Restaurants

Linuma Honke saké brewery, Japan

As I learnt at the Iinuma Honke brewery, the quality of saké depends on many factors, but the main one is how ‘polished’ the rice is – ie how much of the coarse outer layer of the uncooked rice is mechanically ground off before the rice is steamed. Cheap saké (futsu shu) has only one-quarter of the outer grain taken off; premium sakés (which tend to have the phrase ‘ginjo’ somewhere in the name) have as much as three-quarters; these typically cost about the same as a good bottle of wine. In Japan, saké is drunk in a great variety of shapes and designs of cup, chosen for their looks, but to get the full benefit of the aroma it is best drunk in a Western-style tulip-shaped wine glass, which concentrates the aromas around the rim.
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The UK's first saké sommelier, Sayaka Watanabe

Though most gaijin (non-Japanese) are used to drinking saké warm, to appreciate the complex flavours of a premium saké it is best served cold, ideally 12 oC (so rather like the difference between drinking mulled and chilled wine). ‘Warm sakés tend to be the poorer grades,’ says Morgan Selva, manager of Japanese restaurant Sumosan. ‘We serve three warm sakés and even flavoured sakés [an innovation too far for most purists, and usually made in London rather than Japan] because there is such demand for them, but our saké sommelier, Jean-Louis Naveilhan, tries to encourage people towards the better quality chilled sakés, served in proper wine tasting glasses. We have around 30 of these, and people tend to pay the same amount as they might for a great bottle of wine: typically £22-£45 per bottle.’

Though saké is most typically paired with Japanese dishes, pan-oriental restaurant Gilgamesh is also exploring the trend. The restaurant uses a lot of the strong south-east Asian flavours not found in Japanese food, but stocks 32 sakés, typically selling 20-30 bottles a week. How successful a pairing it makes is debatable as saké has a very delicate flavour, which can be destroyed by strong flavours, such as chilli.

The new Mizu bar at Yakitoria

Why the surge of interest in saké? It could be the boom in Japanese food (if a food becomes popular, the drink usually follows), helped by successful marketing by new British saké importer iSake (which has created its own saké labels as well as importing other brands), making the drink seem more accessible.

Though saké drinking is on the increase in London, sales in Japan are in steady decline. Japanese-brewed lager is seen as more ‘modern’, while the vodka-like Japanese spirit shochu is the preferred ‘cool’ drink of young Japanese. Or maybe they just don’t like wearing paper samurai hats.