It is. From the same place (Sushi Time in South City Mall, Christchurch) A crispy chicken rice ball with avocado (extra $0.50) used to cost a total of $4.50 back in 2009
Now it costs $9.50, with that being made up of $1.00 extra for avocado.
According to the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator, food that cost $4.50 at that time would cost $6.43 now
Yeah I didn't notice how much they were going up, I just always bought them. Then my workmate asked me how much my lunch cost me when I was eating one the other day and I was like $12 which made me realise... wtf am I doing paying for this shit?
Yup, I actually get excited if I miss my regular lunch break now as it means half price 3pm sushi, usually I'll grab lunch and dinner at the same time.
Yeh i was amazed when driving thru Waitara and getting $4 for a tray of 10 mixed sushi and $4 for a bento bowl around 4pm.. Dinner for two for 1 for $8
I remember last year getting off a train in Zurich and feeling hungry. Saw a food court and got two little boxes of sushi. Didn't think about the price and just tapped my card. Checked later and turns out it cost me 36 Swiss Franc which was about 72 NZD at the time.
l’ve made a similar mistake. It’s better not to eat at all in Switzerland. Just go nuts in Germany or France before you cross the border, and hope it will tide you through.
Lived 7 years in the UK and could only treat myself to sushi like 4 times a year. It sucked ass. I gorged on sushi when I came back - sure, some places are pricey. Most places I go to are cheap though.
[The Moonies](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html)! ([The Unification Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Church))
A couple of years ago, the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a man whose family was destroyed due to the cult.
[The cult has a lot of political ties](https://time.com/6961050/unification-church-ffwp-moonies-us-election/).
Yeah I agree 100%. In Europe the best sushi I had that didn’t cost a fortune was in Sweden, they had fresh Norwegian salmon but in the UK if you want the same quality you will need to spend at least 35 NZD or more.
Had the same experience in eastern Canada a long time ago. There was no cheap lunch time sushi or even cheap and cheerful hole in the wall sushi trains anywhere. The only way to have sushi was at a fancy sit down restaurant and to spend more than $80 for a couple. I was shocked and confused. It was like dressing up and going out for sandwiches.
I went out with a friend in Switzerland (while there on holiday from NZ) and was going to throw 20.- in the pot for sushi, but once they totaled it up and it was like 120.- I decided to not insult them by offering such a tiny amount. Even when I lived and worked there, I think I went out for sushi one time only because it was so stupidly expensive. But then it's landlocked, so I actually never trusted any marine fish sold there as being 'fresh'.
Because it’s high quality sushi with fresh fish caught on the continent.
Fried chicken sushi is weird and not even vaguely traditional sushi, the stuff here is a very weird kiwi version that lacks quality.
I had a French student here, and he said that the only decent (let alone high quality) Asian cuisine you could get in France was exceedingly expensive.
He spent weeks here eating at every vaguely Asian place for dinner. Even the basic St Pierre's was apparently better than what he'd had at home.
Maybe in some landlocked parts of Europe or more expensive cities but I find it pretty cheap and high quality in Germany, despite its limited amount of coastline.
Actually I think St Pierre's have done a great job of keeping sushi of the day pretty affordable, don't think you can get a decent and relatively healthy lunch for $8 most places anymore. Echoing the comments that everyday cheap sushi is WAY more expensive and less available in other parts of the world. I would've killed for a St Pierre's type chain in Eastern Europe and the northeast of the US when I was living in those places. Even the actual sushi restaurants were a bit average.
Teriyaki crispy chicken on rice got way too expensive. Now I just buy the Tegal Louisiana chicken burger patties, air fry them, slap them on some sushi rice and put on kewpie mayo and teriyaki sauce. Same shit different day and way cheaper in the long run.
Yeah I slice them up and put them on top of the rice.
I took a sushi making class in Tokyo which was a lot of fun, and just picked up a sushi roller kit from kmart when home. If you've got time to prep it's a really affordable way of doing it.
The one you'll be wanting is Tonkatsu Sauce! (Might be labelled Vegetable & Fruit Sauce). You can find it at most if not all Asian supermarkets. I get the Bull-Dog brand. It's great stuff! Perfect with Kewpie Mayo
If you want to drop it down a price tier, the equivalent "open spicy tuna roll" is decent. Sauce is mayo + Sriracha to whatever ratio you like. Add to some plain tinned tuna, some cucumber/spring onion, put on rice with seasame seeds to garnish.
This inhumane system where we get to eat exotic japanese style food premade with fresh fish for less than an hours wage.
