New Year's Eve at Sake No Hana - SilverSpoon London

New Year’s Eve is quite a marmite occasion, I know lots of people who hate it but I love it! In fact I *might* actually love it more than Christmas… I think the best way to have a good New Year’s Eve is to keep it simple and not travel too far from home. We kept it particularly low-key and decided to go for dinner just the two of us and join up with friends later.
We chose to eat at Sake No Hana, one of my favourite Japanese restaurants and part of the Hakkasan group. It’s located just around the corner from us so we could walk back if we had trouble getting a cab or there were any road closures…though in my heels I was definitely hoping not to have to take this option! New Year’s Eve is alway a boozy one for us and we started of with a couple of cocktails from the bar downstairs…

I liked the fact that Sake No Hana offered a set menu for New Year but also give the option of ordering à la carte. As the set menu was made up of lots of our favourites that’s what we went for.

I’ve reviewed Sake No Hana twice before, visiting for the Umai Saturday and for the Sakura celebration, I really love the restaurant and it’s a place that never disappoints. The decor is cool and modern with bamboo struts that are intended to give the impression of a forest, and a lively open kitchen.
We started off with the customary miso soup, which I always find a tasty and comforting way to begin a Japanese feast.
The first dish was a tasting platter starting with fried aubergine with miso, a Japanese dish which I love but that is often overly sweet. At Sake No Hana it was delicious, crispy on the outside and totally melt in the mouth inside.

I was a little disappointed by the tempura prawns as at the Umai Saturday brunch we’d had delicious giant crispy prawns, and these were small ones but they were still tasty. Next to these was a perfectly cooked quail in shichimi pepper sauce.

And finally, a delicious salmon tartare with miso and tobiko.

Next, one of my favourites, yellow tail sashimi with truffle black pepper ponzu sauce.
And a shared sushi platter with three different types of roll; seared salmon and avocado, spicy tuna and wagyu beef with asparagus. The latter being my favourite!

As we ate our sushi we talked about our goals for 2016, Mr S focussing on his achievements at work and for me it’s about travel and blogging. I’m so proud of how my blog has grown and I’m really looking forward to seeing what 2016 has in store for SilverSpoon. My other ambition is to really get in shape, I started a new workout program at the beginning of December and I’m already seeing some results. With Christmas over and back to healthy eating I’m hoping to see even more improvements – though I’m pretty sure our upcoming weekend in Paris will do some damage!

The chargrilled beef sirloin with mooli ponzu and mushroom sauté was easily the dish of the night, just look how beautifully cooked it was, pink and succulent. The mushrooms were also perfectly prepared and made the ideal accompaniment.

A soft as butter Chilean sea bass with champagne yuzu miso sauce was our other main course. Always one of my favourite dishes, the flesh flaked apart beautifully and it was just the right level of sweetness.

And as the diet starts tomorrow (New Year’s Day) I had the chance to get in a few last sweet treats with two of the restaurant’s signature desserts…
But the evening wasn’t over yet, Mr S and I met up with some friends with the intention of seeing in the new year with a bang!
Happy New Year everyone, I hope all your dreams come true!