SEAFOOD LOVES SAKE, a match made in heaven

Tate Dining Room and Bar will offer a Seafood and Sake Pairing Menu, with accompanying sake cocktails.

In addition to bringing in a guest sommelier, the restaurant will also offer a special seafood dinner menu which includes Belon oyster, aburi tuna, shirayaki sea eel, pork belly and a berrriolette plum mousse cake, all paired with a different sake. 

Enjoy a complimentary glass of sake when ordering one of the chef's recommended seafood dishes such the fish skin with ginger and garlic and Shun Tak squid balls. Moreover, receive a complimentary 180ml bottle of sake when ordering the chef's signature Shun Tak style fish.

Located in Causeway bay, this Spanish tapas joint serves up a delicious and wallet-friendly selection of small plates in addition to the traditional menu items. Offering its customers an authentic Spanish dining experience, its sake pairing menu elevates the experience with a unique flair.

The signature seafood paella, rich and abundant in flavours, is paired with the Junmaishu Okudenkan Junmai sake. A perfect balance to the complex flavours of the paella, its mineral taste brings out the freshness of the seafood. Together, they make for a hearty afternoon meal.

The restaurant also provides the Noguchi Naohiko Linghe sake with another one of its seafood dishes, the Spicy Hokkaido scallop tartare with crispy filo. The dense and savoury flavour of the sake provides a balance to the spice of the dish, while also bringing out the subtle sweetness and freshness of the scallop.

For the Premium Cod loin with assorted seafood, the restaurant offers a Dewazakura Omachi Junmai Ginjo. The fruity and refreshing taste of this sake contrasts wonderfully with the complexity of this dish, providing for a generously balanced serving of flavours.

Enjoy two complimentary glasses of selected sake when ordering one of the chef's recommended seafood dishes, including the salted egg yolk white fish, steamed sticky rice with crab, Chao Zho style Cloudy Bay clams and pork with salty fish and shrimp Paste.

Enjoy a complimentary selected 180ml sake bottle when ordering one of four hot pot seafood platter options.

Japanese sake comes in many forms, whether it's soft and refreshing or full-bodied and complex, each has its own distinct flavour. To get a taste of all the different sakes in one go, don't miss out on Ah Yat Harbour View Restaurant's six-course pairing menu. This experience offers customers three 30ml servings of sake accompanied by different food. The feast begins with a portion of raw sea cucumber from the Kansai region of Japan, which boasts a soft, smooth flavour that tempers the wasabi soy sauce that it is dipped in. This is followed by sautéed fresh lobster and water chestnut with black bean sauce which is excellently paired with the sake of the Noguchi Naohiko brewery in Ishikawa Prefecture. The sake boasts a light taste and goes down easily. 

The restaurant's Korean abalone, goose and foie gras with stuffed crab shell take the feast to its climax. The restaurant’s signature dish, the abalone, is made with a variety of premium ingredients to make it rich in flavour, while the baked stuffed crab shell with foie gras pushes the taste to the extreme. This dish is accompanied by Kirinzan Black sake, which has a very mellow, acidic body that complements the abalone, foie gras and crab. Finally, guests are served dumplings and fried rice, both of which make an excellent match for a sip of the specialty unpasteurised sake that has a glistening colour and refreshing taste.

Located in the bustling centre of Tsim Sha Tsui, the Drunken Pot puts a contemporary twist on the traditional Cantonese cuisine scene with its trendy street art, groovy pop tunes and its careful pairing of seafood dishes with Japanese sake. Offering a range of sake choices with each dish, the restaurant lets the customer choose whether they prefer a lighter, more refreshing sake with their dish or if a punching and rich flavour is more suited to their palate.

The restaurant’s Chic and Shake dish ($428) is a rich seafood laden platter containing clams, prawns, crabs and squid. The customers are spoiled for a 4-in-1 pot with four different broths it offers, including Seafood Lobster Broth, Pork Bone Broth, Bak Kut The, etc. Guests could cook and dip the seafood into their favourite sauce.

