Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 21 and Version 8 of Saki, EC1A 9JX
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| Now closed; was a Japanese "bar and food emporium" opposite Smithfield Market. According to an email sent to the Saki mailing list on 27 May 2011, it was forced to close due to a drop-off in business following (untrue) rumours of radioactive-contaminated food after the Japanese earthquake. |
A Japanese "bar and food emporium" opposite Smithfield Market. Upstairs is a small shop selling various Japanese food items, and the basement is divided into a cocktail bar and a restaurant. |
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The information below is retained for people who want to know what it used to be like. |
The cocktail bar is small but pretty nice; all mirrors and leather and decent, not-too-loud music (I suspect it of being Japanese, since I couldn't understand any of the lyrics and I didn't recognise any of it, but I liked it --[[Kake]]). There are a few low sofa-like things, but most of the seating consists of tall barstools and tables. The cocktail menu is extensive and includes sake and shochu cocktails as well as twists on more standard offerings such as Bloody Mary. We really enjoyed the ones we ordered, and didn't feel they were too overpriced at £8-9 apiece. Bar snacks (kobachi) are available, but we had dinner reservations so didn't try them. (Note: they keep a tight rein on the cocktail menus - you get brought one when you sit down, and it's taken away again as soon as you order, so if you want another one you have to flag someone down again and ask for the menu back. lathos tells me that this is the way it works in Japan; if you want to keep the menu you have to explicitly say so.) |
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<div class="old_info"> A Japanese "bar and food emporium" opposite Smithfield Market. The ground floor is taken up with a small shop selling various Japanese kitchenware and food items, including a range of sakes, and the basement is divided into a cocktail bar and a restaurant. |
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[[Kake]] and [[doop]] visited in October 2007, and had the six-course kaiseki menu served at the sushi bar. The sushi chef was very chatty and friendly; we had a good discussion about Japanese and British ingredients, and we were very pleased that we chose to sit at the bar. A more extensive review of this visit is available [http://nou.livejournal.com/150547.html here]. |
[[Kake]] and [[doop]] visited on a Wednesday evening and sat at the sushi counter. There were a few people dining at the smaller tables, and another couple joined us at the counter a little later on. We had the six-course kaiseki with matched wines and sakes. The wine pairing was perhaps a mistake; it wasn't paced particularly well, with too much alcohol at the start of the meal and not enough at the end. |
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In May 2008, they introduced a strictly vegetarian (i.e. vegan) version of the kaiseki menu, having imported a specialist chef from Japan. [[Kake]], [[doop]], and [[Juliet]] tried this out in June 2008 and were very impressed. Kake, being not even an actual vegan, would have trouble choosing between this and the omnivorous version we had last time. Choice of ingredients, cooking methods, and presentation were all well-varied, and spot-on. It was probably the best vegan meal I've ever eaten, and that is not intended as faint praise. The only possible niggle is that the front-of-house guy was <i>very</i> enthusiastic, to the point of quizzing us on every course to see if we'd identified the ingredients; although we were OK with this, it might well grate on some. |
The food was very good though. The first course was half-cooked lobster with mizuna in a tasty sesame sauce. We were both very keen on the second course of seared salmon slices wrapped around marinaded raw onion and served with a thin green chilli sauce. Tempura was third; I am never very excited by tempura, so I'm not the right person to comment on this course. Salmon teriyaki followed this; the sushi chef said we could have rice with this if we wanted, but he didn't recommend this since the sushi course was next, and so we followed his advice. The fifth course comprised chotoro, yellowtail, and prawn nigiri, and inside-out rolls with shiso leaf. We were positively encouraged to eat the nigiri with our hands; the waitstaff brought round warm handwipes in advance, and the chef recommended we use fingers instead of chopsticks. The rice portions on the nigiri were smaller than I've had anywhere else, which I was pleased about in the context of the multi-course meal, and the fish portion was in proportion to the rice. The final course was ice cream (green tea flavour, I think), and a small portion of cake, which doop was very pleased with. |
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The vegan kaiseki menu is only available in the evening, and you need to give 24 hours' notice if you want it. If you're vegan, you <i>do</i> want it. |
