CHOP CHOP

Sake Restaurant & Bar

33 Cross Street, Double Bay, NSW 2028

(02) 8017 3104 or www.sakerestaurant.com.au

The elegant clack of chopsticks has grown genteelly louder in Sydney’s exclusive east with the launch of Urban Purveyor Group’s fourth Saké restaurant. The first of the brand’s foray outside the CBD decorates the street level of the refurbished Double Bay InterContinental Hotel like a silken obi sash on a kimono. “Double Bay has been given a huge breath of life lately,” interior designer Melissa Collison tells venue. “It’s the catchment for the eastern suburbs and we wanted to do something that was befitting the area, something that was a little edgier, glamorous and pared back. “I didn’t want to create a Japanese Disneyland, I wanted it to be a beautiful restaurant to dine in that had some sensibilities and empathy towards Japanese design, and to do that we used the materials in a very simplistic way, with minimal fixings and very smooth lines.” The open-plan, light-filled venue offers indoor seating for 120 with three private rooms at the rear and a covered outdoor terrace overlooking the hotel driveway on Cross Street — Double Bay’s version of Rodeo Drive. Dominating the space is a central 24-seat communal table in honed, plum-toned Voila Calacutta marble and a sweeping concrete bar façade that opens into the sushi bar and kitchen. Light oak-slatted doors in the style of a traditional isakaya bar offer a glimpse into three private dining rooms finished in a pale green stone quarried only in Japan. The venue shares elements of the original, Lucetti Krelle-designed Saké in The Rocks, which Collison refurbished last year — notable for its tattooed geisha motif in the custom wallpaper, light gobos and an etched bronze mirror. Collison conceived and directed the original shoot with celebrated Sydney-based Japanese tattoo artist Kian Forreal, fashion photographer Paul Westlake and makeup artist Wayne Chick in a solid statement of glamour that is now part of the Saké brand’s signature and used across its menus and print marketing. Similarly, the menu is rich in the staples of Saké’s hatted sister venues famously overseen by executive chef Shaun Presland with classic and new-style sushi matched with Japan’s finest saké and shochu varieties, but under the control of Double Bay head chef Min Kim, poached from his role as senior sous chef at Sydney’s Sokyo restaurant. New to the Saké repertoire are Japanese grilled classics from a custom-built open robata grill that uses authentic high-grade binchotan charcoal that heats to more than 500°C and costs as much as the delicacies being cooked. “We have always sought to create unique dining destinations, both in interior design and culinary direction,” says Urban Purveyor Group’s newly appointed CEO Thomas Pash, whose portfolio includes 20 venues along the east coast including Saké and the Bavarian Bier cafes – and seems likely to grow. “Each Saké Restaurant & Bar is clearly related to the others. There is no change in this branding strategy,” he says. “Should more Saké restaurants join the fold, they will be similarly unique yet broadly representative of the popular and successful brand. As the brand evolves the opportunities for Saké are continuing to unfold.”        

CONTACTS:
Melissa Collison (Interior Design): (02) 99328 3300 or www.melissacollison.com.au
Ke-Zu (Upholstered Smile Range Seating): (02) 9669 1788 or www.kezu.com.au  
Kvadrat Maharam (Plum & Grey Upholstery): (02) 9212 4277 or www.kvadratmaharam.com  
South Pacific Fabrics (Plum Silk Chair Upholstery): (02) 9327 7222 or southpacificfabrics.com  
Arthur G (Fully Upholstered Chairs): (03) 9543 4633 or www.arthurg.com.au  
Electrolight (Lighting Design): (02) 9267 4777 or www.electrolight.com.au  
Axolotl (Etched Mirrors): (02) 9666 1207 or axolotl.com.au  
Signature Prints (Custom Wallpaper): (02) 8338 8400 or www.signatureprints.com.au  
Nightlife Music: 1800 679 748 or nightlife.com.au