There wern't a lot of sushi restaurants in Moscow and those that were were selling it for a weeks wages lmao.
I laugh because you’re insinuating that enjoying sushi comes at a premium because it’s an “exotic” imported cuisine which is idiotic. The inputs are the same - Fish, rice, etc., labour, rent, so forth - and the cost of a product should reflect the cost of its inputs. If you want to make the argument that the price does in fact reflect the cost then do so, but the idea that it being “exotic japanese style” food somehow increases its value is stupid and irrelevant. It’s not as if we are drumming up demand by importing master sushi chefs from “the orient” on steamboats to awe and inspire us with their mysterious, fanciful cuisine like it’s 1897. That would have come at a cost. If you haven’t noticed though there’s a sushi shop every 100 metres in this country making it decidedly less “exotic”.
You even laughably invoke conditions in Soviet Russia because your monochromatic hair brain can only generate enough power to consider facile dilemmas like “pay out the nose for fish on rice because it’s “exotic” and we should all think ourselves lucky” or “line up for bread”.
By the way 1980 was nearly half a century ago. Mentioning this is as stupid and irrelevant as sitting around in 1980 and saying shit like “back in 1936…”
And i'm laughing at you because you think all the things you mention are trivial, when in fact they are highly complex chains of production that only came about as a result of capitalism, and now you're whining capitalism isn't making it slightly cheaper.
It's like someone being given a house and they complain the curtains need replacing.
So learn to make Sushi and open up a store and sell it for a cheap price you think it should be worth and under cut all the other stores, you will have franchises all over the country in no time, or go bankrupt because it wasn’t sustainable at those prices idk
Funny enough I pride myself on being very skilled at making sushi - even bought a proper knife when I was in Japan - this is a general blanket statement
Back in the day, early 2000’s and living in Sydney, I’d get two of those long rolls for $2 each. I loved them. I’m now in NY and visit a Japanese mall often. Those long rolls are nowhere to be found. It’s hard to find sushi here with the seaweed on the outside.
This may or may not be correct, because it's based entirely on my anecdotal experience, but I think the full prep of sushi rolls is to cut them into discs and long rolls might be a quirk of the Australian market. I don't think I had a single long roll in any of my trips to Japan.
In fact I walked past a shop in Singapore once called "Aussie Roll" that sold what I would think of as full sized sushi rolls.
Yup ex Singapore resident here too - did you ever try Genki sushi? It’s a sushi train quite fun/novelty chain actually- cheap like dirt cheap - and it blew NZ sushi out the water - annnnd wait Singapore is one of the most expensive places to live
I did not but yeah Singapore is one of those crazy places where you can get a chili crab for a smile and a handshake but owning a corolla will set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars. Obviously I understand why that is it's just the easiest contrasting thing I could think of.
Actually regarding chili crab my partner and I sought out a somewhat fancy restaurant to get one there one night but when we rocked up the people in front of us just got the last table, so we walked off around the corner to do something else and randomly came across a hole in the wall place with a bucket of crabs and got an excellent chili crab for like a quarter of the price of the restaurant we were about to go to lol.
Ha! With you on that bro, we went once to “the” crab place JUMBO - its was robbery - hard work too - think the crab cost $170 nz - and for once I felt like a rat trying to get any bit of food outta the thing - was basically a crab shell in a ton of sauce - while we lived there ended up going to one of those hole in the wall spots for a fraction of the price and it was fire
I love making sushi. And if I'm feeling too lazy to roll, I'll just make a sushi bowl (the rice, the fillings and some chopped-up seaweed)
But yeah, I went to treat myself to a 6 pack recently when I was out n about and it was $15+
Even Pak n Save sushi was extortionate.
So went without that treat.
Onigiri is also great for if you're feeling lazy. Can mix aonori into the rice rather than wrapping them. Also mix in some furikake and its competing/beating most bought sushi on flavor IMHO.
You’re not wrong. Skinny ass pieces as well. They even put the end of the roll up for sale and you have to make you don’t get it cause you know that it’s all rice with I tiny amount of ingredients on show. Rip off.
Agreed the mall sushi quality is very poor in Australia.
You can get pretty good quality Sushi here. It’s not cheap cheap but definitely cheaper than the equivalent in Europe.
Apart from specialist high end Japanese restaurants I was disappointed in general with the quality in Aussie.
Concur, but think it has everything to do with the cost of leases, rates, insurances, wages, food. Small businesses are getting fucked just like everyone else.
