The Sake Place @ Plaza Arkadia
Sake is something I will always order when dining in an izakaya. I bet many do this too (besides beer and highballs). Aside from raising the glass filled with sake, shout Kanpai and drink along with the gang, do you know that there are many types of sake (nihon-shu) in the market and each of them has its own profile and characteristic?! All these while, my sake dictionary is limited to junmai-shu, ginjo-shu, daiginjo-shu, honjozo-shu, nama zake (my favourite!!!), nigori… little did I know, there are more such as genshu, koshu…..!!! Thanks to Mr Danny for the invitation and sharing, this session has stimulated my interest in learning more about them in depth!
The Sake Place
Is the house of sake, with more than 80 types of finely selected sake by Mr Danny, who is one of the first eight Master Sake Sommelier in the world. He sets his foot here in this charming cosy place, determines to create a special dining experience with sake, educate and share the art and culture about sake.
Mr Danny also ensures, there are more types of sake (and maybe rare one?) coming into the house so that sake enthusiasts get to enjoy and taste the variety of sake without flying out from our home country!
To all the fellow sake lovers, this gotta be the place for you, to learn about sake pairing, study about sake in detail and its characteristic. There is this mini museum on the second floor where you can understand more about the making of sake, the polishing ratio, factors that take into account to brew sake. Mr Danny leaded us to his mini museum, and explained them to us!
There is also a personal collection of sake cup being featured here. These cups are really beautiful! Do you know that the design, shape, material of sake cup can bring out sake’s characteristic too?
Food wise, you will find a medley of Asian and western flavours on the menu. You will be surprised with the local flavours too such as Assam Laksa in the menu. I once had the sake pairing with Chinese food , but pairing with Assam Laksa this round… Pretty interesting huh?
The Sake Place offers Sake Tasting Flight every month where you get to taste the differences in each flight’s combination! If you are not sure which sake goes best with the food you ordered, you can always ask for recommendation, they are more than happy to recommend based on your preferences and budget too. Also, feel free to pop questions over Mr Danny, anything about sake and food pairing!
Ice Vegetable topped with Strawberries, Pinenuts & drizzled with Yuzu (Rm 22)
A refreshing start with crispy icy ice vegetables; paired with citrusy sauce and finished with nutty nuts. Love this veg, it has a natural frosty outlook that is very crunchy and juicy.
Baby Octopus marinated in Tahini and Chinese Pickles (Rm 22)
Lightly Torched Mackerel (Rm 15)
Oh my favourite izakaya delights! It was aromatic, citrusy with a squeeze of lemon. It recalled the memory of my izakaya adventure last summer in Japan!
Salmon Smoked in Cherry Blossom Wood Chips & served with Quail Egg Dips (Rm 26)
Gourmet Sausage
Mr Danny paired the gourmet sausage with the warm up version of 萬歳楽 剱 山廃純米 Manzairaku Tsurugi Yamahai Junmai for us. It brought out a lot more beefy flavour of the gourmet sausage after taking a sip on this sake than having the sausage on its own. So yum!
Assam Laksa Glass Noodles with a twist (Rm 28)
Assam Laksa + glass noodles, what a combination! Loaded with generous seafood toppings, each strand of glass noodles has adsorbed the spicy and tangy assam laksa broth.
Pairing with Zaku Miyabi-No-Tomo Nakadori from Mie Prefecture, a type of junmai daiginjo. I found it flowery on the nose, addictive scent that I kept sniffing on. This pairing hit straight on my palate and brought out the burning spicy level. As I find it too spicy (but my brother loves it), Mr Danny brought over another sake, Toko Dewa-no-Sato Junmai Ginjo Genshu, from Yamagata Prefecture, which I found myself liking this pairing.
Fried Akita Komachi Rice with Scallop (Rm 29)
We ended our meal with this hot-piping delicious fried rice made with rice grain from Akita Prefecture. This rice grain is extremely springy with wonderful aroma, stir-fried into perfection!
Fancy a sake? Come here! Here is the right place to you!
The Sake Place
F-1-16, Block Faraday, Plaza Arkadia,
No. 3, Halan Intisari Perdana, Desa Parkcity,
52200 Kuala Lumpur.
Opening hours: 4pm to 11pm
Closed on Mondays
