as head chef of Merivale’s Sushi-e to work over a supermarket sushi chain.

Dishes from Hero Sushi Chatswood.

ONE of Sydney’s most awarded sushi chefs, Nobuyuki Ura, has left his prestigious post as head chef of Merivale’s Sushi-e to work over a supermarket sushi chain.

It marks a big change for the celebrated chef, who was once personally requested by Matt Damon to cater for his private jet on an international flight from Sydney.

Hero Sushi head chef Nobuyuki Ura.

Ura brings 35 years of high-end fine-dining experience to his new role as executive chef of the Hero Sushi chain, with Ura planning to completely revitalise the national brand.

Supermarket sushi chains have long had a bad rep for their floppy fish, suspicious sushi rolls and their bland bento boxes, which often spend the whole day sweating under hot lights.

“Dishes offered by these supermarket sushi stores aren’t a real representation of what Japanese sushi should be like. I wanted to show customers that you can still experience great quality, traditional sushi with a western influence in a takeaway format,” says Ura.

High-quality ingredients are a priority for the chain.

The first store to get the royal treatment is Chatswood’s Hero Sushi, which introduced Ura’s new menu earlier this month.

Alongside the store’s usual black and white rice sushi roll options, the new menu includes Japanese-inspired rice-paper rolls and chirashi sushi boxes.

A new concept for the store, the rice paper rolls are made from vermicelli noodles, topped with fillings such as Huon salmon and tuna sashimi, prawn, soft shell crab, chicken katsu and avocado, then wrapped in rice paper, Vietnamese-style.

Ura wants to create restaurant-quality takeaway dishes.

Also new, the chirashi sushi boxes are similar in style to the Hawaiian poke trend, featuring a tumble of fresh Japanese ingredients, including tuna sashimi, avocado, seaweed, tobiko and furikake, served over a bed of rice.

Unlike other takeaway stores, Hero Sushi will now make its sushi fresh throughout the day, changing over the display cases at various intervals.

SUSHI, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG

“We want our customers to feel like they’re sitting down at a restaurant enjoying dishes that were prepared fresh for them, instead of eating something that has been sitting in a glass case all day long,” says Ura.

“The goal is to make Hero Sushi known as a fresh food provider and distinguishable from other takeaway sushi offerings.”