Made with eleven different condiments, the more experimental drunken pot secret sauce is imbued with a noticeable peanut flavour that is balanced with a hint of chilli. Sakes to suit different palates are offered with the dish. One of the bottles the customer can choose is the Kirinzan Ginjo sake, a type of sake made from 60% polished rice. Infused with a light floral taste, this one is more refreshing to drink, a soothing contrast to the richer flavours of the seafood platter. The second bottle, on the other hand, is the Murokagenshu namasake. A non-pasteurised sake, this one is stronger and more complex in taste because it releases its odour continuously, thus enriching the comparatively more subtle flavours of the seafood platter.

The salted egg yolk fish crackling ($68), another customer favourite, is also offered with the Kirinzan Ginjo, for its fresh flavour with that hint of sweetness restores the palate after the salt and crisp of the dish. But a second bottle is also made available to the customer. The Kitajima Ichiban sake, drier and more punching in taste, it aids the dish by how well it enhances its flavour. Canadian Geoduck ($388-$1,688) and Fried Spicy Eel Balls ($88) are also signature dishes offered for cooked in the signature broths and sake pairing.

Pairing seafood with sake is traditional in Japan, of course, and the best sake emphasises the freshness and subtlety of the country’s seasonal product. But sake’s elegance and mellow flavour makes it a diverse pairing for many cuisines, especially when seafood is heavily featured. Le Pan’s Chef Edward Voon introduces a new eight-course menu dégustation to be paired with four hand-picked sakes from Sohomare, a small, family-run brewery in Tochigi Prefecture. The menu pays homage to the longstanding Japanese tradition of seafood with sake.

Sohomare proudly handcrafts its sake in the traditional kimoto method. The method typically results in high quality sake with a discernible texture and slight tartness. Sohomare also uses only the finest Yamadaniski rice, which imparts fullness and clarity. While each sake has its own individuality, overall they begin soft and rich on the palate, then develop intensity through to a smooth, lingering finish with a bit of acidity.

Chef Voon’s contemporary cuisine is built on the fundamentals of French cooking techniques. While Asian flavours from his upbringing and inspiration from Japanese cooking bring adventurous taste. Before the mains of duck confit and Kagoshima wagyu, there are five courses starring the finest seasonal seafood. Sake brings out the freshness of seafood, making it an excellent choice to begin your evening, building in flavours and taking you all the way through to the grand finale.

Tao Heung at The Pier Market is famous for its affordable and fresh seafood and specialty hot pots. They have launched three limited-edition seafood and sake pairing menus. Among them, is a sake with a slight grassy aroma and a thin banana scent that is best served with the fried crab or the Alaskan crab. Richer sakes are best matched with the abalone flavoured chicken pot. It enhances umami and its refreshing aftertaste neutralises any lingering grease from the chicken pot.

Instead of going down the traditionalist route of pairing seafood with wine, Under Bridge Spicy Crab serves up a thoughtfully chosen selection of sake with its dishes. With its signature dish of the same name, it serves the Dewazakura Omachi. The thick and juicy crab meat of this dish is covered by an aromatic crab shell that is adorned with crisp golden garlic grains. The dish is complemented well by the richness of the sake that not only balances delightfully, but its apparent chilliness also brings out the freshness of the crab.

For its much spicier and crunchy Conchin Peppery Hot Tipple, the restaurant offers the Omachi as well as the Gohyakuman Goku Junmai Daigihjo. Simmered in wine, the snails in the dish have a sharp and enticing flavour that is best balanced by these aromatic made from highly polished rice.

The restaurant’s Jumbo Mantis Shrimp, with its domineering body, is infused deeply with a strong garlic flavour. It imbues subtle hints of chilli as well deep-fried as it is with spicy salt. The Okuden Kanzukuri Junmai blends well with the complexity of flavours present in this dish. With a rice polishing rate of 70%, it brings out the delicate freshness of the shrimp.

Enjoy two complimentary glasses of select sake with any order of chef's recommended seafood dishes including the signature Under Bridge spicy crab, deep fried mantis shrimp with chilli, steamed razor clams with green bean vermicelli and garlic and peppered conch.