Mr. R. Kono, the former GM of Nikko Metropolitan Hotel used to tell people in a lighter vein,' Subhash does not let us serve Sake with Japanese food or other cuisines with his wines'. He was right. I never considered Sake as wine, not in the sense we look at it at the Delhi Wine Club. I am still as obstinate and purist. But an opportunity to prove that Japanese cuisine can pare well with wines if selected with care came up  and  this  event amply justified my belief.

Most of Japanese dishes can go rather well with white wine including Gewürztraminer. But I wanted to try out their dishes with red too. So I selected Burgundy wines, all from the premium fine wine producer, Joseph Drouhin in order to have some lighter Pinot Noirs and Gamay too.

Aligote is a minority grape that is dry, fruity very crisp and refreshing. That it would go well as an aperitif is a classic situation and we found out sooner than we thought. The planned wine was guzzled down before we could say ‘ Bourgogne '. Macon Village , the next wine, did come to our rescue. Another Burgundy white, Pouilly Fuisse which is the most popular Burgundian white from Macon region was offered to be tried with the soup as well as Sushi and Tempura.

Some people feel Sushi cannot be pared with any wine due to the pungency of wasabi sauce. I would say it is partially correct. If the morsel of sushi is unbalanced because of extra wasabi, the wine is bound to under perform but with a proper balance, a good unoaked Chardonnay like a Pouilly Fuisse go rather well. Similarly tempura was a great match due to the crispiness of the Chardonnay. For red wine drinkers, the Cru Beaujolais- Moulin – a- Vent at 12 deg coolness was a delicious fit.

For the main course of Tenderloin steak and lamb chops, I had selected the elegant, medium bodied Chambolle-Musigny, a popular Burgundy village red. I had thought the wine might be slightly weak for the powerful steak but all the people who ordered tenderloin were extremely happy.

It was gratifying to know that a couple of years after our previous event at Sakura, the service was as impeccable, warm and personalized. The quality of the food was generally very good. The only irritant was the wine glasses. Though the restaurant was considerate enough to organise four different glasses for four different wines, the shape was just not correct. Agreed, the restaurant may not be catering to so many people at the same time and can be excused for not having enough stock. But howsoever they were being organised, it shouldn't have costed more to arrange the proper glasses. One just could not get the best of aromas out of Pouilly Fuisse and the Chambolle. So, if one thought the wines were very good, they were in fact, excellent.

Sourish Bhattacharyya who has written a book about the Sakura Cuisine was present to talk about the dishes and the making of the book. Thanks to the management, we were able to give away, one book costing Rs.500 each to a couple attending the dinner. I am sure, a budding chef or two of Japanese cuisine are reading that book frequently enough and practicing the simple steps to great cooking and will be the long term beneficiaries.

Subhash Arora

PS –Starting with this edition we have started giving the photographs of the dishes too to give our readers an idea of the dish and its presentation.