Hana Dining Sake Bar,
Sunway Piramid,
3 Jalan PJS11/15, Bandar Sunway,
46150 Petaling Jaya.
THERE is a new bar in town that specialises in sake, sake cocktails, sochu and whiskey alongside Japanese fusion food.
Known as Hana Dining Sake Bar, this first-of-its-kind eatery in Malaysia aims to create a culture of sake drinking while dining on fusion Japanese food.
Located at Sunway Pyramid shopping centre, the restaurant is divided into two parts, sake bar on the left and a cozy dining area on the right.
Its staff have also been trained by a sake sommelier to help diners pair their food with the correct mixture of drinks.
“Our sake bar also stands for ‘Sakey’ where ‘sa’ is sake and ‘key’ is whiskey,” said Hana Dining Sake Bar Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Eddie Beh at the opening of the restaurant recently.
“We hope we can give our diners a whole new dining experience and strive to have more sake drinkers around, too,” he said.
Hana Dining Sake Bar Sdn Bhd CEO Eddie Beh (right) and Aplus Dining Sake Bar Eric Hsieh showing their exclusively branded sake bottle, during the restaurant’s grand opening ceremony.
The sake bar offers more than 100 types of sake and sochu cocktails, along with other alcoholic drinks such as beer and liquor.
This sake bar also has a special sake, produced by a Japanese leading brewery that exclusively makes its own brand of Junmai Daiginjyo Sake.
“Diners can expect good food and drinks as we have a history of experience to back us up,” said Beh.
He explained that the restaurant’s concept and brand was brought in from Taiwan, where it is known as Aplus Dining Sake Bar.
The restaurant in Taipei, which has been operating since 1997, has now opened its first outlet abroad.
“We wanted to give the same name but the Companies Commission of Malaysia did not allow us because the word ‘Aplus’ has been used a lot,” he said.
But everything else, including the food and drinks, is similar to the restaurant in Taiwan.
There to assist and ensure the restaurant meets standards of the one in Taiwan is the restaurant’s founder, Eric Hsieh.
Hsieh, who is also a certified sake sommelier, has been training the staff in Malaysia.
“We were Taiwan’s first, and now in Malaysia, Hana Dining and Sake Bar is also the first here,” he said.
During the launch, Hsieh also gave tips on the best way to drink sake and to differentiate the good and bad ones.
“Good sake will not have a strong smell or aftertaste and it’s easy to drink,” he said as he urged guests to smell the sake first before taking a sip.
