FoodMeUpScotty: Saké Restaurant & Bar

http://www.sakerestaurant.com.au/brisbane

The Eagle Street precinct is awash with Hats and Stars from its many fine dining restaurants but only one of the restaurants in this little hub can lay the claim to operate in three states, with hats in in most. Saké restaurant initially opened up in Sydney in 2009 and quickly gained a reputation as one of Sydney's finest restaurants. Interestingly, Saké moved to Brisbane before Melbourne, and in 2010 the Saké opened at the top of the escalators in Eagle Street and has not looked back since.

Executive chef Shaun Presland has overseen the creation of Sake Brisbane, which this year saw the presentation of a coveted Brisbane Times Good Food Guide Chef's Hat. Run locally by Head Chef Shinichi Maeda, Saké Brisbane has a distinct local flavour that sets it apart from it's souther counterparts with regional produce used to deliver a very Brisbane feel to the restaurant.

The last time I was at Saké, I was on my own with SC in Sydney for work (and attending Quay Restaurant for dinner), so it was a solitary affair for me and I didn't get the full dining experience. This time, I was able to convince my mate 'Big Boy' to come along and share a lunch time experience between Christmas and New Year's. Try as I might, I could not convince the BB to go with the degustation, so we ended up ordering a la carte.

It would not be a visit to a Japanese restaurant if you did not partake in a little sashimi and this is exactly what the BB and I did to start. I went for a very traditional salmon (shake) sashimi, which came with 4 pieces of salmon from the tail. The salmon was extremely fresh and of a high grade sashimi, and was delicious when dipped in the soy sauce that was provided. There is not a lot to say about salmon sashimi, it's either good or not and this was very good. BB likes a bit of rice with his raw fish, so chose the nigiri sushi which simply put is thin slices of raw fish over rice. BB went for the scallops and the salmon which he very much enjoyed. The scallops and salmon were very fresh and also tasted great, but noticed that the BB left a lot of his rice in the soy sauce bowl, which is precisely why I don't like nigiri!

Onto entrees and I had a severe case of food envy when the BB's wagyu new-style thin slices of wagyu beef lightly seared with hot oil, finished with ginger, chives & yuzu soy was delivered. You could tell by looking at this dish that it was going to be spectacular. The wagyu was sliced incredibly thinly, so much so I can't really understand how it could be sliced so thin and retain its shape. I only got to eat a few bites of this but the portions that I sampled were incredible. The ginger and soy complimented each other so well and there was a little bit of heat coming from the combination. It was sweet and sticky as well, but you never lost the flavour of the wagyu itself. Just devine and the best thing we had all day.

My entree was a little more mundane and in hindsight I wish I had been a little more creative in my selection. Oh well... I opted for steamed prawn dumplings, six pieces of Chinese-inspired shumai with spicy ponzu. Where the BB's entree was light and delicate (and to be honest, not much to it) mine was quite heavy and plentiful. As far as dumplings go, they were probably about average but were really elevated by the spicy ponzu. It had all the elements you look for in an asian sauce, sweet, sour, salty and spicy and without this sauce, I would have been disappointed with my selection. As it turned out, two of the dumplings were out of balance with too much of a doughy texture, but the other four were well balanced and had nice prawn flavour. I ended up giving one of my dumplings to the BB for allowing me to try some of his wagyu and unfortunately for him, he picked one of the doughy dumplings.

Being a Big Boy at well over 6'5" the BB ordered an extra course which came out prior to our mains being delivered. He ordered the Sushi Maki (cut rolls) wakame kingfish, golden flying-fish roe, cucumber & wakame seaweed, served with dashi jelly. The sushi maki are like normal sushi rolls but in reverse, with the rice being on the outside and seaweed mixed with the filling on the inside. The ingredients were all super fresh with the kingfish providing a nice sweet flavour. The most interesting component on the plate was the jelly, which was very hard to eat with chopsticks. Asked to comment on this the BB said it was good, but not a 'home run'.

For main, I chose galantine of quail stuffed with yama-gobo & shiitake mushrooms, coated with orange-soy glaze served with pickled golden beetroot, which was a bit of Japanese fusion with distinct french influences. It was a very intricate and delicate dish and there was a high degree of technical excellence to produce this plate. Quail is such a small bird with subtle flavours, it would have been very easy to ruin the meal. As it turns out the chefs completed their wizardry and provided a well balanced quail dish that had bags of flavour from the stuffed mushrooms, but did not detract from the subtle yet gamey flavour of the quail. The quail was cooked a number of ways, with the 'drumsticks' getting the KFC treatment and providing some extra crunch for the plate. The sauce and accompaniments were cooked to perfection and overall this was a fantastic example of fusion cooking. My main problem was there was just not enough, with possibly the smallest quail ever used for my meal. Also, the timings for our meals were out with the BB almost finishing his meal before my plate was delivered

BB's main was a bit of a disappointment. He ordered yellowfin tuna medium-rare tuna belly, edamame & jalapeño purée, sautéed shiitake mushrooms, asparagus spears & nori dressing. It actually took us a while to confirm if it was the tuna or a plate was delivered in error. After confirming that it was in fact his tuna by cutting into the fish, we could tell immediately that it was over cooked. Tuna should have a nice sear on the outside, but the sear should not penetrate most of the way into the fish, which is what happened here. It's a shame really as the sauces and remainder of the the accompaniments were all first rate. We also suspected that the quality of the Tuna was not of the highest grade. Both of our previous experiences with grade one Tuna provided a much cleaner tasting fish. I guess if you want the highest grade, it probably costs quite a bit more!

The BB opted out of dessert but I was keen so ordered the very berry cheesecake with mixed berries, cinnamon dust and a mixed berry cumquat. Most of the cheesecakes I have ordered of late have been deconstructed concoctions that little resemble a cheesecake and was quite surprised to see a relatively normal looking cheesecake. There were layering of crumbly biscuit in between creamy and delicious cheesecake. The berry cumquat was interesting and added some tartness to the sweet cheesecake and texture was provided by a solid biscuit. Overall, not a bad cheesecake, but quite a small portion and I actually quite missed the more creative deconstructed cheesecakes that I have been sampling lately. Go figure!

There is a lot to like about Saké, on the whole the food was pretty consistent and there were some very tasty morsels. We couldn't fault the service from the wait staff, who were attentive and friendly However, there were a few things that could have been better. When we first came into the restaurant, we were greeted warmly with the traditional 'Irasshaimase', which was great, but then were taken to the worst table in the restaurant. This sucked as the place was practically empty and we had to ask for a better seat. Not cool. Also, the portion sizes were a little on the small side, so I left a little hungry. Finally, there were some minor issues with overcooking the Tuna in BB's main.

If you are looking for a lovely Japanese meal with a hip environment in Brisbane, then Saké is well worth the visit.

@FoodMeUpScotty