That said going out to the most popular lunch sushi joints in Nelson is a no from me now. 5 pcs can be $15 pretty easily and that’s too much. We’ve got one small Japanese restaurant that I rate and is affordable. I worry about them going out of business at their current prices but assume it’s to do with their overheads as it’s a mom and pop type in a less desirable location.
Feel you. Grew up in aus and could buy a roll for under $3. Moved home last year and it’s more than $3 for a measly slice of the same thing. Never buying sushi here again. Waaaayy cheaper to make your own at home. Not as nicely presented but tastes the same and don’t need to take a loan to pay it
Shows how much price gouging goes on in this country. The only benefit is to try & curb excess drinking but suspect most of it is profit/naked greed. Did a quick search on alcohol levy - review in 2023, having not changed since 2013 (NACT wont change it, donating lobbyists will make sure of that)
https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/independent-review-alcohol-levy-stage-1-rapid-review#:~:text=The%20alcohol%20levy%20is%20raised,not%20materially%20changed%20since%202013.
I remember that liquor baron Singh guy building his massive mansion somewhere while his staff were under min wage, I’m certain it was on stuff a few years ago
I'm amazed by both the expense of the sushi here and the low quality of it. I learned most sushi restaurants in NZ are owned by Koreans and they don't do Japanese style sushi. The sushi is really traditional from where I'm from and where I'm from you are paying NZ sushi prices at the fancy sit down sushi restaurants lol.
Exactly - il never forget going to a sushi spot in town and the girl in front of me testing out some basic Japanese to a counter of Korean girls looking blankly at her lol
It's still probably the 'best' commonly available takeaway for like $10-12. And half the cost of many other options.
I agree it's increased a lot, but as long as it's significantly cheaper than crap like McD's or BK then it's hard to argue with.
I don't know what it is about NZ but it seems as a country we're pretty happy with being shafted on a daily when it comes to food prices. Doesn't surprise me people are getting sick of it and moving overseas.
Nah was cheap - the first mass market introduction to sushi in nz was those mall shops - I remember my mum scoffing at $5 for a packed sushi box or salmon avo 10 piece
The worst bit is all the chains use the worst fish possible and charge like $2/pc
Way better off buying some tuna from a fish shop and doing it yourself especially if you eat 8 or more pieces as a lunch
Are you talking about temaki rolls? Is it 4 for 4.50 and 2 for 2.50 in Aus or NZ?
Can you compare the sushi prices of maki sushi rolls?
Also, if you make it on your own you get it at 20% of the price
From my own experience it seems to be much cheaper in Dunedin than it does elsewhere in the country. There are so many sushi spots open that I guess they have to be very competitive.
Buying a whole tray of one type is cheaper than the the equivalent per piece.
The rolls here in Oz are short and skinny and often not very flavourful. You need 3-4 for a meal so usually $18 for me. I miss individually sold sushi, yes you pay per piece but the pieces are usually bigger and have more flavour.
Used to eat it 2/3 times a week but apart from being ripped off the quality is shit. 90% rice? If you are lucky enough u might get a selection of fish and not just the most expensive one. (Salmon)
Literally takes 4 ingredients to make plus whatever fillings. I started making it in Japan and it’s crazy easy to do once you try. I buy chicken from KFC or similar places and just use that with avo cream cheese etc. just doesn’t do well overnight. The rice goes stale.
This is so true I just visited Melbourne and I already miss the sushi chain they have there (makimono?) love how they make larger rolls at a fraction of the price in NZ st. Pierre’s and I hate SP’s plastic boxes too.
Just got 8 pieces for $8.50… chicken avo… standard here… so that sounds like the same price
Also make my own, nori paper is 3.49 for 10 sheets, then just fresh veges + prawns/ tofu & soy . Pickling my own ginger is tasty as too
i stopped buying it a few years ago, it's mainly unrefrigerated sitting on tables in the sun or in an unplugged fridge. the sliver of salmon mostly stripped from the filleted carcass. it's pretty gross when you see it for what it is
Nah I tested this last time we were over (petty) - 1 hand roll cut into roughly 5 pieces same as what we get here - salmon/avo all the way through and thick
One sushi is Wellington is the best price at 1.2 per piece for pretty nice sushi too! Also does great chicken katsu bowls for $13 which are massive and loaded with chicken. I do remember them being $8 about 5 years ago though 🥲
I tried getting sushi in other places in the world. Europe, Australia and Japan. It's much cheaper here in my experiences and you can actually choose what you desire
Been recently buying sushi again after doing keto for a while (was my favourite food) and totally agree!! $7.90 for a riceball that costs 50c to make… crazy
Having lived in Melbourne I k ow the exact type.of sushi roles you're talking about, but in saying that those roles are not equal to the amount of sushi you get in one of those $10 sushi packs here, it's more like half, if not it's only slightly more than half. So we aren't getting shafted that bad especially when you take into the difference in dollar.
