A new sushi restaurant in Romford has already racked up hundreds of rave reviews - I went to see if it lives up to the hype.
The Sushi Co opened in South Street on June 13, welcoming customers with Japanese Taiko drummers, free sushi rolls and the chain's "live kitchens".
The Romford branch is the chain's 33rd location and has already scored an average of 4.9 stars on Google during its first month, from more than 300 reviewers.
As a big sushi fan, I had high hopes for the restaurant - and was not disappointed.
It was fairly quiet for a late lunch, but a few other solo diners and couples also enjoying some sushi gave the eatery a peaceful and comfortable atmosphere.
From my seat, I had a view of the "live kitchen" where the chefs were busy preparing my food, and in minutes my fresh sushi and sandos were whisked over to my table from the hatch.
Here I got an unexpected surprise when I was brought a fish jug - also know "gluggle" jug - alongside my food, which created a fun, smoking effect using dry ice.
I ordered the pumpkin katsu sandos and spicy salmon crunch sushi, complete with avocado and rice in nori, caramelised onions, spicy mayo and unagi sauce.
The kick from the salmon was just the right amount, complemented perfectly by the avocado and sweet-salty unagi sauce.
My personal highlight, however, was the sandos: Japanese street sandwiches made from soft toasted milk bread and packed with pumpkin katsu, pickles and a homemade mayo.
For some reason, I was expecting each quarter to be the size of a piece of sushi, and was pleasantly surprised when it was the size of a normal sandwich.
This meant I had far too much food - the crunch sushi comes in an eight-piece portion and the sandos alone were enough for lunch - but I was able to take my leftovers home in a takeaway box.
I washed my food down with strawberry-flavoured Ramune, a Japanese fizzy drink which was incredibly neon.
Not only did I have to ask the waitress what the drink was, but also how to open it (it has a quirky design with a marble popping feature).
Despite this slight embarrassment, it meant I got the full Japanese street food experience - from South Street, Romford.
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