The newly re-vamped addition to Alan Yau's enterprise is a must try.

The Venue
The glass building blends discreetly into St James’s Street, doors opening magically with the sweep of your hand. Slip through a black curtain into a dark shining hallway and up an escalator into the main dining area. Here the brightness contrasts to the mystical entrance – simple, elegant pale greens making for a calming place to eat. Take your shoes off and settle around a low table surrounded by cushioned backless benches. The experience is upmarket Westernised authenticity.

The Atmosphere
At the risk of being one of those high class establishments which confuses food with fashion and leaves you hungry, the experience doesn’t come cheap but thankfully delivers. The balance between the two is struck with zen-like perfection. Japanese waitresses clad in black glide along the seats barefoot and crouch next to you to explain the menu, slightly daunting for those not completely au fait with the cuisine. Chopsticks at the ready in their own cradle, this is not the type of place you could ask for cutlery.

The Food
The artful plates are appetising yet beautiful. Scallops (£8.50) are flash grilled, tea-soaked and succulent. Soft, white king crab (£8) is decorated with full coral claws and fuchsia ginger flower stem (warning: do not eat the pink part – schoolboy error). Soy for the thick meaty tuna sashimi (£7) is poured into personal bowls at the table. For a foodie alcoholic indulgence try the special plate of marinated sake chicken (£8) – boneless, juicy thigh pieces served skin on, with miniature crisps intricately cut out like icicles. The tempura (£12) is brilliantly light, barely there and almost translucent encasing onion, long stemmed mushroom, squash, asparagus and figs – another colourful lot. Dessert is too try hard, or perhaps just seems so if you are saturated with creative effort after the mains. The lychee sorbet is perfect, like an iced fruit doing its palate cleansing job. It’s superfluous, however, to the main mouthful of pistachio and white chocolate mousse on an almond sponge base with raspberry jelly topping.

The Drink
A variety of exciting alcoholic cocktails (about £8 - £10), and the non-alcoholic options (£4) are also good – a refreshingly un-sweet lychee concoction with masses of grapes, and another based around oolong tea, jam-packed with immaculately diced fresh apple and presented with a stalk of lemon grass. Sake (in smoky, spicy, nutty, creamy or sweet versions), obviously, features heavily and is the top choice ranging from a glass at £10 to bottles at over one hundred pounds.

The Last Word
Sake No Hana is in an entirely different dimension, although in terms of the price it’s definitely a one-off treat. But then again, if you wanted Alan’s cheap and cheerful you’d have gone to wagamama instead.

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