Sake No Hana

Restaurants, Japanese St James'
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Sake No Hana

As you’d expect from the Hakkasan restaurant group, Sake No Hana is well designed and has slick service: a combination that means the striking yet serene dining room plays host to many a business lunch from the Economist’s offices round the corner. On a midweek lunchtime visit there were also a number of well-heeled families enjoying the range of contemporary Japanese dishes.

A four-course ‘Taste of Sake No Hana’ (£29) proved a filling meal, with miso soup, a choice of sukiyaki, tempura or grilled dish, a handful of sushi and a dessert. Arriving sizzling at the table, its earthenware cloche still in place, our tofu toban-yaki came with a pleasingly tangy ponzu dressing and slices of shiitake and eringi mushroom on the side. A coating of tempura batter pieces added interest to an avocado and red pepper inside-out roll; and a selection of ice-cream mochi wedges, presented in a circle like the petals of a flower, rounded off the meal well.

There’s also plenty for wine and saké buffs to get stuck into. Don’t forget to glance upwards while you’re dining; the sculptural wood slating above your head definitely deserves a look.

 

Posted:

Venue name: Sake No Hana
Contact:
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Address: 23 St James's Street
London
SW1A 1HA
Opening hours: Lunch served noon-3pm Mon-Fri; noon-4pm Sat. Dinner served 6-11pm Mon-Thur; 6-11.30pm Fri, Sat
Transport: Tube: Green Park
Price: Main courses £4-£37. Set meal £30-£65. Set brunch (Sat) £38.50 (£35 vegetarian).
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Average User Rating

2.8 / 5

Rating Breakdown

  • 5 star:2
  • 4 star:1
  • 3 star:0
  • 2 star:3
  • 1 star:2
LiveReviews|9
2 people listening
tastemaker

Sake no Hana never disappoints, with its friendly attentive service, yummy cocktails and delightful tasting menu. Eat your way through miso soup, crispy tempura prawns, sushi and for mains, you get a choice of salmon, chicken or tofu. The mains whilst on the smaller side were very tasty but I do recommend getting a side of rice. An enjoyable evening celebrating friendships and birthdays.

Tastemakertastemaker

Has a lovely busy but not hectic atmosphere. Very stylish high end restaurant with a great selection into japanese cuisine. Friendly staff and very helpful. We had to book a time slot from 8.30-10pm but they accommadated us for an extra 20mins when we ran over 10pm. Very adventurous exciting cocktails. My fave dish was the Black Cod!

tastemaker

For a set menu dinner, the dishes were nice but unadventurous. The staff are pretty strict with their timings, which means that next course is brought out before you have time to finish the last course - no hanging about. The entrance feels exclusive with an escalator up to the dining area, but the toilets are in the basement which don't seem like the best idea. For where the restaurant is located, the price suites it, but this is mostly style over substance.


Over-hyped. All of the food is lacking the delicate details and touches Japanese food embraces. Starting from the overly salty Miso soup, a quarter way through my palette was already dry and pasty.  Moving on to the tuna sashimi, several pieces had thick tendons which show the lack of attention that is being given to the selection of fish being used and how the fish is being prepared. The temperature of the sashimi is not controlled well, especially for the cost of the dishes.  But worst of all my plate of hamachi sashimi was generously covered with a house made sauce and garnishes, this masked the natural flavors of the fish and its freshness. I'm not going to mention the sorbet palette cleanser and the dish it leads into. Unnecessary. 


Dessert was decent, nothing spectacular. 


I leave with saying that guests are paying for the ambiance, location, and brand. With all the media hype aside, take a look at the value and quality and compare options available. Their website exclaims "modern authentic Japanese". This opinion is far from authentic if authentic takes on the notion of respecting tradition. I consider the experience closer to a Japanese bistro with sushi on the side. If you are in search of delicate and carefully selected fish, I would carefully reconsider. 


Service was fine, which is wheref two stars is from. 


Had a great time at Sake No Hana - the signature tasting menu was mostly fabulous with a few dishes that weren't full to our taste. The service was brilliant, I don't recognise the feedback from other reviewers one bit. Will definitely go again sometime!


Poor service, very mediocre food. Miso soup tasted of MSG, from a packet, horrible 'dumplings' floating in it. Tofu pieces in the 'hotpot' were coated in gloopy cornstarch that had started to solidify. Sushi did not taste freshly made, the rice very compacted, fillings uninspired (avocado and red pepper, salmon and avocado). Tempura was heavy and greasy. Service unhelpful, and rather brusque. Very poor value for money, there are much better Japanese restaurants in London.


Appalling place: booked a table for 8.30pm at 9.20pm it was still not ready. The chubby redhead non English speaking hostess was rude and not remotely apologetic - never again


Fabulous lunch, sumptuous flavours and textures, attentive discrete service, what amazing Sake! Very highly recommended.


No mention of our star deal so we just ordered off the menu. Same dish came twice which we had to send back. Our 3rd dish was the wrong one and we were told that the dish we ordered would take another 30 mins to prepare, it was 10.45pm by this time! No apology was given or any suggestion made as to an alternative. We had 3 different waiters serving our table who seemed new and confused, one had to come back and reconfirm our order twice. Poor service and ambience, food was average. Would not recommend, cant believe it is part of Hakkasan.

Special Offers

Umai Sushi Saturday: 7 courses & cocktail + half bottle champagne: £49

7 courses Saturday lunch with complimentary cocktail & half bottle champagne for £49 per person. Vegetarian option available at £42. Terms and Conditions: Maximum of 7 diners. Includes VAT, excludes service. Valid For: 2 - 7 People Sat 12:00PM-3:00PM

Offer valid until Aug 20 2018

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