I'll admit it, I was a little nervous when I visited Chelmsford's Yo! Sushi bar for the first time.
Although I love fish, seafood and the thought of raw fish has always made me squirm so I wasn't sure I'd be all that keen on the cuisine at the new restaurant in Chelmsford High Street.
But I when I was met by a friendly member of staff I was assured that there were so many different flavours and dishes I was bound to find something to suit me.
After seating us at our table, which included a 'call button' to get the attention of staff, we ordered some drinks. My boyfriend choose a Sapporo beer and I kicked the evening off with a delicious Sake Samurai cocktail.
Our waiter then told us to eye up some of the dishes on the restaurant's famous 'conveyor belt' laden with dishes and "go for it!"
Being a sushi newbie I found it difficult to identify certain dishes from the menu on the conveyor belt so in the end decided to just grab dishes whizzing past and give them a go.
And it paid off; my partner and I were soon enjoying plates of Chicken Katsu curry, Kimchee Salmon Steamed Buns and Duck Gyoza parcels.
I even braved some of the sashimi dishes, which are plates of seared or raw fish, and found them to my liking.
I particularly enjoyed the seared tuna and caviar sashimi (pictured below).
We were tempted by some of the restaurant's famous Sumo bowls, which are supersized versions of dishes on the menu, but decided to instead pick and mix lots of the smaller plates, which range from £2 to £6.
As well as grabbing plates from the conveyor belt, you can order hot dishes directly from the chef; we thoroughly enjoyed the Beef and Garlic Teriyaki dish and hot popcorn shrimp tempura.
I even managed to find room to try some of the sweet treats on offer, including the squashy strawberry cheesecake mochi, which are chewy rice cake balls, and delicious apple gyoza parcels with salted miso caramel sauce - a lovely way to finish a meal if you have a sweet tooth.
I washed my meal down with a small bottle of Gekkeikan Sake, a rice wine.
This might be described as mild and semi-sweet on the menu but I warn you, it's not for the faint hearted!
Packing a punch at 14.6%, this made me cough at first but after a few glasses it was the perfect addition to the meal.
Find out more about Yo! Sushi at yosushi.com
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