ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Address: 90, Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road, Raja Ram Mohanroy Extension, Sudhama Nagar, Bengaluru 560025 Karnataka India
Time: 11 AM to 12 Midnight
Meals for two: Rs. 1,400
Cuisines: Japanese
Facilities: Home Delivery, Full Bar Available, Smoking Area, Live Sports Screening, Brunch, Valet Parking Available
Sakae, Shanti Nagar, Bangalore Japanese Restaurant: Decor
I miss the old Dahlia on Church Street. A colleague of mine used to call it a Japanese dhaba. It focused only on the food and there were no other frills. Sakae on the unglamorous Double Road is a lot like that and I’m thrilled to have discovered the place. It makes no pretensions to be stylish or elegant. There’s low seating and you have to maneouvre yourself into these. After that, it’s all about the food. I don’t even remember if there was music.
Sakae, Shanti Nagar, Bangalore Japanese Restaurant: Food
It’s a vast menu here and if you aren’t too familiar with Japanese food it takes some poring over. You could start with something cold and light like the Hiyayakko, which is cubes of tofu topped with nothing more than ginger and spring onions, given a salty lift with bonito flakes. It’s a dish that exemplifies the Japanese talent for simplicity. The Nigiri is flawless, with choices ranging from tuna to salmon, squid to prawn and flounder.
And I can’t have enough of their rolls – particularly the Spicy Chilli Salmon Roll and Tuna Mayo Roll. In a nod to the local market, there are vegetarian options, too, and my vegetarian companion rated the Mushroom Roll high.
For hot dishes, there’s an array of Yakitori choices. You could have skewers with chicken liver, gizzard or heart, ingredients not commonly found in other Japanese restaurants here. I had fatty pork and okra skewers at one meal and they were quite delicious. You could order also the Okonomiyaki – the Japanese pancake topped with pork. For comforting one-bowl meals, the cold Soba noodles or Ebi Tempura Udon, batter fried prawns served with noodles in hot soup. Then, of course, there’s the very popular Ramen. Sakae does nice takeway Bento boxes if you want a meal to go.
Dessert isn’t de rigueur in Japanese restaurants, so don’t expect Matcha Tea Ice Cream here. There’s a limited bar menu. Unfortunately on the last two occasions I dined here, sake wasn’t available.
Sakae, Shanti Nagar, Bangalore Japanese Restaurant: Service
The wait staff are keen to please, but communication can sometimes be a bit hard.
Sakae, Shanti Nagar, Bangalore Japanese Restaurant: Plus & Minus
Sakae serves good quality, authentic Japanese food. It doesn’t fuss too much with the ambience, so if you expect an elegant setting you would be disappointed.
