WITH a slogan of “slurp, bite, smile” and a name made up of the three constituent parts of its menu – sushi, noodles and soup – a love of food is at the heart of new Asian fusion restaurant Sunoso.

But for owner Ryan Zhu it wasn’t just about creating tasty food, it was also ensuring healthy options, from the choice of white or brown rice to the curry sauce flavoured with fruit rather than sugar.

“It is about health and taste,” he says as he prepares to open the venue on the corner of Queen’s Road and Upper Gloucester Road on the feng shui approved date and time of Thursday, November 20 at 11.45am.

“We are trying to give our customers everything – rather than offering a choice between a nice curry sauce and a healthy curry sauce.

“As well as ramen we offer healthier glass noodles. We don’t do calorie counting as it can be misleading – an avocado has a high calorie count but it is good for you.

“We wanted to offer people a healthy option but with tasty food. I think we are the only place offering gluten-free teriyaki sauce, apart from fine dining Japanese and Asian restaurants in London.”

Zhu, who also runs a property services company in Hove, developed the menu with head chef Aldrin Maminta, who has 20 years of experience in Japanese restaurants around Britain. He feels people are returning to Asian fusion.

“It was really popular in the 1970s and 1980s,” he says. “People started to go back to traditional authentic food, but now fusion is modern and vibrant. You can have sushi with Korean sauce – it’s a good combination.”

On offer are both hot and cold dishes, from fresh donburi to sushi dishes, miso soup and 12-hour-cooked noodle broths to salads.

There is also the option of sweet sushi made with banana and Nutella or coconut and mango – something Zhu claims as another Brighton first – and a choice of four different coloured smoothies.

The pink smoothie features raspberry, apple and banana and is good for the heart; green contains avocado, pear, spinach and ginger for the morning after; red is made up of beetroot, orange, ginger and cinnamon for detoxing; and orange perhaps unsurprisingly features carrots and oranges as well as lime and ginger to boost immunity. With the venue’s prime location between Brighton Railway Station and the cultural quarter Zhu decided to focus on a brand which was more geared towards food-on-the-go than fine-dining.

As such the set-up is very open plan, with customers ordering at a counter which overlooks the kitchen. There are counter-style high chairs on two sides of the space.

The space has been designed with London and Worthing-based branding agency Warren Creative, which has been working with Zhu since he took over the venue in August.

It may be compact, but there is space for a lot of detail, from the relief wooden waves decorating the walls, to the two fish lights suspended from the ceiling. This attention to detail is important for Zhu.

“As soon as we get the system running smoothly the next thing we want to do is roll it out as a concept and get investors in,” he says.

“I have lived in Brighton since I came here from China 14 years ago, Brighton was always my first choice. It has been a huge amount of work in three months. I want to do it right and get a good foundation in.”

Duncan Hall