Vegan sushi remains one of my favourite things, so Beyond Sushi was high on my list of places to visit in New York. It was quite the treat. One of my favourite things about the restaurant was actually not the food but how spacious it was. A recurring complaint I had on our trip was how cramped and crowded most of the eateries felt – tables really squashed together. I’m not sure if that used to be the case in Europe as well before the pandemic, or if it is more of an American thing. I like a bit of distance between me and other tables! In that regard, Beyond Sushi was one of my favourite spots of the holiday because we were not squeezed in amongst other tiny tables. (There are a few branches around the city – we were at the one on West 37th Street. Hopefully the others are similarly spacious.)

And the food was also good! We shared a plate of fried chick’n bao to start – fortunately there were three pieces, and three of us. These were a real hit. The chicken was good and crispy, the whole bite was packed with flavour from gochujang and sesame, and the vegetables gave it a nice bit of freshness (I removed the chilli though). I generally found the mock meat in New York to have a slightly denser texture than I’ve experienced in Europe, presumably based on local preference, so this wasn’t the most tender chicken I’ve had but it was still great.

It was truly a challenge to decide which sushi rolls to try, because the menu was quite extensive and there isn’t really a great vegan sushi spot in Prague so I felt quite spoiled for choice. One of our easiest decisions was this oshizushi spicy “salmon”. The salmon was actually a little mild for me, possibly due to the presence of the black truffle caviar on top. I find even a little truffle very overpowering. Besides that it was quite pleasantly smoky and a nice little morsel. This one was probably my least favourite, but Mother HH really enjoyed them.

Next on our list were the mighty mushroom rolls (on the left in the picture above). These rolls contained tofu, shiitake and enoki mushrooms, and shittake truffle sauce. Yes, more truffle, though this time the strong flavour of the mushrooms managed to keep it in check. These were really flavoursome bites. The white rolls (on the right in the picture above) are smoky dragon: a heady mix of shiitakes, avocado, and aubergine. They were very tasty, and my favourite of the meal.

The cheesecake on the dessert menu sounded so enticing that we all agreed to forego another round of savoury delights and instead fill up with something sweet. The ube cashew cheesecake did sound like something special, but unfortunately it wasn’t quite what we were hoping for. The ginger biscuit base was wafer thin, and the “cookie streusel” was more of a dust than what I’d consider a streusel. The cheesecake filling so strongly outweighed the base that you could barely detect the ginger at all – the dominant flavour was cashews from the really thick cream cheese. It felt really decadent, but flavourwise it was a bit of a let down for all of us. We really should have gone for another plate (or two!) of savoury options, because there was so much we wanted to try.

If in doubt, do you go for another round of savouries or something sweet? Let me know in the comments!