This week kicks off Sake Week in London: A fact I find very interesting – mainly because I adore introducing friends to Sake.

This past New Year’s Eve, my husband and I hosted a dinner for 8 of our friends. We dubbed the event “Dinner of the Decades” to welcome in the last year of the current decade. The evening began in the living room with fire-side appetizers made famous in the 1950’s such as deviled eggs and a relish tray paired with a mid-century Aperol Spritzer. Once our guests took their seats at the dining room table, a warm version of Julia Child’s infamous Potato Leek soup was served paying homage to the great American chef and the 1960’s. The dinner continue in this fashion with each course (and pairing) bringing us closer to the current decade; A masterful chocolate sushi roll with espresso roe crafted using molecular gastronomy techniques paired with a Tennessee Espresso Whiskey my husband and I use to make killer martinis.

Somewhere in the middle of this 7-course dinner, we served African Adobo-Rubbed Tuna Steaks a la celebrated Chef Norman Van Aken’s New World Kitchen:Latin American and Caribbean Cuisine. (recipe) Not only was this dish perhaps the best course of the evening, but it was made even better by pairing it with a high quality Sake. Given the heat of the spices and the vinegary relief of the cucumber salad, a fine wine would have bowed down and taken second place…not so with the intensity and palate cleansing nature of a Junmai Daiginjo-Shu Sake. Served in small shot glass sized ceramic cups, Hakutsuru’s premium cool Sake from Kobe, Japan offered the perfect level of contrast and lift to the extra heat the Adobo rub brought to the plate. Pure perfection. While you may not be in a position to dive into Sake this week, do make it a point to give it a try before the year (and the decade) is over. Your palate and your friends will thank you.

Join in on the fun by learning a few interesting facts about how Sake is made Click Here

Cheers,

Marianne