BY JAY AQUINO

JUNE 21, 2026

A year ago, I discovered a sushi shop near my work that did not feel like the usual sushi stop. Inside its vibrant store, there were no predictable rolls or typical combinations we have all come to expect, but something far more playful. Green Thai curry chicken. Vegan buffalo chicken. Hoisin duck. A miso mac burger wrapped in seaweed. The name says it all: Not So Sushi.

At first, the concept sounds almost too strange to work. Sushi, after all, is one of those foods that comes with a certain expectation. Rice, seaweed, avocado, soy sauce, perhaps salmon, tuna, or teriyaki chicken. But Not So Sushi takes that familiar structure and uses it as a canvas for something more unexpected. The result is fun, clever, and surprisingly delicious rolls. It’s not the usual fillings you would normally expect to find in sushi, but that is precisely what makes them exciting.

The man behind the concept is Jason Yelen, an IT graduate with years of experience in hospitality. On paper, those two worlds might seem unrelated, but in his case, they make perfect sense. His IT background gives him the instinct to innovate, to look at something existing and ask how it could be improved. His hospitality experience gives him the understanding of flavor, appetite, and what people actually want to eat. Put the two together and you begin to understand why Not So Sushi works. It is not innovation for the sake of being different; it is food built on curiosity, taste, and instinct.

Personally, if you are visiting for the first time, there are three flavors I would tell you to try. The first is the miso mac burger. If you are a burger lover, this is the one. It is bold, juicy, slightly tangy, and very filling, with a subtle crunch that makes each bite feel more satisfying. It has the comfort of a burger but the structure of sushi, which sounds impossible until you actually eat it. Then there is the Hoi Sin duck, a flavor that pays homage to Chinese cuisine with its rich, savory sweetness. Finally, the green Thai curry chicken is exactly what it promises to be: Thai food, but bundled neatly into sushi form.

What I find most interesting is how Yelen makes these combinations feel natural. If I were making sushi, a burger would probably never cross my mind. Yet somehow, in his hands, it works. The traditional aspect of sushi is still there: the seaweed wrapper, the rice, the avocado, the soy sauce. But around that foundation, he introduces influences from different cuisines and turns them into something entirely his own.

In a way, it reminds me of fashion. Designers often begin with a familiar silhouette, then transform it through embroidery, fabric, cut, proportion, or embellishment until it becomes something new. Yelen does the same with sushi. He respects the framework, then bends it just enough to make you look again.

He also keeps the menu alive by introducing new flavors. Once, he asked me what I would like to see in sushi. I said "caviar and A5 Japanese wagyu beef". He instantly laughed. But that exchange says a lot about the spirit of Not So Sushi. It is a place where ideas can be ridiculous, ambitious, delicious, or all three at once.

Beyond the food, what I have come to appreciate about Yelen is his straightforwardness. Whenever I visit, we have small conversations about life, work, and business, and he always has advice that feels simple but useful. Like many entrepreneurs I have met, he has that mix of passion and grit that makes you believe in the dream even before it comes to fruition.

When I asked him what he wanted for Not So Sushi, he said, “I would love to open more shops across Melbourne.” Knowing him now for almost a year, I believe he will. Not So Sushi is not just a novelty concept; it is proof that food, like fashion, becomes most interesting when someone is brave enough to reimagine the familiar.

Location

334 Smith St, Collingwood

Discover Not So Sushi here.