Sake is not just for sushi – here’s what to drink it with
Sometimes I will scroll through restaurant wine lists for fun. This is how I came to notice that Trivet in Bermondsey, south-east London – adored by the food and wine set – offers 10 different sakes, to order alongside dishes such as ‘Not a crispy duck – Aylesbury duck with sun sweet melon and Catalogna’.
It was the first time I’d seen a serious sake section in play outside a fully Asian or heavily Asian-influenced restaurant. But, on quite a lag from other Japanese culinary imports such as miso paste and sushi, sake is beginning to lose its novelty status and integrate with our eating and drinking culture.
‘We’re starting to see more guests who have tried sake before and are looking to experience it again, whereas three to four years ago, many more would have been trying it for the first time,’ says Maxim Kassir, head sommelier at The Aubrey, the Japanese restaurant at the Hyde Park Mandarin Oriental, which has just launched an own-label sake in collaboration with the Tsuchida Sake Brewery in Japan.
Not all sake is made in Japan: there’s now a sake brewery at Fordham Abbey in Cambridgeshire and another, with a taproom, at London Bridge. Meanwhile, in urban areas, sake bars are springing up around pubs and coffee shops. Manchester has the Monkey Trio sake bar, which serves cocktails made with umeshu (plum liqueur) alongside Japanese beers, sake and whisky. In east London, Sake Collective is a bar, bottle shop and wholesaler with more than 100 different sakes from 32 breweries across Japan.
The drink is even making inroads in traditional areas like St James’s, the home of London’s smallest square, Britain’s oldest wine merchant and Davidoff, the cigar shop. Berry Bros & Rudd reported earlier this year that its sake sales were up 1,000 per cent in the year to March 2024 (admittedly, it’s off a very small base). It helps that Berry’s sells the exquisite IWA sake, the brand founded by Richard Geoffroy, the former chef de cave at Dom Pérignon.
Waitrose is also experiencing heightened demand, reporting that searches for sake on its website are up 241 per cent, and The Wine Society has just added its first three sakes to its collection of wines, beers and spirits. I know that some of you will be wondering about Aldi. The discount store doesn’t currently sell any sake, though it did launch one in 2017, possibly ahead of its time, and again in 2021 ahead of the delayed Tokyo Olympics.
I’m going to bet that it will have one soon because sake is already getting celebrity-ed up. Earlier this year, Cate Blanchett, a big sake fan, was announced as the creative director of Toku Saké. ‘I sort of stalked [them],’ the actor told Forbes magazine. ‘I’ve been wanting to be involved in the creation of sake for 15 years.’
As they prove at Trivet, you don’t need to be eating Japanese to enjoy sake with a plate of food. I like the lighter daiginjo styles with fried prawns or seafood pasta, and sake can also work with richer meats such as duck or steak, especially if there is citrus or miso involved.
And don’t assume that sake is the only credible match for sushi either. ‘Chardonnay and pinot noir are the “go to” for The Aubrey’s flavoursome cuisine,’ says Kassir. ‘I’m personally convinced that Burgundy and Japanese cuisine are a match made in heaven.’
Try these...
Takara Shirakabegura Mio Sparkling Sake
5%, Tesco, £6 for 150ml
Click here to view this content.
Light, sweet, fruity and floral with notes of sweet apple and lychee: think of this as sake’s answer to sparkling moscato and drink it as an apero.
Akashi-Tai Shiraume Ginjo Umeshu
14%, Waitrose, £21 for 50cl
Click here to view this content.
Made by macerating plums in ginjo sake, with notes of kirsch, marzipan and plums, this is good served on the rocks with a cheese board.
Shichiken Junmai Daiginjo Sake
15%, The Wine Society, £32 for 72cl
Click here to view this content.
A light-coloured, delicate and off-dry sake. Try it with chicken skewers marinated in garlic, yoghurt, saffron, and rose water.