Conveyor Belt Sushi is Coming to Midtown!!!

 

I may be too excited to type out this post.  Sushi.  On conveyor belts.  In Midtown.  Oh my lord,  my prayers have been answered.  No, not the one where David Chang starts serving Korean burritos out of a cart on 49th St. & 6th Ave,  or the one where Saigon Banh Mi opens a Midtown branch, but doesn’t change their prices.  It’s the dream, where I’m sitting in a Midtown Japanese restaurant, and all the food is circling around me, there for the taking, around and around, each plate begging “Pick me!”  “Take me!” “Don’t I look good?!?”

That’s a good dream.  And hopefully by the end of the year, I will finally get to visit this place while I’m awake.  Sushi Sakae, a very large and famous Singapore chain of Japanese (go figure) Conveyor Belt Sushi restaurants is opening their first U.S. location here in Midtown.  It’s going up on 43rd btw. Lex. & 3rd Ave. and they are hoping to open it by the end of November.

Conveyor belt porn, and a sneak peak, advance look at the U.S. take out menu- after the jump…


Photo from a Singapore location posted to Flickr by Ke Wynn

This is going to be the greatest place of all time.  If you’ve never been to a Conveyor Belt Sushi place, it’s a pretty easy concept to grasp.  Food comes out and circles around the bar or restaurant on a moving conveyor belt.  You take whatever you want, and at the end they count up your plates to determine how much you owe. 

At the Midtown Sushi Sakai, they will offer three different priced plates.  Multi-colored will be $1.90,  Pink will be $3.90,  and Red plates will be $6.90.  In addition to the conveyor belt sushi bar, there will also be tables equipped with computers for you to order items ala carte from the kitchen.  There is also mention of hot water faucets at every table to refill your own tea pots.  If you thought Kushi Q’s rotating skewer cooker was cool, I have a feeling this place is going to blow it out of the water!

With most really good Japanese food in Midtown, it’s always a struggle to stay within the Midtown Lunch boundaries, and after a look at the take out menu, it seems as if Sushi Sakae will be no different.  Most of the bento boxes, and sushi platters are over $10, but if you are careful with your conveyor belt choices, you may be able to do it.  In addition to ala carte sushi, they will also have chawanmushi (a Japanese savory custard),  tempura, agemomo (fried stuff), yakimono (meat on sticks), udon, soba and donburi (rice bowls). 

According to the take out menu, it looks like small 6 piece basic sushi rolls (salmon, spicy tuna, etc), and 2 piece nicer rolls (soft shelled crab, futomaki) will all be $1.90.  Two pieces of regular nigiri sushi are listed as $3.90, and premium rolls are listed as $6.90.  If these prices transfer to the conveyor belt, then it looks like with some proper restraint you could get your lunch for under $10.

If not, who cares!  It’s conveyor belt sushi, and in my book that means automatic permission to spend more than $10 on lunch.  Click on either of the photos below to see an expanded view of the take out menu…

takeout-front

takeout-back

For more Sakae Porn check out this Flickr Set, and for more info on the chain itself check out their website US Website.  You may notice some mention of all you can eat buffet pricing, but I haven’t heard if they are going to do that here.  As soon I know anything more, I’ll let you know.

28 Comments

  • I’m so excited! I’ve been to a ton of conveyor belt sushi places in Japan. It’s so popular there, but the one that used to be on 46th between 5th and Madison (now a Starbucks) never seemed to get off the ground. East on 3rd ave and 26th has one too…

  • Cute but I don’t love Japanese food chains…. However, Saigon Banh Mi in Midtown truly would be an answered prayer.

  • and rice for lunch makes me sleeeepy!

  • wow….and it’s only 4 blocks from my office…this is great great news….going to need a raise to afford new sushi conveyer belt lunches daily!

  • Genki sushi used to be on 9E 46th…. last time I was there it was a different name though. Expensive, not very good, but it had a conveyor belt…. which really didnt make up for the other two.

  • oh, and I -love- the little hot water taps at every seat!

  • I currently hate the fact that my office moved from 44th and 3rd to crazy west chelsea…

  • love love love love LOVE it!!! I can’t wait! And so close to my office :)

  • Matt is happy. Getting tired of Chiyoda.

  • This is totally irrelevant, but does anyone have any thoughts on the ongoing Saigon Grill delivery strike? It was one of my favorite and most frequent delivery spots, but I won’t cross that picket line. AND IT’S KILLING ME!

  • hurray! i used to live in london and loved going to conveyor belt sushi joints. i work just a few blocks from this new place, so i will definitely be there! the only bad thing is once you get going, it’s easy to lose track of your little pile of plates until it’s time to pay up.

  • Bits of raw fish going ’round ina bloody circle.

    Yippe’fukin Do.

  • Some buy Rudy a bagel roll, a beer, or both.

  • OH my goodness I’m so excited!! I haven’t been home to singapore in like 2 years, and that is my favorite sushi place ever!! Sushi moving just tastes better. (they also have these cool computers at every booth where you can order ANY type of sushi straight from the kitchen).
    That made my day :)

  • THE RETURN OF KINTARO.
    get your cute butt to ny already.

  • If any other ML’ers are intersted in getting some funds together to START UP a cheap, midtown banh mi joint/cart/truck, I’m game. If no one else is going to heed our prayers, perhaps we should answer them ourselves.

  • Nate, here’s £5.

    At current exchange rates that’s the cart bought.

  • I’ll contribute 4,000 Zambian Kwacha

  • Nate: I’m in! You make it happen today, and we’ll all pay you back later.

  • I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for some banh mi today.

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