Just Open: Superfood Sushi, Sydney

It only opened last week, but a Sydney sushi cafe that doesn't use fish already has plans to expand.

Superfood Sushi is the first cafe in Australia to focus on vegan sushi, which uses no animal products. The Newtown eatery is run by mother-and-son team Penelope (Pepe) Marshall and Guy Renner. Marshall, who formerly worked in corporate real estate, is tackling the operational side of the business, while Renner is hands-on in the cafe.

Using locally-sourced ingredients for its (mostly) gluten-free menu, the cafe has a heavy health focus. All of the drinks have no added sugar, including Chemex coffee and cold press (made with beans from Melbourne's Happy Farmer Organics), kombucha, infused water and coconut water.

Sushi is made with black or green rice (brown rice infused with bamboo pulp). There are 11 varieties of sushi ($10 per roll, or $1.50 per piece), including Saigon Pickle (forbidden black rice, pickled carrot and daikon, baby corn and avocado), Sweet Kiwi Nut (eleven grain rice mix with sweet potato, walnuts, avocado and kiwifruit), Mange Tout (black rice and blanched sugar snap peas), and Mango Chick (rice, asparagus, capsicum, cucumber and rocket topped with a mix of mango, chickpeas, chilli and chives). Non-sushi options include salads (available to takeaway) and miso soup.

The idea for the business came to Marshall after she went to dinner with friends and found the only fish- and meat-free sushi options were avocado, cucumber, white rice, and seaweed - which weren't very satisfying.

"So I sort of thought, 'I think I can do that better'," she said.

After the rolls made their debut at Renner's 21st birthday, the pair took the product to farmers' markets and built up a following over several months. Then, with the help of $9441 raised on crowd-funding site Pozible, Marshall and Renner secured a heritage-listed building on the eastern end of King Street, opposite fellow vegans Suzy Spoon's, and opened their doors on June 12.

All chefs and the staff are vegan, but Marshall hopes the sushi flavours will appeal to everyone.

"I've got some really cool young chefs in there with some really creative ideas, like faux salmon made out of sunflower seeds and beetroot juice [in the Faux Lox dish]. You'd never know [it wasn't actual salmon]," she said.

Pending ongoing success, a local delivery service is planned, and the pair are considering opening more Superfood Sushi locations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Open Mon-Sun 11am to 9pm, 69-77 King Street, Newtown, 02 9519 0100, superfoodsushi.com.au