Sake is a beverage I have tried a couple of times previously and have never been a huge fan. I mean it tastes ok, but until now it was never really my thing.
So as I am heading into the new Wagamama Southgate at Southbank, I was very sceptical as to what to expect, would I get my past experiences all over again, or will this open my eyes a little bit more.
I was greeted on the balcony with this standout cocktail, now if I wasn’t told this was sake based, I would have known the difference between this and a vodka based cocktail. It was sweet with lychee flavours and some peach hints throughout.
As I mingled, I found myself being more and more intrigued with the degustation menu that shall accompany tonight’s sake masterclass. Although my thoughts are with the sake, my heart is always with the food.
As we were seated, we began with this delicate sparkling sake, – Kizakura hoshinonagarea happo sparkling junmai -and being only 6.5% alcohol, I could see this as the mid-late morning starter. Again with some hints of lychee, it was sweet enough to replace the bottle of bubbles in the fridge door. This was served with a salmon wonton, and I found the combination as expected, there was this cocktail party element to this combination.
We moved into the next two styles of sake, the Tateyama junmai gingo and Seikyo junmai gingo omachi from the coastal regions. These tend to be stronger, cleaner and crisper being coastal. I found these styles to be slightly fruity but still with a hint of the apple, as the fermentation of these styles is generally made with a yeast made from the apple skin. The prawn and yasai skewers were delicate and a great representation of this region.
As we journeyed into the mountain’s of Japan, we were presented with Asabiraki namburyu tezukuri daigingo and the Ranman tokusen gingo. The flavours of these sake’s became stronger, with a fuller body and definitely a lot sweeter. This is exactly what I was hoping for tonight, a sake that would change my thoughts on styles, food combinations and sake’s that I can just drink. Combining this with the chilli squid, tori kara age and some steamed yasai gyoza was again perfectly matched by head chef Scott Davis.
Being described as a male and a female sake, these two sake’s, Tatsurki tokubetsu junmai yamadanishiki being the male sake as it was strong and dry, whilst the female sake Kizakura yamahai jikomi is soft and sweet. I was at this stage getting a little concerned that my liking for sake will have a profound affect on my dining and drinking choices in the near future. Having a beef teryaki and a spicy itame with these sake’s delicately enhanced this sake from the Kobe regoin.
Next on the travels was a premium sake, using barley to distill this sake, it resembled a fine smooth scotch. With an alcohol percentage of 25%, it would be one for later in the evening when looking for a sipper on the couch. The yaki soba was a fine choice to compliment to this astonishing sake.
When selecting your final choices for a degustation, it is important to select those that will reflect your evening, have a lasting impact, and most importantly get you back into a venue for more. So I was literally ecstatic when the green tea ice-cream sandwich and black sesame ice-cream was placed down in front of me. It looked amazing and tasted sublime. I was then given a glass of what I would describe as sensation on ice. This sweet plum liqueur was fruity, sweet and being aged for 12 months, it was well-balanced and smooth. This combined with my ice-cream choices was just brilliant.
A couple of things that I can take away from this evening was that sake is a term used for all/any alcoholic beverages in Japan, not just rice wine. Sake is a drink for all occasions and all times of the day, and finally that I LOVE SAKE!
Well done to the whole team at Wagamama, FireworksPR and finally Toshi Maeda the Sake Master. I look forward to getting into Wagamama again real soon for some more delicacies.
ramblingrelish 