Service was patchy and sometimes slightly awkward. One of my wine glasses was removed before I'd finished drinking from it, and doop's dessert plate was whipped away just as I was about to transfer my portion of cake to it. Overall, I did feel as though we were rushed through the meal slightly. |
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The cocktail bar is small but pretty nice; all mirrors and black leather and decent, not-too-loud music. There are a few low sofa-like things, but most of the seating consists of tall barstools and tables. The cocktail menu is extensive, with a "cocktail of the month" available each month, and includes sake and shochu cocktails as well as twists on more standard offerings such as Bloody Mary. [[Kake]], [[doop]], [[Juliet]], and [[Kat]] have tried various ones on a few occasions in 2007-2008 and been very pleased - and we didn't feel they were too overpriced at £8-9 apiece. |
The sushi chef was very chatty and friendly though, and sitting at the sushi counter was definitely a good choice. (Note that the chef at the time of our visit, chef Saotome, is leaving to open his own restaurant in China very very soon, so if you visit after October 2007 then you will have someone else.) |
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Bar snacks (kobachi) are available; the edamame that [[Kake]] and [[Juliet]] tried in June 2008 were just right; Juliet was particularly pleased that they used good salt. [[Kake]] and [[Kat]] spent the evening in the cocktail bar in September 2008, and tried a selection of the other bar snacks too. It was a little tricky to actually get someone to take our order for these after the first round, so we wouldn't recommend this as an evening's sustenance; it's more something to take the edge off before you go for a proper meal. We were the only people in the bar for much of the evening, though it was early in the week. [[Kake]] has never seen the bar crowded. |
(I suppose I should mention that they have paperless toilets, since a good number of reviews on the interweb seem to be obsessed by this aspect. Personally I was more excited by the turbo-charged hand dryer.) |
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Note that they keep a tight rein on the cocktail menus - you get brought one when you sit down, and it's taken away again as soon as you order, so if you want another one you have to flag someone down again and ask for the menu back. lathos tells [[Kake]] that this is the way it works in Japan; if you want to keep the menu you have to explicitly say so. |
As of May 2008 they offer a six-course strict vegetarian (i.e. vegan) kaiseki menu, but it's only available in the evening and you do need to give 24 hours' notice if you want it. |
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* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070621085128/http://www.timeout.com:80/london/restaurants/reviews/8905.html Time Out review] * [https://www.chowhound.com/post/saki-london-sushi-sake-lovers-433581 Chowhound thread] * [https://www.chowhound.com/post/saki-clerkenwell-london-574405 Another Chowhound thread] * [http://web.archive.org/web/20090606052539/http://www.gastronomydomine.com:80/2008/03/saki-london-ec1.html Gastronomy Domine review] * [https://www.andyhayler.com/restaurant/saki Andy Hayler's review] |
* [http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/8905.html Time Out review] * [http://www.chowhound.com/topics/433581 Chowhound thread] * [http://www.london-eating.co.uk/6927.htm London Eating comments] * [http://www.gastronomydomine.com/2008/03/saki-london-ec1.html Gastronomy Domine review] |
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<div class="last_verified">Last visited by [[Kake]] and [[Kat]], September 2008.</div> </div> |
<div class="last_verified">Last visited by [[Kake]] and [[doop]], 24 October 2007.</div> |
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category='Featured Article,Now Closed' edit_type='Minor tidying' |
category='Bars,Cocktails,Featured Article,Interesting Food Shops,Japanese Food,Restaurants,Sushi' edit_type='Normal edit' |
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formatted_website_text='' host='81.187.166.218' hours_text='' major_change='0' |
formatted_website_text='http://www.saki-food.com/
' host='213.165.225.132' hours_text='Not sure; the hours on the website may be out of date. The shop closes at 7pm, for example.' latitude='51.517789' locale='EC1,Farringdon,Smithfields' longitude='-0.101020' major_change='1' |
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opening_hours_text='' phone='' postcode='' summary='Now closed; was a Japanese restaurant, bar, and food shop opposite Smithfield Market.' website='' website='http://www.saki-food.com/' |
opening_hours_text='Not sure; the hours on the website may be out of date. The shop closes at 7pm, for example.' os_x='531744' os_y='181637' phone='020 7489 7033' postcode='EC1A 9JX' website='' summary='Japanese restaurant, bar, and food shop opposite Smithfield Market.' website='http://www.saki-food.com/' |
A Japanese "bar and food emporium" opposite Smithfield Market. Upstairs is a small shop selling various Japanese food items, and the basement is divided into a cocktail bar and a restaurant.
