Sake Dinner with Tengu, Thursday 1st May 2025
Dinners
Join us for one of our fine dining evenings. A perfect way to find out more about a specific wine region or style, or to simply relax over a more leisurely affair absorbing the knowledge of your expert host over several courses of the finest food and wine.
Food will be prepared in-house by our fantastic team, with Head Chef Stewart Turner at the helm; while our range of wine specialists will guide you through the glass in your hand.
When is a wine ready to drink?
We provide drinking windows for all our wines. Alongside the drinking windows there is a bottle icon and a maturity stage. Bear in mind that the best time to drink a wine does also depend on your taste.
Not ready
These wines are very young. Whilst they're likely to have lots of intense flavours, their acidity or tannins may make them feel austere. Although it isn't "wrong" to drink these wines now, you are likely to miss out on a lot of complexity by not waiting for them to mature.
Ready - youthful
These wines are likely to have plenty of fruit flavours still and, for red wines, the tannins may well be quite noticeable. For those who prefer younger, fruitier wines, or if serving alongside a robust meal, these will be very enjoyable. If you choose to hold onto these wines, the fruit flavours will evolve into more savoury complexity.
Ready - at best
These wines are likely to have a beautiful balance of fruit, spice and savoury flavours. The acidity and tannins will have softened somewhat, and the wines will show plenty of complexity. For many, this is seen as the ideal time to drink and enjoy these wines. If you choose to hold onto these wines, they will become more savoury but not necessarily more complex.
Ready - mature
These wines are likely to have plenty of complexity, but the fruit flavours will have been almost completely replaced by savoury and spice notes. These wines may have a beautiful texture at this stage of maturity. There is lots to enjoy when drinking wines at this stage. Most of these wines will hold in this window for a few years, though at the very end of this drinking window, wines start to lose complexity and decline.
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Description
Japanese chefs have long appreciated Sake for its high umami content (the fifth taste) and its ability to enhance the food it accompanies. This appreciation has more recently extended to Western chefs and wine enthusiasts alike, with many London restaurants featuring high quality Sake alongside their very finest wines.
We invite you to join us in our Sussex Cellar for a one-off four-course dinner celebrating the fascinating world of Japanese Sake. Paired with a carefully curated seasonal menu from our Executive Chef, Stewart Turner, you will sample some of the leading styles while demystifying classifications and regional nuances.
Hosting the evening is Oliver Hilton-Johnson, who is director of Tengu Sake and was named as one of the 'Future 50' drinks industry professionals to watch in 2019. Tengu is the provider of choice for some of the UK’s most renowned restaurants and has been honoured with the prestigious 'Sake Merchant of the Year' accolade from the International Wine Challenge in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Sakes to be tasted:
Shirayuki Classic Junmai
Tatenokawa MUGA Platinum Junmai Daiginjō Muroka Nama Genshu
Tatenokawa SHIELD Soube Wase Junmai Daiginjō
Kenbishi Zuishou "Alchemy" Junmai Koshu
Noguchi Yamahai Miyama Nishiki 2018 Vintage Yamahai Muroka Nama Genshu
Gozenshu "Mountain Fortress" Junmai Bodaimoto Kijōshu
Dress code: smart casual
Event details
Delivery and quality guarantee