Initially serve up some highly inferior Japanese food (5)

I believe the answer is:

sushi

'japanese food' is the definition.
(sushi is a type of Japanese food)

'initially serve up some highly inferior' is the wordplay.
'initially' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'serve up some highly inferior' is 'SUSHI'.

(Other definitions for sushi that I've seen before include "Asian dish" , "Japanese cold rice dish" , "rice dishes" , "Fated" , "Cold rice balls with raw fish" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.