The cocktail bar is small but pretty nice; all mirrors and leather and decent, not-too-loud music (I suspect it of being Japanese, since I couldn't understand any of the lyrics and I didn't recognise any of it, but I liked it --Kake). There are a few low sofa-like things, but most of the seating consists of tall barstools and tables. The cocktail menu is extensive and includes sake and shochu cocktails as well as twists on more standard offerings such as Bloody Mary. We really enjoyed the ones we ordered, and didn't feel they were too overpriced at £8-9 apiece. Bar snacks (kobachi) are available, but we had dinner reservations so didn't try them. (Note: they keep a tight rein on the cocktail menus - you get brought one when you sit down, and it's taken away again as soon as you order, so if you want another one you have to flag someone down again and ask for the menu back. lathos tells me that this is the way it works in Japan; if you want to keep the menu you have to explicitly say so.)
The restaurant side has a sushi counter, a large black marble communal table, and a number of smaller tables, one (at least) of them in a partly screened off area for extra privacy. It's quite elegant without being overdone.
Kake and doop visited on a Wednesday evening and sat at the sushi counter. There were a few people dining at the smaller tables, and another couple joined us at the counter a little later on. We had the six-course kaiseki with matched wines and sakes. The wine pairing was perhaps a mistake; it wasn't paced particularly well, with too much alcohol at the start of the meal and not enough at the end.
The food was very good though. The first course was half-cooked lobster with mizuna in a tasty sesame sauce. We were both very keen on the second course of seared salmon slices wrapped around marinaded raw onion and served with a thin green chilli sauce. Tempura was third; I am never very excited by tempura, so I'm not the right person to comment on this course. Salmon teriyaki followed this; the sushi chef said we could have rice with this if we wanted, but he didn't recommend this since the sushi course was next, and so we followed his advice. The fifth course comprised chotoro, yellowtail, and prawn nigiri, and inside-out rolls with shiso leaf. We were positively encouraged to eat the nigiri with our hands; the waitstaff brought round warm handwipes in advance, and the chef recommended we use fingers instead of chopsticks. The rice portions on the nigiri were smaller than I've had anywhere else, which I was pleased about in the context of the multi-course meal, and the fish portion was in proportion to the rice. The final course was ice cream (green tea flavour, I think), and a small portion of cake, which doop was very pleased with.
Service was patchy and sometimes slightly awkward. One of my wine glasses was removed before I'd finished drinking from it, and doop's dessert plate was whipped away just as I was about to transfer my portion of cake to it. Overall, I did feel as though we were rushed through the meal slightly.
The sushi chef was very chatty and friendly though, and sitting at the sushi counter was definitely a good choice. (Note that the chef at the time of our visit, chef Saotome, is leaving to open his own restaurant in China very very soon, so if you visit after October 2007 then you will have someone else.)
(I suppose I should mention that they have paperless toilets, since a good number of reviews on the interweb seem to be obsessed by this aspect. Personally I was more excited by the turbo-charged hand dryer.)
As of May 2008 they offer a six-course strict vegetarian (i.e. vegan) kaiseki menu, but it's only available in the evening and you do need to give 24 hours' notice if you want it.
See also:
List all versions