A GRAB-and-go Asian restaurant is set to throw open its doors on Rayleigh High Street tomorrow as the rapidly expanding chain hopes to become a “Starbucks for sushi”.

Youmesushi is replacing the former Yat Wong’s Chinese takeaway at 128 High Street after its sudden closure at the start of the year.

The new business offers a casual and quick “come and go” pan-Asian experience, with customers able to tuck into a range of popular sushi from nigiri to sashimi as well as chicken katsu curry, poke bowls and soups.

Youmesushi operates more than 20 restaurants around London, but only one in Essex at Lakeside Shopping Centre.

Manager, Atikur Bhuya, believes the business differentiates itself from similar businesses such as Itsu and Wasabi by a commitment to preparing their food fresh and on site every day.

He said: “Think of as like a Starbucks for sushi, so people can come in, they can have a drink and have a fast, casual kind of sushi.

“We are separated from other come and go chains because all we have is made fresh and in-house, there is no machinery and we use a skilled chef. There is nothing from a central location.

“There are not really many sushi places in Rayleigh. People are surprised we are opening in Rayleigh, but we think it is a great place to open, we lack competition, and it is a different experience.

“In Rayleigh, you have that classic dining experience or the usual fast food, but we are trying to get to other places. We do delivery, and we are trying to blend both sit in and delivery.”

The business’ most popular dishes are their katsu curries, which are freshly served and their sushi starter boxes, which contain salmon nigiri, sashimi and more.

He added: “Our menu is very pan-Asian, it is not very Japanese and that is a big focus, our founder’s idea of mixing hot dishes with sushi.

“You can have something else.We aren’t forcing only sushi on you and if you love sushi, you can have that or katsu or soup or poke.”