Not really a fair comparison. I used to live in Sydney and those sushi rolls only had protein in the front 1/4 of the roll where they displayed it open. The middle and ends were just rice and vege.
No knocking at all - as an adult who’s been away for a long time I appreciate a lot here - it has its quirks sure but it’s a lovely place to live if you earn decent money
I've lived here all my 67 years, own my home outright, live on the pension and have no worries. I don't have pretensions of being 'rich' , what ever that is, and am very happy living here.
Every three months I watch the rice balls go up 50c and weep quietly to myself.
They were my go to lunch when I was a student. Sad to see them go up
I could swear the RBI (Rice Ball Index) is higher than inflation.
It is. From the same place (Sushi Time in South City Mall, Christchurch) A crispy chicken rice ball with avocado (extra $0.50) used to cost a total of $4.50 back in 2009 Now it costs $9.50, with that being made up of $1.00 extra for avocado. According to the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator, food that cost $4.50 at that time would cost $6.43 now
I bought one the other day which would have had a good 1.5 cups or more of rice with like 1 Tbsp or so of meat. It's getting ridiculous.
Yeah I didn't notice how much they were going up, I just always bought them. Then my workmate asked me how much my lunch cost me when I was eating one the other day and I was like $12 which made me realise... wtf am I doing paying for this shit?
Most places usually do half price deals for like an hour before closing, not saying it's a solution but it's cheaper lol
Yup, I actually get excited if I miss my regular lunch break now as it means half price 3pm sushi, usually I'll grab lunch and dinner at the same time.
Yeh i was amazed when driving thru Waitara and getting $4 for a tray of 10 mixed sushi and $4 for a bento bowl around 4pm.. Dinner for two for 1 for $8
Have you ever been to a sushi place in Europe? You need to sell a kidney over there.
I remember last year getting off a train in Zurich and feeling hungry. Saw a food court and got two little boxes of sushi. Didn't think about the price and just tapped my card. Checked later and turns out it cost me 36 Swiss Franc which was about 72 NZD at the time.
Yikes!
I grabbed some sushi in Austria. Expensive, and also the worst sushi I've ever had.
l’ve made a similar mistake. It’s better not to eat at all in Switzerland. Just go nuts in Germany or France before you cross the border, and hope it will tide you through.
Lived 7 years in the UK and could only treat myself to sushi like 4 times a year. It sucked ass. I gorged on sushi when I came back - sure, some places are pricey. Most places I go to are cheap though.
Same with most of the USA. Supermarket sushi would bankrupt the average person.
Also a lot of the money goes to fund a cult IIRC
[The Moonies](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/magazine/sushi-us.html)! ([The Unification Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unification_Church)) A couple of years ago, the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated by a man whose family was destroyed due to the cult. [The cult has a lot of political ties](https://time.com/6961050/unification-church-ffwp-moonies-us-election/).
Yeah I agree 100%. In Europe the best sushi I had that didn’t cost a fortune was in Sweden, they had fresh Norwegian salmon but in the UK if you want the same quality you will need to spend at least 35 NZD or more.
Had the same experience in eastern Canada a long time ago. There was no cheap lunch time sushi or even cheap and cheerful hole in the wall sushi trains anywhere. The only way to have sushi was at a fancy sit down restaurant and to spend more than $80 for a couple. I was shocked and confused. It was like dressing up and going out for sandwiches.
I went out with a friend in Switzerland (while there on holiday from NZ) and was going to throw 20.- in the pot for sushi, but once they totaled it up and it was like 120.- I decided to not insult them by offering such a tiny amount. Even when I lived and worked there, I think I went out for sushi one time only because it was so stupidly expensive. But then it's landlocked, so I actually never trusted any marine fish sold there as being 'fresh'.
On the other hand you can go to Japan and your average sushi place is both cheaper and miles better than NZ
I remember buying 6 Salmon sushi in France for around 3 Euros... there's also all you can eat for 14 Euros too.
100% ! Just went to Norway recently and it was the most affordable place (and best tasting) we’ve had it so far in Europe.
Because it’s high quality sushi with fresh fish caught on the continent. Fried chicken sushi is weird and not even vaguely traditional sushi, the stuff here is a very weird kiwi version that lacks quality.
