Sake Restaurant - a Review

We totter up the cobblestone steps of The Rocks, my brand-new heels no match for the ancient stones – pockmarked with age and a hundred years of memories I could never hope to fathom. We stop, and I’m allowed to look up, although the entrance of the restaurant is left mysteriously blank and I am still clueless to where we are dining tonight. It is dark inside, dim lighting gently illuminating the stone-brick walls, and the rows upon rows of bottles behind the dramatic, floor-to-ceiling glass paneling. Bottles of course, of sake.

in the pursuit of | Sake Restaurant & Bar

Hattori Hanzo and Pink Blossom cocktails, both made with sake of course.

We order cocktails; to start with, I the house cocktail, “Bang On!”, a mix of watermelon, vanilla sugar, rhubarb syrup and clear spirits which is decadently candy-sweet, a liquid flashback to the weightless clouds of fairy floss on a certain carnival day during my youth… while my better half chooses a strong, citrus concoction mixed with strawberries, cranberries and passionfruit, “Pink Blossom”, named for its base of Japanese Umeshu plum wine. Not bad, I nod, secretly coveting my own drink.

For seconds, I may have missed the mark with the “Hattori Hanzo“, a drink as deadly as it’s namesake from Kill Bill. It kicks at the back of my throat, a coarse, peppery hit of jalapeno. The Bombay Sapphire – Yuzu mix is far too punchy for me, but how could I resist a chilli cocktail?

A good start to the night, but the oishi‘s are just beginning to roll in. We decide not to go with the set menu, and are glad of our choice.

Tuna Ceviche: lemon dressing, finished with coriander, jalapeño chilli, tomato & crunchy fried onion.

The tuna ceviche (salad) with a tart lemon dressing and a smattering of jalapenos is a delicate mix of bittersweet and spicy, while roma tomatoes and crunchy fried onion complete the perfectly balanced texture of the dish; a light and fresh start to our a-la-carte banquet.

Nasu Dengaku: grilled eggplant with light and dark miso pastes.

The salmon sashimi melts as butter on the hot palate of our tongues. The nasu dengaku could have been cooked longer, but the sweetness of the miso saturates the delicate flesh of the eggplant, and we quickly forgive the former sin as the deliciously gooey mess disintegrates in our mouths.

Wagyu Teriyaki: grainfed wagyu cooked medium rare, served on sautéed shiitake & buckwheat with yakiniku sauce.

Tender wagyu beef is presented next, painted with a glistening coat of rich teriyaki marinade. Tonkatsu cups served on lilypads of lettuce like peking duck are delightful morsels, just a mouthful each – but worth their weight in pork belly.

Tonkatsu Cups: 4 pieces of panko-fried pork belly & spring-onion bites,
served in lettuce cups with mustard miso & japanese barbeque sauce.

Finally, dessert.

For him, an erupting chocolate fondant to warm his belly, and cool sesame ice-cream to complement, which – as always – trumps my choice, a light buttermilk pannacotta with raspberry and coconut. (The coconut was worth it, in my biased opinion!) My companion wine is fruity and citrusy, not my usual choice, a little disappointing. Fiance, on the other hand, wins again with a firey bourbon that tops up the hair on his chest and re-kindles the warmth from the fondant in his belly.

Oishi indeed.