Children from a Portslade school found themselves pleasantly surprised by a taste of the Orient.

The pupils, from the Peter Gladwin Primary School, paid a visit to Brighton sushi bar, Moshi Moshi, in Bartholomew Square, to learn about the traditional Japanese food from top chefs Masayoshi Kazato and Takashi Yasuda.

But it quickly emerged the most experience the 30 children had ever had of Asian culture was on television and in films.

"Does Jackie Chan live in Japan of China?" was the first question.

"Jackie Chan lives in Hong Kong," said Caroline Bennett, the patient 36-year-old managing director of the Moshi Moshi chain who also acted as interpreter for Kazato and Yasuda.

Sushi making began in the 8th Century when the Japanese would squash rise and fish together with salt to preserve it and put it in a box. Six months later they would take it out of the box and remove the rice before eating it.

In the 18th Century, the nigiri sushi we know today was invented and sold in a bar in Tokyo.

Kazato started with simple sushi which was easy enough for primary school hands to get stuck into.

First on the menu was nigiri, which translates as "to clasp". Kazato deftly squeezed the rice in his hand to shape it and wrapped it in a slice of salmon.

It took volunteer Jake Burnip, seven, a little longer to get the technique right. "It's a little bit squidgy," he said.

Hosomaki sushi means thin sushi roll, which Kazato made by wrapping rice and cucumber strips in dried seaweed, followed by temaki sushi, made with rice and cucumber rolled in seaweed this time to look like an ice cream cone.

It was time for the children to have a go and although primary school hands were not quite as deft as those of Kazato, they managed to create sushi which would make their parents proud when they took it home - once they overcame difficulties with the rice.

"It's sticky," Tony Tunnicliffe, eight said. "I had to wash my hands and start again."

His brother Ben, ten, was equally unimpressed. "It was hard to do," he said. All it did was stick to you. It was horrible."

Jessica Machell, seven said: "It felt really weird. It was really sticky. It was difficult because you had to try and get a cone to put the stuff in. It was really, really hard."

Yasuda specialises in decorative sushi and children were mesmerised by his delicate works of art resembling flowers, animals and even a copy of a toy bear going round on the sushi bar conveyor belt which customers would normally select their food from.

It takes eight years to train to be a sushi chef and Yasuda showed how it is done by making a pig and a cat using scallops, seaweed, octopus tentacles and fish eggs.

After making comes eating - so would the children swap fish fingers for sushi?

Surprisingly, the taste buds of the 21st Century child are more refined than people would imagine and the sushi got the thumbs-up from most of the children who vowed they would visit Moshi Moshi again.

Bradley Bricknell reckoned it was better than his chip shop fish.

"It tasted like eggs but not like eggs I have ever tasted before," he said.

"I think it is really, really nice. I prefer it to fish fingers."

Charlotte Pryer said: "The one that we made with the salmon was really spicy but nice and the one with the seaweed around was really nice."

After careful thinking, Luke Simmons, ten, gave sushi the thumbs up.

"I thought it was nice, the salmon and the rice," he said. "I have tried salmon before - I have not tried seaweed before."

Harrison Brake, eight said: "It was a bit horrible but I liked it. I liked the rice and the seaweed."

Matthew Peacock, seven, was not sold on the sushi at all and would rather stick to the fish and chip shop. He said "It was so horrible. The seaweed was disgusting."

Headteacher Jane Bentley said: "They have experienced a whole new type of food.

"I think it has been good for them to meet people from different cultures."

Kazato said: "They did pretty well. Children in Japan have been watching sushi and looking at it all the time. These children do not have that opportunity. Considering they were doing it or the first time they were great."