Add: 23 St James's Street, London SW1A 1LP
Tel: 020 7925 8988
Website: http://www.sakenohana.com/
Life is good when you have friends keeping a lookout on Toptable website and inviting you along whenever they spot any good dining deals :)
Very lucky to have made it for this one (thanks to Sherryn!): 50% discount off all food and this opening promotion is going to be over at the end of this month. Created by Alan Yau (again), London's most famous restaurateur, Sake No Hana means "Flower of Sake". They do have a long list of Japanese sake (which explains the name) and shochu.
I like the ambience of the place. It has a huge full length window which reaches high up to the tall ceiling, with vertical panels of shades that allow a good amount of sunshine through. We had the rare pleasure of a sunny London weather during lunch, so the whole restaurant looked bright and cheery! Wonder how the ambience would be at night...
We each ordered a Bento Lunch Box (there are 6 to choose from, priced between £25 to £30) which was nicely presented. Lorel had brought along her nikon DSLR camera in anticipation of this. However, after taking one shot, she was informed by the server that photography was not allowed in the restaurant, sigh. The main course in the bento didn't excite us as much though. I had the Sashimi Bento of which the sashimi was fresh but not of a good cut. ST also commented that the grilled rib eye beef in her Beef Bento was quite tough. Fortunately, the Zensai in the bento was good and managed to fill us up pretty well! Not sure what Zensai means, but it's served as an assortment of bite-sized veg (mostly) cooked in various styles.
The items on the ala carte menu fared better. Everyone at the table enjoyed the scallops (5 big pieces!) stir-fried with spinach in yuzu sauce. Grilled miso chilean seabass was good as well though I think cod fish would be better suited for this recipe. King crab gratin was a miss with too much mayonnaise that masked up the otherwise excellent flesh from the crab. Another disappointment was the braised unagi (eel) with egg. A seemingly easy dish that is widely available and popular in Japanese restaurants in Singapore, I was surprised at how plain and unimpressive this dish had turned out here. Hmmm, Sherryn even commented that it tasted very much like Chinese cooking.
Another note: this is one of those places which serve Japanese green tea by the really small pot (£3) and it's not refillable. (Unlike other Japanese restaurants that charge green tea per head and would frequently top up your cup!) Thankfully the bill came up to only £25 per person (cheers to the 50% discount!). In summary, not a single dish had left a deep impression in me. Not likely to re-visit this place if there's no discount (would rather pay more to dine at Zuma!).
Tel: 020 7925 8988
Website: http://www.sakenohana.com/
Life is good when you have friends keeping a lookout on Toptable website and inviting you along whenever they spot any good dining deals :)
Very lucky to have made it for this one (thanks to Sherryn!): 50% discount off all food and this opening promotion is going to be over at the end of this month. Created by Alan Yau (again), London's most famous restaurateur, Sake No Hana means "Flower of Sake". They do have a long list of Japanese sake (which explains the name) and shochu.
I like the ambience of the place. It has a huge full length window which reaches high up to the tall ceiling, with vertical panels of shades that allow a good amount of sunshine through. We had the rare pleasure of a sunny London weather during lunch, so the whole restaurant looked bright and cheery! Wonder how the ambience would be at night...
We each ordered a Bento Lunch Box (there are 6 to choose from, priced between £25 to £30) which was nicely presented. Lorel had brought along her nikon DSLR camera in anticipation of this. However, after taking one shot, she was informed by the server that photography was not allowed in the restaurant, sigh. The main course in the bento didn't excite us as much though. I had the Sashimi Bento of which the sashimi was fresh but not of a good cut. ST also commented that the grilled rib eye beef in her Beef Bento was quite tough. Fortunately, the Zensai in the bento was good and managed to fill us up pretty well! Not sure what Zensai means, but it's served as an assortment of bite-sized veg (mostly) cooked in various styles.
The items on the ala carte menu fared better. Everyone at the table enjoyed the scallops (5 big pieces!) stir-fried with spinach in yuzu sauce. Grilled miso chilean seabass was good as well though I think cod fish would be better suited for this recipe. King crab gratin was a miss with too much mayonnaise that masked up the otherwise excellent flesh from the crab. Another disappointment was the braised unagi (eel) with egg. A seemingly easy dish that is widely available and popular in Japanese restaurants in Singapore, I was surprised at how plain and unimpressive this dish had turned out here. Hmmm, Sherryn even commented that it tasted very much like Chinese cooking.
Another note: this is one of those places which serve Japanese green tea by the really small pot (£3) and it's not refillable. (Unlike other Japanese restaurants that charge green tea per head and would frequently top up your cup!) Thankfully the bill came up to only £25 per person (cheers to the 50% discount!). In summary, not a single dish had left a deep impression in me. Not likely to re-visit this place if there's no discount (would rather pay more to dine at Zuma!).
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