I didn't realise how cool an ambience Sake would have. When I stepped in to the restaurant, I immediately looked around and tried to absorb the decor and vibe around me. As I walked past the open kitchen, I was immediately greeted with a bunch of welcome greetings in Japanese!
We were seated in a long table and shared it with another couple. But The Sake team arranged the seating in such a way that there was an empty seat between us and the other couple. That gave us some privacy and we didn't feel cramped in.
As you would have expected from me, I had browsed the menu prior to my visit! :) So I had an idea of what I would like to order and with my visitors' agreement I went for gold (sort of!).
Sashimi platter - a small plate of extremely fresh sashimi of salmon, tuna, kingfish and snapper. We devoured it!
Kingfish jalapeño - this was recommended by the waitress and I can see why it is one of their signature dishes. There was just a slight kick in the jalapeño to lift up the flavours of the kingfish. The combination of the coriander and yuzu soy was subtle and not too overwhelming. Again, it was a hit with us!
Steamed prawn dumplings - Chinese inspired dumplings but with a twist. It had strips of noodle instead of a wonton piece covering the prawn and had such an interesting texture. Loved that it was different and delicious too!
Sashimi tacos - these were salmon and tuna sashimi diced and filled in baby tacos with chilled tomato salsa. They were matched with kozaemon junmai 'sake shots'. I normally don't have sake but I had to try this. Wow! I definitely liked it, both the tacos and the shot. I found the tacos just a tad small in size but other than that, the combination of flavours and textures were good.
Wagyu tartare for 2 - this dish had hand diced Wagyu beef, fried egg purée, with sweet potato crisp. We were told to mix it all up before eating it. All I can say is, this was a very good tartare dish. The flavours were superb!
Buta no kakuni - this was Onsen tamago 12 hour braised pork belly, daikon radish, 64C hen eggs and truffle oil scallions. Mmmm...mmmm. The pork belly was so tender and full of flavour. The daikon still had a bite to it and was the perfect crunchy texture for the delicious pork belly.
Popcorn shrimp - prawn tempura pieces drizzled with a creamy spicy sauce. Addictive!
Spider maki - fried soft-shell crab, cucumber, mayo, spicy tobiko and chives. I liked the presentation. The crab legs did represent the spider legs. The flavours were good.
Alaskan King crab maki - crab meat, with avocado, cucumber, tobiko, mayo, and a wasabi pea crunch coating on wasabi pea purée. For some reason, this was the only dish that I found lacking in flavour. Now I am not sure if it was because this was the last dish served to us and after all those fab dishes my taste buds started to plateau. Or that it was truly lacking in flavour.. If any of you readers have been to Sake and have had this dish, I would love to hear from you. Was it delicious for you?
By this time, we had reached our limit and could not find any space for dessert. But it was a wonderful meal and K and S were truly impressed with Sake, which happened to have been playing some great music throughout the evening. By the way, I forgot to mention that the place was packed, or should I say full house!
Before I forget, K was wanting to try out their sake. With the waitress' recommendation, he tried out 2 sakes throughout the evening and I think he liked both types. One of them I recall was Amabuki (Pink Lady) and he was suitably impressed with the quality of their sakes.
I had a rather large bill to pay after all that but it was worth it, especially since I was having this meal with my beloved nephew and his girlfriend. :)
Sake Restaurant
12 Argyle Street
The Rocks
Sydney
NSW 2000
Website: www.sakerestaurant.com.au
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1 comment:
i absolutely love the steamed prawn dumplings at sake!
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