Sakura Kaiten

Some days I feel like treating myself to a few tasty morsals of vegetarian goodness. If you also find yourself so inclined, can I suggest you try Sakura Kaiten Sushi.

The staff are friendly, welcoming and helpful in this stylishly decorated sushi bar. I asked for assistance in identifying vegetarian options on the sushi train and the waitress quickly pointed out several options for me to try.

I selected the vegetarian gyoza (5.80), a fried-mashed-potato sushi ($3.60), a seaweed sushi ($4.60) and the agedashi tofu (4.60). Other options on offer were vegetable tempura, seaweed salad, spinach salad, cucumber salad, edamame and several other options.

The potato sushi comes accompanied with subtly flavoured mustard and was probably my favourite of the selection.

The gyoza were topped with a savoury sauce and contained mashed vegetables including potato and were lovely and crisp.

The seaweed sushi had that straight from the ocean taste and was delicious when dipped in shoyu sauce.


I enjoyed the agedashi tofu, but I think the Wood Spoon and Peko Peko on Smith Street might have the edge for tofu goodness. Nothing wrong with Sakura Kaiten's offering, just not my favourite.


If you haven't been to a Japanese sushi train bar before, it is worth going just for entertainment value. While not featuring an actual miniture train like some places we found in Tokyo, Sakura Kaiten has a nifty conveyor-belt that whisks the beautifully presented and numerous dishes past diners for easy selecting. The dishes are colour coded to represent different priced options from black and pink as the least expensive to white and red as the (slightly) more expensive options.

The cafe soundtrack of Marvin Gaye and several other Motown and Soul balladiers contributed to an ecclectic and most enjoyable lunch.