THE Voice is always on the hunt for new sushi joints.

The bite-size Japanese food is healthy, affordable and versatile, with a new flavour incarnation always just around the corner.

The latest sushi joint to catch our eye was Fushi in Leederville, which has received glowing reports from locals.

The takeaway is part of a group of cool new eateries in Electric Lane, situated behind The Garden pub on Newcastle Street.

With shades of the Laneways in Melbourne, it’s a funky little strip of shops and eateries including a small bar, cafe, salon and the kitsch Servo restaurant.

With my son off “sick” from school (it was one of those borderline colds where if it was the 1970s he’d be sent packing out the door and told to “get on with it”) – so I had to take him along.

You can access Electric Lane by going through The Garden pub, so I got some strange looks as I chaperoned my young son through the boozer.

On a gloriously sunny autumn day, Leederville was buzzing with tons of office workers going for lunch in and around the Oxford Street strip. In and around the Carr St intersection definitely has a European feel and it was good to see such a variety of eateries doing a roaring trade.

Fushi was minimalist and modern with natural wood panels rubbing shoulders with white subway tiles and a no-nonsense display cabinet.

There was a small range of hot dishes including teriyaki, karaage, katsu and tempura, as well as poke bowls served with brown rice, udon, and some nibbles like takoyaki and agedashi tofu.

I was really here for the sushi and nigiri, but by the time I got there, just after 1pm, most of it had been snaffled up.

Thankfully there was a delicious-looking seared salmon nigiri left (eight for $16.50).

Topped with thick slices of seared pink salmon, super thin slices of spring onion and orange Tobiko flying fish roe, they looked and tasted amazing.

The salmon was amazing quality – fresh and perfectly seared with a little drizzle of exotic mayo to add some kick.

Inside the sticky rice was some delicious crab meat and avocado.

Although they were pricey, you get what you pay for, and it’s some of the best takeaway sushi I’ve had in ages; striking the right balance between modernity and traditional flavours. Next up was the chicken katsu salad ($13). It was a nice big tub with fried chicken strips perched on a deep bed of edamame, sweetcorn, lettuce, tomato and shredded red cabbage.

It could have perhaps done with a little bit more chook, but it tasted delicious when you combined it with the vibrant salad and dipped it in the accompanying tub of murky, soy-style sauce.

A lovely fresh dish.

Like a mini-Lazarus, my young son had miraculously recovered and was tucking into his cooked tuna and avocado sushi (eight for $9.50).

Like my old Scottish granny used to say “If you can still eat, yer no sick.”

He noted it was one of the best he had eaten and tasted “really fresh”.

My exploratory first trip to Fushi was a success and I think it may even have salutary properties; curing my son’s malady.

I’ll be back in the winter months to try some of their hot dishes and explore other eateries in the funky Electric Lane.

Fushi
6 Electric Lane, Leederville
facebook.com/fushijapanesetakeaway