Sake House is hidden away down a dead end road in Claremont. It’s the Old Stanhope Road, just before the big intersection which connects to Landsdowne Road as you head toward Kenilworth along Main Road. The restaurant has a modern streetfront, well lit and with big glass doors which show off the appealing interior. When you walk in the modern theme continues with contemporary dark wood furniture and Eastern design elements. While the interior is pleasant and warm, the well worn office carpet tiles are one of several elements that remind you that it can’t be described as plush. The venue certainly outperforms many or most in the same price range.
We ate only sushi, but the menu does offer hot food as well. Things like dim sum, various noodle and rice dishes, soup, etc. All at quite reasonable prices. The sushi is also reasonably priced. A 4 piece california roll is about R32. We had a chef’s special called the sushi cocktail (R82), which was great. It’s unusual which I quite like as I find standard sushi quite boring. It comes in a large glass bowl which is filled with rice mixed with chopped up sushi and some spices and a little mayo. Then draped all around the glass bowl are slices of salmon and tuna sashimi, about 4 of each. It’s enough to be a meal for one person.
We also ordered some additional items to try, the crunchy prawn roll (R42), the creamy spicy prawn roll (R59) and the Eddy’s Gift (R59). All the sushi was fresh, tasty and interesting. I felt it was good value. But they offer 25 and 50% off most of their sushi Mon to Thurs, lunch and dinner, which is amazing value. We were there on a Saturday night and there were less than 10 tables of people, but I believe it’s packed when the special is on.
I think many restaurants don’t realise the impact of specials, if people can get the sushi at half the price during the week, they will be reluctant to pay full price over the weekend. Sake House might as well just run the special all the time and have a restaurant that is packed every night.
We shared the chocolate and banana spring rolls with ice cream (R36) for dessert. Pretty good.
I didn’t drink any wine and neglected to look at the wine list, but I imagine it’s not expensive.
The service was very friendly and capable.
Overall, a top experience and good value.
Sake House
17 Old Stanhope Road, Claremont
021 674 7600
http://www.sakehouse.co.za