Saké Restaurant & Bar

Flinders Lane. Fed Square. Chapel Street. Sydney Road. Smith and Gertrude streets. These are all possible answers to the question, “What are the places that make Melbourne Melbourne?” Southbank Promenade, however, is not a possible answer. With its tidy pavers, its super-buskers, its Nobus and Pradas and Burberrys, and its pigeons, this riverside walk is as globally generic as Melbourne gets. Not quite a “non-place” – the term coined by French anthropologist Marc Augé to describe the characterless places of transience that have proliferated with globalization, such as airports, malls and corporate hotels – but on a mild, tourist-filled Saturday afternoon in spring, not far off.

The tension, then, where this geo-cultural tangent brushes against the curved facade of Melbourne’s esteemed Hamer Hall, is palpable and for designers and flâneurs alike, intriguing. Some might lament the missed opportunity to play with these ideas when leasing out a prime river-level dining tenancy, or to just stamp something emphatically Melburnian on the place but, in built reality, the choice of an established restaurant brand from Sydney was not a bad one. Saké Restaurant & Bar bridges the gap between the specific and the generic, in terms of both food and design.

Executive chef Sean Presland’s modern take on sushi is perfect for the place – is there a more culturally specific yet international cuisine? And with this, their third Saké fit-out, designers Rachel Luchetti and Stuart Krelle of Luchetti Krelle have refined an established look and feel based on Japanese-influenced joinery techniques, rich timbers, a contrasting palette of highly processed and raw textures, and familiar Japanese decorative motifs. Thanks to their deft touch, Saké’s Melbourne outpost feels more “bespoke” than “rollout,” yet still satisfies the corporate imperative of brand consistency.

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The dining area.

Image: Dianna Snape

Open kitchens are a feature of all Saké fitouts. In Melbourne, the open kitchen is the throbbing heart of the restaurant: passers-by see the chef’s whites, the (on-brand) red hachimaki headbands and the flash of sushi knives; diners perch at the granite bar, close to the action, but with enough buffer to avoid being drawn into the hustle and bustle; and patrons in the more formal main dining space enjoy the contrast between the brightly lit industry of the work zone and their own softly illuminated mise en scène.

Light is crucial to the fitout’s success. Directional downlights illuminate table settings, meals and artworks, and highlight textured finishes such as a raw rendered wall, without washing the space with too much indirect light. At night, the restaurant feels dark and intimate, the oak and spotted gum joinery glows, and awareness of spatial boundaries, such as the operable glass wall that opens out to the promenade, and timber screens that delineate private dining areas, dissolve in shadow. A significant element of the brief was to accommodate pre- and post-show diners from Hamer Hall (double doors from the small sake bar provide direct access) so this sense of theatre is a neat fit. Upstairs in the smaller mezzanine dining space the outward view changes from one of pedestrians to that of the city skyline across the Yarra. A gold mesh balustrade, tilted to match the building’s facade, adds another touch of theatrical glamour.

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Obis – the belts from kimonos – form a vibrant wall hanging.

Image: Dianna Snape

During the day, the ambience is quite different – thanks to a northern orientation, the restaurant feels breezy and sun-filled and is irresistible to passers-by. In this sense, the restaurant’s relationship to its context moves between Melbourne at night (the drama, the theatre) and the world during the day (the riverwalk and its smorgasbord of languages and accents).

Japanese fabrics, traditional pottery and empty sake barrels swinging from the ceiling in the saké bar ensure there’s no confusion about the food being offered. In a different location, these flourishes might have been pared back, allowing the rest of the fitout to speak (quietly) for itself. But, given the promenade location and national brand imperative, these moments of telegraphed Japanese-ness are a necessary, minor compromise. On the whole, Saké Restaurant & Bar is sophisticated, soulful and subtle – it’s emblematic of two converging worlds, and will appeal to theatregoers and busker-watchers alike.