Doughnut sushi's sweet success

[caption id="attachment_197706" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The su' nut is the new food fad Picture: Jackie Clausen[/caption]

It’s all a bit fishy.

The su’nut – a sushi doughnut – is the latest food fad – and a Durban restaurant is taking to it like a duck to water.

The sushi doughnut has been taking social media by storm.

YouTube videos on how to construct them and hundreds of visuals on Instagram are commonplace.

Jack Salmon owner‚ Jason Roberts, who runs the seafood restaurant based in Glenashley‚ Durban‚ has taken the trend a step further. He has come up with his own version of the su’nut – sticky rice with fresh tuna‚ cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce‚ battered‚ panko-crumbed and deep fried.

He says he noticed the trend for su’nuts in California‚ with rice shaped like a doughnut‚ but the flavours and content were essentially the same as sushi.

Roberts decided to give his home-grown su’nuts a “sea-sational twist” by deep frying them. And since last week they have been an addition to his menu, where they are on offer as a starter for R58.

“If an item is not deep fried you cannot call it a doughnut‚” he says. “They taste incredible and have to be eaten crispy and warm. I can’t keep up with the orders.”

He plans to launch a range of su’nuts using different fish.

Nobu‚ the world’s most recognised Japanese restaurant‚ has branches in 22 locations‚ including at the five-star One and Only Resort in Cape Town.

Its general manager‚ Carl Habel‚ says while the su’nuts sound dreadful‚ the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

“Although our food is Asian fusion‚ the heart of the restaurant is the sushi bar,” he said. “We believe that the basis of sushi is the perfection of two elements – the rice and the fish.

“Unlike traditional sushi‚ the su’nut doesn’t sound like a particularly healthy option‚ but possibly it’s the perfect thing at 4am after a night of partying‚” he added.