29/09/2026
We had the pleasure of hosting Sake Hundred (Sake Hundred ) Founder Ryuji Ikoma (Ryuji Ikoma ) and Product Director Yosuke Kawase at Bâtard for an extraordinary evening exploring ”The Art of Acidity.“ 🍶✨
Marking our very first Sake Pairing Dinner at the club, it was incredible to experience how seamlessly these different expressions—from effervescent and crystalline to oak-aged and sweet—interplayed with the menu.
A big thank you to Ryuji, Yosuke, and the entire Sake Hundred team for bringing their craft, passion, and deep expertise to our tables.
Unpolished rice on the right with 18%-polished rice on the left. Sake rice is polished to remove proteins and fats that can create heavier flavours, bringing out a cleaner, more refined taste. Taking it down to just 18% takes around 200 hours using industrial diamonds—far beyond the 50% polishing already considered exceptional.
Sake Hundred (Sake Hundred ) Founder Ryuji Ikoma (Ryuji Ikoma )
Sake Hundred (Sake Hundred ) Product Director Yosuke Kawase (河瀬 陽亮 )
A few standouts from the night:
BYAKKO x Alaskan King Crab Chawanmushi: The pure, elegant, and mineral-driven profile of BYAKKO was a sublime match for the delicate crab.
BYAKKO x Alaskan King Crab Chawanmushi: The pure, elegant, and mineral-driven profile of BYAKKO was a sublime match for the delicate crab.
AMAIRO x Lobster Pithivier: A rich dish with Sauce Américaine needed real depth to stand up to it, and AMAIRO brought the exact sweetness and structured acidity required to make the pairing sing.
AMAIRO x Lobster Pithivier: A rich dish with Sauce Américaine needed real depth to stand up to it, and AMAIRO brought the exact sweetness and structured acidity required to make the pairing sing.
RAIHI × Roquefort Basque Burnt Cheesecake
The evening’s clear favourite by a show of hands. RAIHI, a long-aged sake matured at freezing temperatures and rested in French oak, represents a new possibility for ageing in sake—combining innovative maturation techniques to create an elegant, complex and deeply aromatic expression.
RAIHI × Roquefort Basque Burnt Cheesecake
The evening’s clear