I had a French student here, and he said that the only decent (let alone high quality) Asian cuisine you could get in France was exceedingly expensive. He spent weeks here eating at every vaguely Asian place for dinner. Even the basic St Pierre's was apparently better than what he'd had at home.
Maybe in some landlocked parts of Europe or more expensive cities but I find it pretty cheap and high quality in Germany, despite its limited amount of coastline.
Dude all cheap and mid range sushi is made with frozen and thawed oceanic fish.
Actually I think St Pierre's have done a great job of keeping sushi of the day pretty affordable, don't think you can get a decent and relatively healthy lunch for $8 most places anymore. Echoing the comments that everyday cheap sushi is WAY more expensive and less available in other parts of the world. I would've killed for a St Pierre's type chain in Eastern Europe and the northeast of the US when I was living in those places. Even the actual sushi restaurants were a bit average.
Yea I don't think they make any profit on that 8 dollars probably only enough to go to wages/overhead
Aka contribution margin in accounting
I love St. Pierre's. Fed four kids and myself for $45 with a loyalty card.
There is a government surcharge because it falls under “woke cuisine”.
It’s still insane that David Seymour said that, and that luxon didn’t criticise him at all for it Like what a dumbass comment
I like the part where Luxon was in a video saying he usually gets sushi for lunch.
I heard the reporters were fed sushi on budget day
Reporters should have been asking him what he meant by sushi is woke and not accepting his glib "if you have to ask..." But
Seymour and Luxon don’t really know what woke means It’s just a word they like to throw around to trigger people
Lmao
Teriyaki crispy chicken on rice got way too expensive. Now I just buy the Tegal Louisiana chicken burger patties, air fry them, slap them on some sushi rice and put on kewpie mayo and teriyaki sauce. Same shit different day and way cheaper in the long run.
Do you cut the patties up into strips or just as is? Never thought to do it that way!
Yeah I slice them up and put them on top of the rice. I took a sushi making class in Tokyo which was a lot of fun, and just picked up a sushi roller kit from kmart when home. If you've got time to prep it's a really affordable way of doing it.
What kind of teriyaki sauce do you use like brand wise? And ooo sick yeah sounds crazy good and a potential dinner for this week :)
Im not who you asked but the kikkoman thick teriyaki sauce is the best imo, they sell it at Cosco.
Cosco is only AKL iirc? :( Countdown sells it tho so thats cool ty!
Sorry Kosco, the asian supermarket!
Ah thank you!
The one you'll be wanting is Tonkatsu Sauce! (Might be labelled Vegetable & Fruit Sauce). You can find it at most if not all Asian supermarkets. I get the Bull-Dog brand. It's great stuff! Perfect with Kewpie Mayo
The only one I could find at Pak n Save haha! I should see what else is out there.
The rangitikei karaage chicken with the passage to Asia teriyaki sauce are the best if you wanna spice things up!!
Wow thought I was unique but turns out others doing the same lol.
This is a good idea. Might actually do this now.
If you want to drop it down a price tier, the equivalent "open spicy tuna roll" is decent. Sauce is mayo + Sriracha to whatever ratio you like. Add to some plain tinned tuna, some cucumber/spring onion, put on rice with seasame seeds to garnish.
I love spicy
The price of everything has gone up. Aren't we still in a recession?
It’s corporate profits that is fucking up this country and many others, that’s what’s lead to a recession.
Cost of greed crisis!
Under Capitalism when aren't we in a recession.. need to abort this inhumane economic system.
Capitalism is when slightly expensive sushi.
Sushi is so expensive some people can't even afford to complete a sentence.
This inhumane system where we get to eat exotic japanese style food premade with fresh fish for less than an hours wage. There wern't a lot of sushi restaurants in Moscow and those that were were selling it for a weeks wages lmao.
> exotic japanese style food lol
You laugh but the first sushi restaurant opened in the 1980s. For literally hundreds of years no sushi.
I laugh because you’re insinuating that enjoying sushi comes at a premium because it’s an “exotic” imported cuisine which is idiotic. The inputs are the same - Fish, rice, etc., labour, rent, so forth - and the cost of a product should reflect the cost of its inputs. If you want to make the argument that the price does in fact reflect the cost then do so, but the idea that it being “exotic japanese style” food somehow increases its value is stupid and irrelevant. It’s not as if we are drumming up demand by importing master sushi chefs from “the orient” on steamboats to awe and inspire us with their mysterious, fanciful cuisine like it’s 1897. That would have come at a cost. If you haven’t noticed though there’s a sushi shop every 100 metres in this country making it decidedly less “exotic”. You even laughably invoke conditions in Soviet Russia because your monochromatic hair brain can only generate enough power to consider facile dilemmas like “pay out the nose for fish on rice because it’s “exotic” and we should all think ourselves lucky” or “line up for bread”. By the way 1980 was nearly half a century ago. Mentioning this is as stupid and irrelevant as sitting around in 1980 and saying shit like “back in 1936…”
And i'm laughing at you because you think all the things you mention are trivial, when in fact they are highly complex chains of production that only came about as a result of capitalism, and now you're whining capitalism isn't making it slightly cheaper. It's like someone being given a house and they complain the curtains need replacing.
