I’ve been a big fan of Soul Sushi since I first heard about them through their support of Scran Salon, since the outset of that fun Monday evening event.

We visited their Festival pop-up in the square behind Angels with Bagpipes last year. It served impressively tasty stuff in often rather soggy conditions. Since then, things have gone from strength to strength with the delivery business run from their Piershill kitchen premises doing very brisk business.

For this Festival, they’ve chosen a rather less weather-dependent location, taking over the cafe in the Warburton Gallery, known as C-Nova, where Stag 2 was trading until recently. I popped into to catch up with co-owner Budge (other co-owner Tom was back prepping in the kitchen) to check out what they had on offer.

I benefitted from good timing so was able to sample a platter that brought together a couple of pieces of a number of their rolls. It was too complicated to work out what it would have cost (menu photo included to show you the prices for the rest of the month) so it was designated as a tester freebie.

The platter combined rolls featuring: salmon, avocado and dill; beef tataki; pickled radish and veg; along with salmon maki. A fierce wasabi quenelle and a little mound of pickled ginger smartly dressed the plate.

The rolls were up to the usual very good standard, but the salmon and dill one took things to another level entirely. Not a conventional Japanese flavour combo, this reflected Soul Sushi’s willingness to combine western ideas and flavours with the classic Japanese approaches.

Rather than drifting into the sometimes self-indulgent excesses of “fusion”, this was simply a very smart and elegant marriage of flavours. For this outstanding dish, which adds to their already highly accomplished menu, I’m happy to add a fifth star to their score, which rightly sets them alongside the finest food of their type in the city.

So overall, it was great to see an established favourite continuing to strive for further excellence. Soul Sushi is a great local business delivering high quality dishes. Make it your business to visit their pop-up, this month, then next time you fancy delivery sushi give them a call.