Sake Restaurant & Bar- The Rocks, Sydney

The first time Cheesecake Boy and I dined at Sake Restaurant & Bar it was one of our date nights and we ended up being rather tipsy after our meal.  Sometimes good law abiding citizens need to let their hair down too, but the problem was that Cheesecake Boy was the designated driver.  However, Cheesecake Boy came up with one of his ideas when he noticed the police station as we were walking back to his car.  Cheesecake Boy decided to ask the police officer to give him a breath test to determine if he was fine to drive home.  The police officer informed us that we were not the first to ask, but they were not allowed to perform the test under the circumstances.  This is how Cheesecake Boy and I ended up taking a nap in our car before heading home.

We really enjoyed our first visit, but wondered if our tipsiness contributed to heightening the experience that we had.  Since then we have been back to Sake Restaurant numerous times and we can confidently say that our initial experience was no fluke.  Sake Restaurant is home to our favourite sashimi in Sydney, and  as sashimi is one of Cheesecake Boy's favourite foods.  This is how we ended up here last Friday to celebrate  the end of the EOFY, but more importantly to kick start Cheesecake Boy's birthday weekend celebrations.  It was meant to be a surprise visit, but Cheesecake Boy can read me like a book at times.

We started off with drinks as usual.  I was in love with the Astro Boy cocktail here, but they no longer offer the Astro Boy anymore.  I thought my Satsuma Samura with  the house peach infused sake, mandarine Napoleon liqueur and Cloudy Bay Pelorus Vintage sparkling wine, was a great replacement.  Our fantastic waiter that night asked if I wanted to add a sparkling sugar cube in my cocktail too, and why not.  The sparkling sugar cube, fizzed away in my cocktail and added to the fun of my delightfully sweet and fruity concoction.  

Satsuma samurai (served straight up), $16

Cheesecake Boy ordered a Kirin beer, and he thought it was a good beer.  We also ordered a 250ml cafare of Yuho Junmai Mioya Ishikawa sake ($30), upon our waiter's recommendation.  However, we got carried away with enjoying our drinks that I overlooked taking a photo of our sake.  The sake was described as having subtle notes of apples, pears and cherry blossom with a woody, malty finish.  We found the sake to be wonderfully smooth and definitely had a malty aftertaste, it went down perhaps too easily.

Kirin beer, $9

Our must order of sashimi combo arrived first.  Cheesecake Boy and I really adore the sashimi here, and this combo is our favourite in Sydney.  After our first visit we thought we had been dreaming as we found the sashimi to be too fresh in a surreal way, but our second visit confirmed our dreams and the sashimi here is definitely that melt in your mouth kind without fail each time.

Seven different kinds of stunning sashimi are offered with the sashimi combo that consisted of salmon, mackerel, bonito, squid, kingfish, scallop and tuna.  I loved them all, but am partial to the mackerel and bonito sashimi.  If you truly love sashimi though, then you can't go pass the sashimi combo here.

Sashimi combo (18 pieces), $47

We ordered the scampi miso to keep us warm.  I was surprised with the whole scampi looking at me,  I have this thing against my food looking at me.  However, I found the little critter to be quite cute after a while, but was won over by its beautifully sweet flesh.  The scampi, daikon and spring onions in the broth was lovely, and the slightly lemon flavour of the sansho pepper really lifted the scampi miso soup.

Scampi miso, $13

The one sore point with Sake Restaurant for Cheesecake Boy and I is that we always feel underwhelmed after eating the sushi here.  However, we keep trying in case we hit the jackpot.  We have our fingers crossed that perhaps the spider maki and kingfish double crunch are going to strike gold with our taste buds.  I will admit that when our platter of sushi was served we were disappointed, as the sushi rolls seemed smaller and not as visually inspiring as per usual. 

Our platter of spider maki and kingfish double crunch

The spider maki with soft-shell crab, cucumber and mayonnaise was topped with tobiko and chives.  The soft-shell crab was nice and crispy, but to us it tasted like a fairly standard soft shell crab sushi roll, with the exception of the tiny fish roe and chive topping.

Spider maki, $18

We thought that the kingfish double crunch sounded different as it consisted of kingfish, jalapeno mayo, corriander, cucumber, tempura crunch (both inside and out side) that is topped with a sprinkling of sweet soy and spicy masago.  However, we found that all the ingredients overpowered the delicate kingfish.  I enjoyed the crunchiness of the tempura bits and the generous addition of the spicy fish roe was something new to me.

Kingfish double crunch, $15

We would usually order the popcorn shrimp main, which is Cheesecake Boy's favourite.  However, we wanted to try something different and leave room for dessert, so we decided to try some of the kushiyaki.  The kushiyaki are accompanied by either a choice of teriyaki or spicy anticucho sauce.  Cheesecake Boy and I heard spicy and went with the spicy anticucho sauce for our kushiyaki.  The grilled chicken and pork belly skewers were both wonderfully succulent and tender.  We loved the slightly spicy and citrus notes of the anticucho sauce. 

Chicken kushiyaki with spicy anticucho sauce, $10

Pork belly kushiyaki with spicy antisusho sauce, $10

Dessert menu

While we were waiting for our dessert we ordered some genmaicha, which is a green tea  blended with roasted brown rice tea.  Now, I usually don't like genmaicha as some blends include puff rice that gives the tea a popcorn flavour, which I truly detest.  However, this  blend of genmaicha was an exception due to the subtlety, and was lovely and comforting.

Genmaicha, $4

Now I couldn't go pass the obento box dessert, as I loved the idea of sampling different little morsels.  Even better is that this dessert was definitely perfect for sharing. 

Dessert bento box, $22

The chocolate cupcake had the texture of a fondant without the oozing chocolate centre.  I thought the Nashi pear gyoza was going to be my favourite, but it wasn't.  The gyoza was crisp and had a lovely soft and chunky Nashi pear filling, but we found that the passion fruit dipping sauce was not a good accompaniment for the gyoza and were much nicer simply plain.  The passion fruit dipping sauce on its own was lovely and sharp though.  To my surprise the green tea flavoured sticks filled with apple mousse was my favourite.  I loved the subtle hint of green tea of the crunchy matcha sticks with the sharp apple tones of the light as air mousse.  The addition of the apple fairy floss on top of the matcha sticks was wonderfully playful.

Nashi pear gyoza with passion fruit dipping sauce, chocolate cupcake and matcha apple mousse sticks

Cheesecake Boy loved the yuzu sorbet.  The sharp citrus notes of the sorbet was cleansing and beautifully refreshing.  It was the perfect end to our meal.

Yuzu sorbet

It was another enjoyable evening at Sake Restaurant & Bar.  We'll always come back for the sashimi combo and their huge range of sake.  There are definitely some hits and misses, but the fun vibe and attentive and friendly staff always brings us back.  Don't worry we learnt our lesson, and hailed a taxi home that night.

Dining away, Dumpling Girl.


Sake Restaurant & Bar
12 Argyle Street
The Rocks NSW 2000
Ph: (02) 9259 5656
http://www.sakerestaurant.com.au/