Sake

This vast space with its colourful sake barrel wall, timber screens and designer pendent lights bustles with people dining and drinking. Yet the headscarf-wearing chefs in the open kitchen still find time to sing out a welcome every time someone walks in the door. Forget any doubts you have about fusion food, because head chef Shinichi Maeda creates clean, exciting flavour combinations. 'Tacos' are stuffed with Tabasco and lime-spiked sashimi, and come with sugar-rimmed sake shots for a bit of fun. Gingery nuggets of miso-marinated Cone Bay barramundi are wrapped san choy bao style in soft lettuce, topped with crunchy noodles. A hotpot of 12-hour braised pork belly contains a custardy egg surprise, poached in its shell, Japanese style. A stand-out dish is galantine of quail like an upmarket sausage - stuffed with punchy little flecks of pickled burdock root. Desserts are more mainstream - from dark chocolate Bavarois to a popular berry cheesecake.