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Sake No Hana London

Sake No Hana London

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Japanese in London - Mayfair
23 St James's Street , Mayfair, London, St James's, SW1A 1HA
+44 (0) 20 7925 8988

Alan Yau created Wagamama, then Busaba Eathai. Next Hakkasan and Yauatcha. Now he's turned his attention to Japanese fine dining, in the shape of Sake No Hana.
Tags: japanese, sushi


Sake No Hana London Reviews


From Yauatcha to Yau-oucha - After reading many mixed reviews we decided to try out Alan's Yau's latest creation, Sake No Hana. The restaurant located in St James's in a office block, with its own separate and impressive entrance. Two parallel escalators take patrons up to the restaurant level.

We were really suprised that the place was quite empty at 8pm on a Friday night. Given Yau's success with Yauatcha, Hakkasan etc we expected diners to flock to Sake No Hana. I quite liked the design of the room, big windows let in the late setting sunshine which was pretty. Some tables are cutely set into the floor so you have to remove your shoes and 'climb in' (ladies is short skirts be warned).

But after that its all bad. The food was terrible. Our appetisers were more than cold - the japanaese yams were frozen and the scallops didn't taste much better. Sashimi (yellowtail and sea bass) were fresh but not outstanding. Next were two fried dishes - coconut crumbed prawns (ebi fry) hit the spot and I gobbled down my share. That was the highlight of the entire meal. The fried blue swimmer crab was soggy and tasteless when it arrived.

Main course was Wagyu beef - there were a few shreds of beef and lots of steamed vegetables. In fact could could have called the beef a garnish. Nigiri was ok but again I've eaten better. By now we were still hungry - the food had all arrived prompty (I assume the kitchen was quiet) but it just wasn't enough. We ordered another 3 courses! More nigiri, grilled tuna and eel rice. The grilled tuna was just that - a piece of fish marinated in a soy based sauce and served all on its own (a little overcooked). Thank goodness for rice - its hard to get that wrong. A pot of rice with cooked eel mixed through was tasty and most importantly filling. But generally we were so unimpressed we skipped dessert.

A wine list has been added after customer feedback (initially just champagne and sake) but priced at the high end. Service was ok - the sommelier was very sweet and spent a long time explaining sakes to my husband, but otherwise the service was average.

Unsurprising we saw Mr Yau standing with arms crossed overlooking the restaurant and then speaking with the senior staff. It looks like his good run of successful restaurant concepts has come to an end. The food was disappointing and over-priced. Maybe he sold Yauatcha and Hakkasan too soon!  
Tags: japanese, sushi

Rating  1

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