JAPANESE food has the power to enthral. It captivates people to a degree that no other regional cuisine, whether it's Chinese, Italian or Indian, seems to.

Lovers of Japanese food tend to be obsessive and it's not difficult to see why. There's a purity and simplicity to the food, as well as the protocol and ceremony associated with eating Japanese. There's also the fact that Japanese food . . . and sushi in particular . . . is yet to lose its novelty factor and is still perceived as sophisticated and exotic.

Tokyo estimates that the amount of Japanese restaurants outside of the country is set to double to more than 50,000 in the next three years. Although sushi joints are staples of cities like London, New York and Paris, thus far it hasn't been a market widely explored by Irish restaurateurs. This is about to change.

The British chain YO! Sushi signed agreements last month with franchise partners to expand into Ireland. Nobu, the restaurant that started a whole new trend in Japanese cuisine in New York, looks like it will, after much uncertainty, come to Dublin. And, more imminently, the people behind the successful Yamamori Noodles on South Great George's Street in Dublin have now opened a another one on Ormond Quay. The menu will be the same as the original restaurant, which Derek Ryan opened 12 years ago, but the distinguishing feature of the new restaurant is a big open kitchen, with a sushi counter, so customers can choose the fish and see their sushi chefs slicing to order.

Iain Conway, the 30-yearold chef and now partner in Yamamori, is in no doubt that the city is ready to whole-heartedly embrace this global trend. It's something he predicted some years ago.

Becoming a sushi chef mightn't be the most natural career path for a native of Tullamore, Co Offaly, but his love of the food and people, as well as his gut feeling that the Japanese food trend wasn't going to go away, guided him. "I've been working in Japanese food for more than 10 years now and I wasn't very interested in Italian food and I wasn't interested in French. I wanted to do something different. I know there weren't too many people who could do specialist stuff like sushi, " he explains.

It's a skill set that involves great attention to detail, encyclopaedic knowledge of fish and perfect presentation. Authenticity is key and Conway says there are many establishments who claim to be Japanese but who don't truly adhere to the principles of Japanese food.

Indeed, this has proven to be an area of concern for the Japanese government, who are appalled at poor-quality global interpretations of their food and plan to roll out official certification over the next three years only to restaurants who meet their strict criteria. "Anywhere in the world that I go, I always check out Japanese restaurants and I can tell [the authenticity] straight away by the presentation and the menu, " he says. A lot of them won't have their Japanese spelling around. You can also gauge a restaurant's authenticity from the number of Asian customers there. "If you've got a lot of Asian customers, then you know it's going to be authentic food."

Yamamori on South Great George's St attracts 30%40% Asian clientele.

A widely-held belief about sushi is that the fish is the most important element but Conway says it's the rice. "It has to be perfect. Anyone after a time can prepare fish but there has to be the right amount of seasoning in the rice, it has to be the right colour and the right texture."

Conway has faced the question of authenticity himself, from diners accustomed to refrigerated offerings from supermarkets. "People don't seem to realise that in a lot of sushi bars in Japan, they're taking the rice straight from the cooker so the rice is warm in the middle but the fish is ice cold. That for me is perfect sushi, But then if you travel somewhere like Kyoto, it's different. You'll have cold rice and cold fish. So I don't think people realise that, so you might get a few complaints. But that's authentic sushi."

He had what was both his best and worst food experience in a bar in Tokyo. The chef pulled a fish from a tank, put a nail through its head and filleted in front of him. It was then garnished and served to him, alive. "I don't know if I enjoyed it or not but I felt I had to do it. The Japanese consider it respectful to the fish. You have to eat it; you can't just kill it for no reason, which I think is great."

However adventurous Irish palates might now be, that experience isn't something he'll be recreating in Yamamori Sushi. That might be a few years ahead of us yet but he's still wants the dining experience here to be memorable. "I'll always try to put something on that nobody else can get, like a yellowtail sashimi with citrus dressing . . . and if you like your sushi, you will travel to that restaurant to get that piece of yellow, " he says.

"You can educate people slowly by giving them their chicken curries, their ramens, their noodles. But for people who have been around the world or to Japan, you've got to hit them with something special."

SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS

Don't rub your chopsticks together. If you're not using them, place them parallel to you on the holder or on the shoyu dish
It's fine to eat sushi with your hands but sashimi (sliced raw fish without rice) is only eaten with chopsticks
Don't pass food to another person with chopsticks as it is too similar symbolically to passing deceased relative's bones at a Japanese funeral. Instead, pass the plate and let individuals help themselves
Gari (ginger) is a palate cleanser
Eat your sushi in one bite