SECRETS OF SAKE

@amandacanning

@jonathanstokesphoto

FIRST, A CONFESSION. Before I set out on my quest to find the perfect sake, everything I knew about the drink could be written onto the side of a chopstick. At best, the sake selection on a drinks menu in Japanese restaurants at home in London provided a brief distraction from the more important business of summoning chicken katsu. I knew it was made with rice, but how was I meant to drink it? Like a shot? Ice cold like vodka? At the end of the meal like a digestivo?

Clearly, let loose on the streets of Tokyo, a crass amateur like me would need some guidance. I enlisted the help of Daniela Baggio Morano, a half Japanese, half Italian guide with a particular mission to help visitors make sense of the city’s sometimes baffling food and drink scene.

We meet in the district of on a rainy night, when all of Tokyo seems on the move, scurrying through the splashy streets under transparent plastic umbrellas like a sea of giant, misplaced jellyfish.