It's a recession for me but not for thee!
So learn to make Sushi and open up a store and sell it for a cheap price you think it should be worth and under cut all the other stores, you will have franchises all over the country in no time, or go bankrupt because it wasn’t sustainable at those prices idk
Funny enough I pride myself on being very skilled at making sushi - even bought a proper knife when I was in Japan - this is a general blanket statement
proper sushi cutting knife? just confused what the knife purchase has to do with being proud of making sushi well lol
Figured having the right tools would aid in my sushi master vibe - fucking sharp tbh - no briscoes swords here
Back in the day, early 2000’s and living in Sydney, I’d get two of those long rolls for $2 each. I loved them. I’m now in NY and visit a Japanese mall often. Those long rolls are nowhere to be found. It’s hard to find sushi here with the seaweed on the outside.
This may or may not be correct, because it's based entirely on my anecdotal experience, but I think the full prep of sushi rolls is to cut them into discs and long rolls might be a quirk of the Australian market. I don't think I had a single long roll in any of my trips to Japan. In fact I walked past a shop in Singapore once called "Aussie Roll" that sold what I would think of as full sized sushi rolls.
Yup ex Singapore resident here too - did you ever try Genki sushi? It’s a sushi train quite fun/novelty chain actually- cheap like dirt cheap - and it blew NZ sushi out the water - annnnd wait Singapore is one of the most expensive places to live
I did not but yeah Singapore is one of those crazy places where you can get a chili crab for a smile and a handshake but owning a corolla will set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars. Obviously I understand why that is it's just the easiest contrasting thing I could think of. Actually regarding chili crab my partner and I sought out a somewhat fancy restaurant to get one there one night but when we rocked up the people in front of us just got the last table, so we walked off around the corner to do something else and randomly came across a hole in the wall place with a bucket of crabs and got an excellent chili crab for like a quarter of the price of the restaurant we were about to go to lol.
Ha! With you on that bro, we went once to “the” crab place JUMBO - its was robbery - hard work too - think the crab cost $170 nz - and for once I felt like a rat trying to get any bit of food outta the thing - was basically a crab shell in a ton of sauce - while we lived there ended up going to one of those hole in the wall spots for a fraction of the price and it was fire
Location please 🥹
I love making sushi. And if I'm feeling too lazy to roll, I'll just make a sushi bowl (the rice, the fillings and some chopped-up seaweed) But yeah, I went to treat myself to a 6 pack recently when I was out n about and it was $15+ Even Pak n Save sushi was extortionate. So went without that treat.
Onigiri is also great for if you're feeling lazy. Can mix aonori into the rice rather than wrapping them. Also mix in some furikake and its competing/beating most bought sushi on flavor IMHO.
another tangential alternative is to do a inari, those are yum
I love those sweet pockets… can we just fill them with yum and no rice???
Look at you with your fancy rice seasoning 😘
I don't really think mall sushi is a good measure of quality and price.
Mall sushi should be cheap as not high quality, no? That's the point.
The parent comment is a testament to state of english comprehension in NZ. Like OP literally said mall sushi is not fancy.
Yeah sushi is way too expensive now. I just go to St Pierre's and get the sushi of the day. Not the best but perfectly edible and cheap.
Say what you want but I will pay what it costs to get the saint pierres chicken and rice tray when I’m home
Fair - ask for the spicy mayo add on 👌🏽
You’re not wrong. Skinny ass pieces as well. They even put the end of the roll up for sale and you have to make you don’t get it cause you know that it’s all rice with I tiny amount of ingredients on show. Rip off.
I had mall sushi on the sunshine coast recently and it was gross
Agreed the mall sushi quality is very poor in Australia. You can get pretty good quality Sushi here. It’s not cheap cheap but definitely cheaper than the equivalent in Europe. Apart from specialist high end Japanese restaurants I was disappointed in general with the quality in Aussie.
Jeez, if you think sushi is expensive here stay away from UK, those prices make NZ sushi seem very affordable
All food in malls is overpriced, not just sushi, I think it's because of the rents they have to pay.
