"THEY should be playing the theme music to Jaws", Galaxy radio DJ Rob Ellis wails as he inches his first ever mouthful of sushi closer to his lips.

I've managed to persuade Rob, Galaxy's jovial breakfast show host, to share his first experience chowing on raw fish with me for our lunchtime catch-up.

"This sushi thing is a whole new world to me," he admits.

"I've never quite understood why people would want to eat something that hasn't been cooked."

Well, he's about to find out today when we meet at the city's latest Yo! Sushi restaurant in the rapidly expanding Spinningfields development.

And though at first Rob looks more than a little perturbed by the sushi roll on his chopsticks, as he bites into it he admits he's pleasantly surprised.

"It's not that bad," he admits. "Once it's in it's quite nice".

But hang on, I begin to suspect there's something fishy going on - ie, there ain't no fishy stuff nestled in his maki roll. He's gone and picked up a vegetarian option off the conveyor belt of food at the restaurant!

Rob starts to dissect the roll with his chopsticks to try to prove to me there was a bit of mushed up tuna in there, but I spy only avocado.

Conveyor belt

So I decide I'm going to have to move things along here. Keeping my beady eye on the conveyor belt of sushi I grab a definitely piscine couple of Yellowtail Nagiris.

To my surprise, Rob grabs one with vigour and wolfs the whole thing down. "You came to destroy me but I have beaten you," he booms. Eek! But then Rob demands I have to eat the other one. It's not really my kettle of fish, but I give it a go anyway, and I'm pleased to report it's not too bad.

But then along comes some octopus. Rob grabs it from the conveyor belt, and though it's making me feel decidely nervous, he agrees that he will eat a big tentacley bit if I'll join him.

Kryptonite

He doesn't look best pleased with it. "I think you've found my kryptonite," he says.

Sensing we may well be nearing the end of our fishy face-off, I spy a bowl of nice, friendly Edamame beans hurtling towards us on the conveyor belt, and I suggest Rob might like to try them particularly as they're said to be Victoria Beckham's favourite food.

Rob tentatively nibbles his way into one of the pods. "I bet David Beckham dreads coming home if there are only ever peas on the menu," he chuckles.

Things have been going swimmingly well for Preston-born Rob, 29, since joining Manchester's Galaxy 18 months ago.

Since taking the helm of the station's breakfast show, he's won their highest-ever audience figures for the timeslot. "Things are going well and I'm ready to take on the big boys," he laughs.

Although he admits all those early starts for the show have taken their toll. He says: "In a year I think I've aged about five years. It's a brilliant job, but it can ruin your social life a bit - you can never take the risk of going to the cinema in case you fall asleep!"

Yo!Sushi, No 1 Hardman Boulevard, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3AQ, TEL: 0161 638 8580. Tweet