Soju by Sumo, Beverley: How Gary Chin went from a sushi takeaway to a number of successful Japanese restaurants

Checking that review I note I ended it by saying that ‘Gary is an excellent and imaginative creator and curator of Asian dishes. I’d like to try his food in more persuasive surroundings as I think he could create something truly extraordinary given the right circumstances.’

And now he has done just that. Soju by Sumo, in the heart of affluent Beverley, is the third Chin sit down establishment (he also opened a branch of Sumo in Hessle a couple of years back) and it fulfils much of the promise I saw in him. It’s in the busiest part of town - the strip between Saturday and Wednesday markets - and takes up a large, former Laura Ashley, shop.

Now, instead of cotton print frocks and tasteful floral wallpaper, there are fake trees for pillars and fake blossom festooned from the roof. There is coloured lighting and menus housed in gate-fold books complete with mini door knockers on the cover. There is even a whole samurai costume stood guard near the front door. Gary has come a long way in ten years (figuratively, not literally) and, if the packed house Thursday evening we enjoyed in Soju is anything to go by, he’ll go much further yet.

The food falls under the catch-all term Pan-Asian but definitely leans toward the Japanese. It’s also billed as ‘fusion tapas’ but I’ve not got a clue what this means, even after eating it. I think it means small plates served whenever they’re ready, which is sort of what happened. Except some dishes were big and they all seemed to arrive in a roughly traditional starter, main, pud order. Probably best not to worry about the buzz words and just pile into the grub.

Teriyaki glazed roast aubergine and sweet potato korokke arrived first and both were perfectly okay but nothing special. If they’d have arrived as sides to the bigger dishes, there would have been less pressure on them to impress. I blame ‘tapas’ style dining.

Salt and pepper squid was fine but no better than anywhere else and char sui bibimbap – glazed belly pork, rice, broccoli and barbecue sauce, all topped with a fried egg – proved a very tasty high point but both were unexpectedly eclipsed by a simple plate of pak choi. Served with spring onions and an oyster sauce, it was the best thing we ate all night. Sometimes you can never predict what’s going to impress you.

Crispy aromatic duck bao came deconstructed, so I quickly constructed it. Something the kitchen could have done, to be quite honest. Don’t know why the task is foisted on the diner. Once assembled, the two buns yielded a delicious and familiar flavour. More teriyaki sauce accompanied the chicken tsukune (grilled, skewered meatballs) and helped give them some much needed flavour.

If all this sounds a little underwhelming, it wasn’t. It was just that nothing really blew us away. It was better than good but we were never in any real danger of being whelmed.

Apparently, desserts aren’t much of a thing in Japan, so the scant choices on offer are distinctly Anglicised. The coconut rice pudding is fine as is a pineapple upside down cake, but I don’t think I’ll bother with either when I visit again. They don’t suit the overall experience and feel like an option bolted on to please those demanding afters.

Quite honesty, in these post-Brexit, post-lockdown, energy crisis days, I no longer know what value for money means. Even restaurants that serve bog standard food now seem to need to charge at least 30 per cent more than they used, just to stay afloat. I suppose VFM is an even more relative notion than ever before. Our meal came in at £135 for a decent bellyful. You’ll have to decide for yourself is that suits your budget or not.

My best guide is that I thought £22.50 for the eight pieces on the Chef’s sushi selection more than a little steep. £2.80 per piece of sushi is too much in my book. It’s billed as six pieces so maybe the management also thought it a bit stingy since the menus came back from the printers.

Money aside, I really like Soju. The food is between good and great, the service friendly and it has a buzz absent from the uninspiring chain restaurants currently clogging up the middle of Beverley. Gary, his manager Scott and the team are running a tight ship and seem to really relish doing it. The days of Gary ringing round, trying to get people to review his takeaway are well and truly over and, at its current rate of expansion, it’s impossible to see the where the borders of the Chin empire will eventually lie.

Soju by Sumo Toll, Gavel, Beverley, HU17 9AJ

Tel: 01482 867374 www.sojubysumo.co.uk