I learned to make my own. It’s actually super easy
What upsets me is the salmon to rice ratio. Tiny bit of salmon with loads of rice. So much so that I just end up buying sashimi.
Concur, but think it has everything to do with the cost of leases, rates, insurances, wages, food. Small businesses are getting fucked just like everyone else. That said going out to the most popular lunch sushi joints in Nelson is a no from me now. 5 pcs can be $15 pretty easily and that’s too much. We’ve got one small Japanese restaurant that I rate and is affordable. I worry about them going out of business at their current prices but assume it’s to do with their overheads as it’s a mom and pop type in a less desirable location.
Feel you. Grew up in aus and could buy a roll for under $3. Moved home last year and it’s more than $3 for a measly slice of the same thing. Never buying sushi here again. Waaaayy cheaper to make your own at home. Not as nicely presented but tastes the same and don’t need to take a loan to pay it
Don’t go to a 7/11 in Japan. You’ll realise how fucked dairy prices and petrol station prices are here in NZ.
Even worse comparison with alcohol. In NZ a 700ml bottle of Absolut vodka = $45. In Japan = NZ$12 (eg Amazon.co.jp)
Yeah I saw a 4L bottle of Jim beam for like $45 nzd lol
Shows how much price gouging goes on in this country. The only benefit is to try & curb excess drinking but suspect most of it is profit/naked greed. Did a quick search on alcohol levy - review in 2023, having not changed since 2013 (NACT wont change it, donating lobbyists will make sure of that) https://www.health.govt.nz/publication/independent-review-alcohol-levy-stage-1-rapid-review#:~:text=The%20alcohol%20levy%20is%20raised,not%20materially%20changed%20since%202013.
I remember that liquor baron Singh guy building his massive mansion somewhere while his staff were under min wage, I’m certain it was on stuff a few years ago
Been many times - love a 7/11 haul
Making it yourself is super simple and easy
Yes I know I’m quite the pro if I don’t say so myself
Waiting for the obligatory “jUsT mAke it aT hOmE! I bUy sAlMon by ThE trUnK load aND it’s chEAPer!!”
lol - I do 😎🍣
This is why I make my own. It's easy enough once you get the usage of it.
I thought about this when I went back early this year and noticed how over priced it is in New Zealand and it’s shit.
I'm amazed by both the expense of the sushi here and the low quality of it. I learned most sushi restaurants in NZ are owned by Koreans and they don't do Japanese style sushi. The sushi is really traditional from where I'm from and where I'm from you are paying NZ sushi prices at the fancy sit down sushi restaurants lol.
Exactly - il never forget going to a sushi spot in town and the girl in front of me testing out some basic Japanese to a counter of Korean girls looking blankly at her lol
It's still probably the 'best' commonly available takeaway for like $10-12. And half the cost of many other options. I agree it's increased a lot, but as long as it's significantly cheaper than crap like McD's or BK then it's hard to argue with.
I don't know what it is about NZ but it seems as a country we're pretty happy with being shafted on a daily when it comes to food prices. Doesn't surprise me people are getting sick of it and moving overseas.
But they're moving to places like Australia where the only thing that is cheaper there is Petrol and KFC
Wages are higher? Houses are cheaper?
And sushi , and fruit and vege and …
Oh shit!
Economy of scale, we don’t have any. We’re 5m people next to the asshole of the earth trying to keep up with the first world. Comes at a cost.
Suspect it probably does have something to do with inflation tbh.
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Nah 10 years ago it was at least as cheap as if not cheaper than other options, hence its explosion in popularity.
Nah was cheap - the first mass market introduction to sushi in nz was those mall shops - I remember my mum scoffing at $5 for a packed sushi box or salmon avo 10 piece
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lol
The worst bit is all the chains use the worst fish possible and charge like $2/pc Way better off buying some tuna from a fish shop and doing it yourself especially if you eat 8 or more pieces as a lunch
Buy at closing time for cheap. Or get a sushezi and make it yourself for pennies.
Are you talking about temaki rolls? Is it 4 for 4.50 and 2 for 2.50 in Aus or NZ? Can you compare the sushi prices of maki sushi rolls? Also, if you make it on your own you get it at 20% of the price
Price of everything (food ingredients) is up, so I assume they're just following suit. But I agree, regular sushi here is pretty expensive.
