YO!Aromatic Katsu Curry Sauce - 100g - 12 Pouches

I'm a big fan of teriyaki in Japanese food, especially when salmon is involved. So an attempt by one of the foremost UK chains to provide a good version for home use was an inviting prospect.They come in little pouches that approximately serve two people, and these are lined with quite a thick plastic. This caused an almost immediate problem where I got some of the (thick) sauce on my fingers and was utterly unable to open a second pouch without washing the whole lot clean first. It's also disappointingly wasteful packaging-wise.My first impression of the sauce itself is that it is, indeed, sticky as it comes. There had, oddly, been some leakage inside the box and a few packs had a thin layer of the stuff. It gloops out of the pack in a rather unappetising way, and is a little too thick to easily work around for marinating.The first attempt was marinating salmon, which after an afternoon sat in the stuff did manage to absorb a good amount of its flavour. Some time in the oven produced a moist result that did have a gentle taste, but certainly nothing powerful.The next was to try it grilled on some chicken, and whilst one of us did find it added a nice gentle flavour, the other felt it was very lacklustre.Throwing the pack into a stir-fry is probably the best way to get the flavour from this, where it mixes and coats throughout. But even then, this sauce is not that interesting a flavour.A glance at the ingredients shows that it appears to be mostly water and then glucose syrup. There are the more traditional ingredients also included, but they pale in comparison to the bland sweetness that it provides. The pack touts a "mouth-watering umami experience" and unfortunately it didn't deliver.So are you going to throw this into a stir-fry to go along with a lot of other flavours? Then this might suit you perfectly. For marinating or coating, however, you might prefer to find something with a little more taste and punch.

I got the 12x 100g pouches of Teriyaki and it’s a great tasting Teriyaki sauce; it’s thick, sticky and sweet and complimented well by the the mild spices and soy sauce. It’s what I’ve come to expect from a good Teriyaki and incredibly versatile in terms of what you can do with it. It works with fish, chicken, meat, veggies, tofu, quorn, noodles, rice, etc. Use it as a marinade or an easy stir-in sauce. You don’t have to restrict yourself to oriental dishes either as it compliments other cuisines and works well with things like hummus, smashed avocado, soft cheese, mayo etc.It’s a sweet sauce and high in sugar (as Teriyaki usually is) so I do wish the sauce wasn’t made with glucose-fructose syrup when there are healthier alternatives that could have been used. I do find a little goes a long way though: you don’t have to use half the pouch per person and I find a teaspoon is enough to coat a salmon fillet or to spread inside a wrap or a sandwich to elevate an otherwise-bland filling.A couple of criticisms… Firstly, these are 100g pouches and it says on the back that you have to refrigerate once opened and then use within 3 days… the way I use it, it would be impossible to use it up that quickly - BUT I’ve found that if I transfer it to a very small glass jar, I can keep using it for many weeks and it still looks and tastes fine to me. The second criticism is the sauce doesn't taste quite like the Teriyaki items they serve at Yo! Restaurants (which I love - and incidentally is where I first discovered Teriyaki); the flavour of these Teriyaki pouches is also not unique by any means and I would really struggle to tell it apart from the Lee Kum Kee Teriyaki which looks and tastes incredibly similar (or the same!) and is readily available and a bit cheaper… plus that one is a bit lower in sugar and comes in a glass jar with a suggestion to use within 2 weeks once opened (but again, it will last much longer than this stored in the fridge). Hmm...

As lockdown and various levels of restrictions and tiers continue to tighten their grip, the search for food items to remind you of the glory days of restaurants, cafes, and eateries is real.Now, Yo! Sushi is never anyone's first choice for Japanese style food, that said, it does have its place, and that place is to fill a hole if you're passing by and hungry, and your go to Japanese place is full. The sushi there is never great, but things like their teriyaki dishes are decent. So, when the sweet and sticky teriyaki sauce popped up I leapt at the chance to have this within the comfort of my own home.Twelves pouches arrived in a box, 100g each, and with the blurb claiming to be enough to serve 2 people. So, into a wok we slapped in some chicken, slapped on the sauce (turns out a single pouch is enough for 2 people), used the magic of stir frying, and with rice on the go in a rice cooker (don't use pan or colander, see Uncle Roger about that).During the stir frying process I didn't think there was a heavy teriyaki amora like you might get from other brands, but it smelled just fine when done, and sitting on a bed of rice.Taste wise though, it as passable rather than amazing. Admittedly, it has been quite some time since I was last in a Yo! Sushi branch snacking on their teriyaki, but I'm of the opinion that this is a different sauce to what they use in-house. I'm sure things have had to change in the recipe in order to mass produce them and to get them onto shelves with a long(ish) use by date (April 2021 in this case).All in all, the sauce makes for a ok meal. Three stars might look a bit harsh, as what I really want to give is 3.5, but the teriyaki sauce is decent enough to get me interested in the other sauces that Yo! have to offer...