Sake. The hatted restaurant kind.

August 13, 2012

Last year when I finished university, Boyfriend took me to Sake Restaurant in the Rocks to celebrate the end of FIVE LONG YEARS.

Sake is a gorgeous restaurant, both in terms of decor and food.

The interior is dark with timber tables and heavy timber beams and bright coloured orchids and Japanese adornments on the walls.

The menu is extensive and we set out to try as much as possible.

If there’s one thing I’m a sucker for, it’s cheese. This might sound strange at a Japanese restaurant but Italian cheese Japanese style is something everyone should try at least once. The bocconcini tempura – “crunchy tempura cheese slices with reduced balsamic, lemon & salt” ($10) was ridiculously delicious. I can still taste it all these months later. It was that good.

I’m a big seafood fan and unfortunately don’t get to eat as much of it as I would like (aside from the usual fish, prawns and calamari). So I jumped at the chance to try bugs and to eat one of my favourite shellfish, scampi.

We had scampi miso soup which was miso soup with “whole scampi, daikon, spring onion & sansho pepper” ($13). I’m a big fan of miso and bigger fan of scampi, so this was a no brainer.

The bugs were salt and pepper bug tails “tossed in salt & pepper seasoning with a side of yuzu pepper mayonnaise & lime squeeze” ($36). Oh, yeah.

Something else, I can’t go past is dumplings. We ordered the steamed prawn dumplings ($17). What we received was six pieces of Chinese-inspired goodness, or according to the Sake menu “6 pieces of Chinese-inspired shumai with spicy ponzu” . Which is the same thing really.

We couldn’t go to a Japanese restaurant without sampling their sushi, so we also tried the spider maki. The spider maki was filled with “fried soft-shell crab, cucumber & mayo with spicy tobiko and chives” ($18).

I’m not a giant fan of raw fish (yet) so we didn’t sample any of their sashimi.

For dessert we indulged in a chocolate fondant with sesame ice-cream & black sesame tuile ($15).

All in all, we were very happy with our dining experience at Sake. The bill wasn’t too staggering, especially considering Sake is a hatted restaurant located in the Rocks.

Would I go again? Are you offering? Yes, please.