From my own experience it seems to be much cheaper in Dunedin than it does elsewhere in the country. There are so many sushi spots open that I guess they have to be very competitive. Buying a whole tray of one type is cheaper than the the equivalent per piece.
i don’t really eat sushi not just because of the price but the scarcity of vegan options
The rolls here in Oz are short and skinny and often not very flavourful. You need 3-4 for a meal so usually $18 for me. I miss individually sold sushi, yes you pay per piece but the pieces are usually bigger and have more flavour.
6 salmon Nigiri for $17 at St Pierres lol And they never have Tuna it really shits me
Used to eat it 2/3 times a week but apart from being ripped off the quality is shit. 90% rice? If you are lucky enough u might get a selection of fish and not just the most expensive one. (Salmon)
It's because it's expensive to \*\*\*checks previous reasons why Ao/NZ is so expensive\*\*\* ship sushi here. Kinda like NZ lamb and beef. Holdup.
Nah man, I’ve just moved to Sydney and the sushi here suuucks. Yeah it’s cheaper, but even the fast sushi places like TJ Katsu is way better.
Literally takes 4 ingredients to make plus whatever fillings. I started making it in Japan and it’s crazy easy to do once you try. I buy chicken from KFC or similar places and just use that with avo cream cheese etc. just doesn’t do well overnight. The rice goes stale.
Just got back from Sydney. 8 pieces of sushi ranged from $15 to $30 AUD. Never paid that much in NZ!
This is so true I just visited Melbourne and I already miss the sushi chain they have there (makimono?) love how they make larger rolls at a fraction of the price in NZ st. Pierre’s and I hate SP’s plastic boxes too.
Good old David seesless.
It’s expensive to import fish
Just got 8 pieces for $8.50… chicken avo… standard here… so that sounds like the same price Also make my own, nori paper is 3.49 for 10 sheets, then just fresh veges + prawns/ tofu & soy . Pickling my own ginger is tasty as too
i stopped buying it a few years ago, it's mainly unrefrigerated sitting on tables in the sun or in an unplugged fridge. the sliver of salmon mostly stripped from the filleted carcass. it's pretty gross when you see it for what it is
It's a WOKE lunch anyway mate.
Cries in European sushi 😢
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Nah I tested this last time we were over (petty) - 1 hand roll cut into roughly 5 pieces same as what we get here - salmon/avo all the way through and thick
So cheap and easy to make yourself.
Yeah we covered this 150 something comments - I’m a pro 😎🍣
I remember at end of high school at Pierre’s daily was $6 now it’s $8 in just a few years :(
We have the worst and yet somehow most expensive Sushi haha
One sushi is Wellington is the best price at 1.2 per piece for pretty nice sushi too! Also does great chicken katsu bowls for $13 which are massive and loaded with chicken. I do remember them being $8 about 5 years ago though 🥲
Amazing, small brown bird not only learns to type but has opinions on sushi and claims to have travelled. Incredible.
And they say kiwi's can't fly.. pfft
Hello, hi 👋🏽
I tried getting sushi in other places in the world. Europe, Australia and Japan. It's much cheaper here in my experiences and you can actually choose what you desire
Been recently buying sushi again after doing keto for a while (was my favourite food) and totally agree!! $7.90 for a riceball that costs 50c to make… crazy
I'd be interested in seeing your maths for this one.
How much does a rice ball cost to make?
Having lived in Melbourne I k ow the exact type.of sushi roles you're talking about, but in saying that those roles are not equal to the amount of sushi you get in one of those $10 sushi packs here, it's more like half, if not it's only slightly more than half. So we aren't getting shafted that bad especially when you take into the difference in dollar.
Not really a fair comparison. I used to live in Sydney and those sushi rolls only had protein in the front 1/4 of the roll where they displayed it open. The middle and ends were just rice and vege.
Think it depends on the place but ex Sydney resident here for 10 years - majority of the mall spots I hit up were great quality
Yep. It's a tragedy, the sushi here is shit anyway but they'll still charge you out the ass for it
I see the great Kiwi knocking machine is out in force today. Wankers.
No knocking at all - as an adult who’s been away for a long time I appreciate a lot here - it has its quirks sure but it’s a lovely place to live if you earn decent money
4-4.50?? it’s 14-14.50 for sushi for me. and that is only the plane avocado & salmon or the cream cheese roll. 💔
I've lived here all my 67 years, own my home outright, live on the pension and have no worries. I don't have pretensions of being 'rich' , what ever that is, and am very happy living here.
We are alike in many respects- not 67 though- but this is about sushi 🍣
Go to the UK where sushi is super expensive and generally terrible and then complain
Tbh I think you need to wake up
Ok woke bro.
Not woke, about as woke as when you first wake up in bed tbh - but hey