Melbourne man launches ‘Aussie-style’ sushi restaurant in the UK

A Melbourne man living overseas was so fed up at “missing” his favourite food, he decided to bring the Aussie classic to his new home.

A new restaurant selling “Aussie-style” sushi rolls has opened in the UK – and it’s fair to say, the Brits have gone “crazy” for the alternative

The doors to Rolled were recently opened in Manchester, a large city in England’s north, by Melbourne native Adam Miller – who relocated just over three years ago when he worked for a leading hospitality technology company.

However, while getting familiar with the UK restaurant scene, he quickly noticed one of his favourite foods – the humble “hand roll” – was impossible to come by.

And after many months of wondering, “What’s a guy gotta do to get some Aussie-style sushi around here?”, he took matters into his own hands.

“I missed the way we do sushi in Australia. It’s easy, fresh, convenient, healthy and delicious,” the restauranter told news.com.au.

“It’s also affordable and you have complete control over portion size. It ticks every box.

“I found myself on too many occasions feeling like it would have been the perfect meal option, but it of course didn’t exist over here... so the gap felt real and tangible.”

Melbourne native Adam Miller has launched an ‘Aussie-style’ sushi restaurant in the UK. Picture: LinkedIn

While sushi, a traditional Japanese dish that consists of rice cooked with vinegar and often served with raw fish, is available in the UK, Mr Miller said “laziness” is a key-difference with Aussie sushi.

“We don’t cut up our sushi. This differs from what people know traditional sushi to be – individually cut pieces of ‘maki’,” he explained.

“The beauty of ‘Aussie-style’ sushi is that it’s hand held, meaning no chopstix are required and one can eat it completely on the go, like a wrap.

“What makes it so unique too are the innovative filling options. Teriyaki chicken is a great example of something not typically seen in sushi, however we take certain creative liberties to build on traditional Japanese foundations with some more exotic and unusual flavours and textures.”

Rolled opened a few months ago and has proved very popular among Brits. Picture: TikTok

Mr Miller said he decided to bring the ‘lazy’ Aussie dish to the UK because he ‘missed’ eating it. Picture: Supplied

The “hand rolls” we see in every food court across the country have evolved from traditional Japanese sushi over the years.

The foodie phenomenon followed the cuisine’s early boom in the ’70s and ’80s when sushi was “considered both exotic and expensive”, Aussie chef Adam Liaw explained in a piece penned for Good Food last year.

Fast-forward several generations later, and it now resembles the iconic Aussie sausage roll in terms of shape, appeal and availability – and is something Mr Miller said “the UK has never seen anything like” before.

Mr Miller was so confident in Aussie-sushi’s place in British dining experiences, he quit his job, and even flew out his brother JJ to work in the restaurant located in the “world-renowned” Trafford Shopping Centre.

Hand rolls are a popular Aussie twist on the Japanese cuisine that has evolved over the last few decades. Picture: Supplied

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive, Brits are big fans of both sushi and of Aussies, so I had an inkling the concept would land,” Mr Miller continued.

“What I didn’t expect was for people to travel from around the whole country, some travelling 4-5hr long journeys, just to get their ‘fix’ of Rolled. That’s been pretty special.

“We’ve had people genuinely cry of joy in front of us, deeply grateful that we’ve brought this product over from Australia.”

Social media is also awash with consumers sharing their joy at Rolled’s launch, with many declaring the hand rolls are “unreal”.

“Apparently Australians eat their sushi in a wrap format and it tastes absolutely banging,” one Brit shared.

“Wow I had no idea this was an Australian thing,” another added.

As one said: “Still crazy to me that this isn’t a world wide thing.”

Meanwhile Aussies living in England were just as excited.

“I finally found Australian sushi rolls in the UK, the sweet sweet nectar of home,” one delighted expat shared.

“I miss it so much I may need to travel to Manchester for this,” another agreed.

While one chipped: “Literally the best thing about Australia. This is AMAZING.”

Mr Miller fell in love with sushi during a trip to Japan as a child. Picture: LinkedIn

Mr Miller, who initially fell in love with sushi during a Japan holiday as a child, said he has plans to expand his Australian restaurant, hopefully opening a new joint in London soon.

“We really want to be the flag bearers for ‘Aussie-style sushi’ as a recognised sub-category of sushi,” he said.

“I also truly believe in how great this product is, and that it needs to be accessible to as many people as possible, so expanding is definitely the goal.

Ideally every major city of the UK can sustain a small handful of sites, with London likely able to sustain dozens. The dream would be to introduce the rest of the world to what we’re doing, specifically in North America, the Middle East and Europe. But for now that’s still a dream. We’ve got lots of work to do in the UK to get to where we believe we can be.”