The subpar bios for this series say that this is the best chef in Ninjago, the only one Garmadon is willing to keep around. According to my research, this would have earned him the distinguished title of itamae.

But I don't need to know all that; he's a LEGO sushi chef! For that alone, I had to have him.

Parts

Unsurprisingly, the parts are great. There are two sushi tiles, a new bandana head cap, the attractive torso and extremely useful dual-molded legs, and a really nice head. But for me, the big excitement was the cleaver piece, first seen with the Butcher minifigure, and just recently making a comeback. For this series' run, the CMFs are once again the cheapest way to obtain one.

The minifigure

The chef looks great. His striped bandana matches his uniform really nicely, and he has a kindly face well suited to his look. His torso has some great printing, looking like traditionally woven garb with printing of shrimp embroidery and a classic folded and belted/sashed style. His legs are simple but complete the look well. He comes with a roll of sushi that can actually be sliced by taking off the printed tile at the end of the 1x1 cylinder, and another individual piece of sushi. I almost lost both of these tiles multiple times, so be careful when opening the back and secure the parts. He would go perfectly in Ninjago City, if there was only a kitchen to supply the sushi conveyor, but with some creativity, you could make a cooking station for him.

Overall opinion

Like the original LEGO Movie's CMF Series, this one has some great characters that can be put in other contexts, and this is definitely the strongest of them. He's a great design with easy application, and definitely worth it.

Set #71019 Sushi Chef: Another Citizen of NINJAGO City leaps from the screen into real life with this character from the CMF Series of TLNM.

Sushi Chef features some dual-molded legs, a double-sided torso with a great looking print and a very intriguing re-use of the Pirate bald-pate head piece with the bandana, the accessories include some fun looking elements, a few printed circular tiles with Sushi rolls and a tube to simulate him slicing them off for the customers.

This is a great looking Minifigure from the Series and is definitely one you'll want to pick up. The parts are all perfect and considering how useful a lot of these Ninjago Minifigures look I'm amazed we haven't gotten a regular Ninjago Series before this.