Tarique Rangoonwala of Sushi Spice in Mumbai has the Who’s Who of Bollywood as his clientele; (above) fusion sushis are hotsellers on the menu of Ravina Bhojwani’s I Love Sushi

Eating sushi was once for the swish set and it entailed a trip to a five-star restaurant where sushi chefs pulled out all the stops to maintain the sanctity of their expensive dishes. Not anymore.

A handful of sushi makers are trying to bring sushi out of its rarefied five-star surroundings and deliver it to the customers’ doorsteps — at a not-so-grand price.

Home delivery at an affordable price is the USP of Mumbai-based Sushi Spice owned by Tarique Rangoonwala. Rangoonwala had his first taste of sushi when he was studying for his MBA at the University of London. “I ate sushi almost every day and when I came back to India last year I began to miss it terribly,” he says.

He decided to cure the craving — and go professional — by learning sushi- making under a Japanese chef in Barcelona last year. The next step was to invite a chef from Germany to train his Indian chefs. Soon afterwards he started Sushi Spice last November. Says Rangoonwala: “Global cuisine is now a part of our lives. And nowadays, everyone wants to serve something exotic at their parties.”

His sushi is delivered to A-list clients from Bollywood celebs to socialites in Mumbai. The hotsellers on the menu include Spicy Salmon (fresh salmon rolled with spicy mayo), the California Roll (crabsticks, avocado and cucumber with sesame seeds) and vegetable rolls (avocado, cucumber, bell pepper rolled with sesame seeds and spicy mayo). The vegetarian platter is priced at Rs 200 for nine pieces and non-vegetarian comes for Rs 280 for nine pieces. Rangoonwla even plans to extend his delivery service to Goa and Pune soon.

Sarla Nagpal (inset) caters to her vegetarian clients by replacing salmon or tuna with carrots, cucumber and avocado slices

There’s also Mumbai-based housewife Sarla Nagpal who’s looking at innovative ways to stay ahead of the pack. She started by taking a course in sushi-making under cookery expert Asha Khatau. Today, she gets around 60 orders on weekdays, which goes up to 100 on weekends. Nagpal smartly figured out that there have to be equal opportunities for vegetarians on the menu. And she takes care of this by replacing the salmon or tuna with carrot, cucumber or avocado slices. Some of her favourites include the veg California roll (avocado and cucumber with Japanese rice rolled with sesame seeds) and maki rolls (a mix of avocado, tofu, cucumber, asparagus or carrot). The price for 12 pieces is Rs 400 and 24 pieces come for Rs 700.

But what’s the big fuss over sticky rice with a topping? Amazing as it might seem, curry-loving Indians have taken to this Japanese delicacy and sushi-makers are constantly coming out with new ways to keep their clients happy. Says Nagpal: “Indians like it because aesthetically it looks good and tastes exotic. It’s also served fresh.”

Modern sushi has deviated slightly from the original. Traditionally, when making sushi, a special type of Japanese rice is first fermented and topped with fish and preserved with salt. Contemporary sushi-making, invented by Hanaya Yohei, has little resemblance to the earlier form. Yohei developed it as a fast food with no fermentation and served fresh.

The popularity of sushi has resulted in several new variations. The most famous is the California Roll made out of avocado, crabstick and cucumber with short-grain Japanese rice on the outside and nori or seaweed wrap on the inside.

Sushi King, set up by Sandeep Bansal and wife Deepa, has helped popularise the Japanese delicacy in Gurgaon

At Sushi King in Gurgaon, started by IT professionals Deepa and Sandeep Bansal, you can sample different combinations to suit your palate. For instance, the Takeshi party roll (takeshi in Japanese means courage) is a hotseller at Rs 1,798 for 40 pieces. Other favourites include the pickled radish sushi roll at Rs 228 (for eight pieces) and smoked salmon roll at Rs 308 (for eight pieces). Says Deepa: “The awareness about sushi eating already exists in India. Our priority is to make it mass-friendly.”

Their vegetarian sushi meal (including rice) costs between Rs 500 and Rs 800 and a non-vegetarian meal comes for between Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,500. Buoyed by the success of their home delivery service, the Bansals have also started a 45-seater Japanese restaurant in Gurgaon called Sushi King.

Since sushi is to be eaten fresh, no compromise is made in terms of ingredients. Most of these entrepreneurs agree that sushi in India cannot be made with local ingredients. So apart from fresh, local vegetables, everything is imported. Says Deepa: “We import everything from the short-grain Japanese rice to the wasabi sauce and the different kind of fish.”

For Ravina Bhojwani of I Love Sushi in Mumbai, innovation is the name of the game. Her fusion sushi includes a salmon and cheese sushi and the chilli tuna roll. Vegetarian sushi comes for Rs 150 (for eight pieces) and non- vegetarian sells for Rs 200 for eight pieces.

Bhojwani learnt sushi-making under a Japanese chef in Mumbai before starting her delivery service from her Napean Sea Road home. Her clients are all well-travelled and mostly health freaks. She caters to their demands by making brown rice sushi and also gift-wraps it in Japanese decorative boxes. Says Bhojwani: “Sushi has plenty of healthy nutrients because it uses fish, vegetables and rice. So it’s quite safe for those on a diet.”

As the competition hots up, each one is discovering innovative ways to stay ahead in the game. But Rangoonwala points out that even innovation has its limits. He says: “You cannot put anything and everything in sushi and end up destroying its authentic flavour.”