8 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BE
Telephone: 020 3405 7230
In this health conscious age it is always a delight to be able to know that there are some restaurants that are equally as conscious and will serve only the finest ingredients cooked in a healthy manner, which I guess is why Japanese food has continued to move up the UK’s list of favourite cuisines.
One such health-conscious restaurant is Sakagura, nestling in a ‘restaurant oasis’ in Heddon Street just off Regent Street. Sakagura offers traditional Japanese food, collectively known as washoku (literally, food of Japan), coupled with a dazzling array of sake’s. Indeed, UNESCO has registered this type of food as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. I am not sure exactly what that means, but what I do know is that the food is special. Japanese food prides itself as being simultaneously both simple yet complicated, plain yet sophisticated. It is salty, sweet, sour, slightly bitter and full of umani flavours, and Sakagura also makes every dish a work of art, so during your dining experience all of your senses are stimulated.
Sakagura’s entrance gives the diner an idea of the emphasis on Sake, as you have to pass a large Sake barrel, the style of which is based on the old style drinking houses in Japan.
Its de´cor is a Japanese twist on industrial chic, with wooden tables and curved backed leather padded chairs, flanked on one side by a section of booths separated by hessian drapes and a buzzing bar on the other.
The menu is extensive and shows off all the best Japanese food offers. We started with Sushi, enjoying Tuna Roll (£7) and Ebi Tempura (£14), where the king prawn tempura and avocado was surrounded by wonderfully sticky rice. We followed this with two choices from the large selection of sides, Ika Karaage (£8) and Pork Gyoza (£7.5). The Ika Karaage was the best of the pick, as it was a generous portion of salty squid, lovingly encased in light crispy batter with a wonderfully rich and creamy chilli mayo that provided just enough heat. Gyoza are a variant of the Chinese dish jiaozi, and were nicely crispy on one side and moist on the other with that extra hint of garlic which distinguishes it as being the Japanese variant.
Following on from this we chose two skewers from the charcoal grill, Negima (£4), succulent chicken and spring onion with a teriyaki glaze, and Beef Teriyaki (£5), medium rare chunks of melt in your mouth, chuck beef.
Japanese food is very organised and dishes are usually served separately so the tastes and flavours are not spoilt by being mixed, but our final dish was a notable exception to this rule. We both selected a Donburi (literally meaning bowl), myself a Tuna Zuke Don (£15), and my wife the King Prawn and Vegetable Tempura Don (£16). Tuna is such an underrated fish and many only know it as a fish in flakes, but here these wonderfully fresh and meaty strips of tuna just oozed freshness and for me should stand alone, as I felt they were slightly spoiled by an over-generous helping of wasabi which was just not needed. My wife’s dish was a feast for the tempura lover, with 3 enormous prawns and a variety of battered vegetables covering a satisfying portion of rice.
There are 4 selections for dessert ranging from £6 to £8 and I won’t spoil it for you, but I suspect you won’t see many of their ice cream flavours anywhere else!
Japanese food is rightly fast becoming a firm favourite and Sakagura, and its wonderful array of sake’s, just off Regents Street, is a great place to enjoy this fabulous and healthy cuisine in a wonderful environment.