“I Tried Vegan Sushi & Vegan Sashimi and Here’s What I Thought”

Beyond Sushi never fails to surprise sushi lovers with its innovative plant-based seafood, but I recently experienced a whole new level of creativity during my most recent order of vegan sushi and vegan sashimi. If you love sushi but have sworn off fish, this fishless seafood is going to blow your mind.

It had been a while since I had checked out Beyond Sushi's vegan seafood menu on Uber Eats, since I normally stick to my usual order of vegan rolls, like spicy mango or avocado rolls, and then add miso soup to the cart. But, this time, I took a minute to scan the menu instead of jumping to my favs, and came across something unusual: A section called, "Sushi Pieces."

Under this section were the words "zalmon," and "tuna" so without hesitation, I added the "zalmon" to the cart because I used to eat salmon all the time before I went plant-based. I also wanted to try the "tuna" so went for the rainbow roll which is topped with both "tuna" and "zalmon," and the only difference appeared to be in the preparation.

When I took my first bite of the vegan "salmon" sashimi over white rice, wrapped in hijiki and topped with lemon, scallions, and toasted cayenne sauce, I was mind-blown. I had to do a double-take to make sure I wasn't eating actual fish and asked a non-vegan friend to try a piece of the vegan sushi sashimi. She couldn't tell the difference either – so we were really confused. Did they send over the wrong thing? Of course not, since this is Beyond Sushi, a vegan restaurant, but still. It was so realistic that it felt like a trick was being played on me.

We actually went back and scanned the receipt on the Uber Eats order just to make sure the order had come from Beyond Sushi, then we checked Beyond Sushi's website to make sure they didn't re-brand or offer a separate real fish or non-vegan sushi menu. Nope, this was completely vegan sushi, and together, my friend and I were blown away.

The taste is exactly like I remember actual sushi tasting fatty, rich, chewy, a little slippery, with sort of an algae aftertaste, all in the best way. The vegan sashimi even has white stripes you see with real sushi sashimi from the fat of the fish. The bottom line is that if you haven't had raw sushi in a while or tend to not like the fishy texture, this roll will easily confuse your taste buds, but the taste and experience are worth it.

We also ordered the vegan rainbow roll which consists of white rice, vegan “tuna,” vegan "salmon," gobo, cucumber, avocado, pickled red cabbage, dill, hijiki, lemon zest, and smoked pepper sauce. Both the vegan "salmon" and vegan "tuna" sashimi were placed on top of these rolls and the only difference was the taste.

The vegan "tuna" sashimi had a more fishy, earthy taste and was just as delicious as the vegan "salmon" sashimi. The vegan ingredients in these rolls were obviously carefully chosen to master that perfect umami aftertaste, a little sweet, savory, sour, bitter, spicy, in every bite. If you never got behind the trend of eating raw fish on its own, then the vegan rolls would be a better pick for you – since the vegan sashimi tastes exactly like actual fish. But the flavors of the other ingredients in the roll all mixed together draw attention away from the fish-like texture.

So would I order vegan sushi or vegan sashimi again?  I would absolutely order this vegan sushi sashimi again, and in fact, I did so the very next day. Check out Beyond Sushi the next time you have a hankering for vegan sushi, since this restaurant, founded by Chef Guy Vaknin, is beyond parallel.

If you don't live near a Beyond Sushi location, try out Current Foods' (formerly Kuleana) vegan tuna products, available on the brand's website.

For more plant-based product taste-tests, check out The Beet's product reviews.