We had just stepped inside Yorkshire’s newest restaurant, SakkuSamba when my partner exclaimed “this is something completely different – you would never guess that you were in Bradford, this feels more like a Knightsbridge high-class restaurant”.
She did have a valid point: the décor and concept of bringing the tastes of Japan and Brazil to Bradford brings a whole new dining experience to the city. Though it might seem odd to mix the culinary styles of the two countries together, it appears that Brazil has one of the largest Japanese populations outside of Japan.
Samba and Sakura trees
The Bradford restaurant is the second SakkuSamba, the first being in Manchester – the concept worked so well that it led to another branch being opened on this side of the Pennines. Bradford can be a challenging market in which to open a restaurant, especially if you don’t offer Halal – thankfully SakkuSamba does.
On the ground floor a coffee shop serves up drinks like matcha and beetroot lattes alongside cold sandwiches and cakes making an ideal place to meet up with friends over a coffee, in the cosy and welcoming café.
Climb the stairs to the first-floor restaurant (there’s a lift too) where you pass a huge walk-in neon cube that seemed designed for an Instagram moment, after which you will discover a restaurant adorned with cascading Sakura trees and dimly lit hues of soft pink and purple, giving the restaurant a swish ambience, rather like an expensive nightclub.
After being guided to our table we were hastily informed about how the ordering system worked – we did notice that other staff took more time to describe this system to diners, so perhaps we were unlucky!
The menu – first impressions
The à la carte menu is served Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 4pm. There’s also a Tapas-style menu which tends to be the one most people choose.
The price varies depending on the time you dine. Lunch Monday to Friday is £32.50, Saturday and Sunday £34.50. Dinner Sunday to Thursday is £45.50, Friday and Saturday £47.50. Children aged 4 to 12 years eat for £17.95 every day. An additional £12.5% discretionary charge is added to your bill, which seemed excessive considering that you do not really have much interaction with the staff.
All your food is ordered by the tablet placed on your table and whilst this might seem impersonal, the photographs of the dishes on screen give a good idea of what you will eventually eat. I say eventually as no one initially informed us that the dishes arrive on the table as when ready – we made the mistake of ordering starters and mains at the same time which resulted in some of our mains arriving before the starters!
Tokyo meets Ipanema
The food itself was of a high quality: my grilled chicken caesar salad was fresh and served with a tangy salad dressing; the beef fillet from the Brazilian grill was lean and tender; whilst my partner’s spicy tuna from the uramaki menu was served as an inside-out maki roll – all served with a backdrop of samba music. I lost count of the number of times I had to use my Shazam app to discover who was playing in the background. Until then I had never heard of O Rappa or Vinicius de Moraes, though they are both on my playlist now!
The menu also offers Japanese dumplings with a choice of fillings. Sashimi, noodles, hirata bao buns, deep-fried dishes, and meat from the Brazilian grill as well as an extensive vegan menu.
Desserts were ordered from yet another tablet on the table – the lotus cheesecake (£7.50) was very moreish with a good solid base and a creamy topping whilst my sticky toffee pudding (£7.50) was a little too dense and rich for my liking.
The servings are huge – you could share one dish between two – you can also order four dishes per person every 12 minutes, but any gluttons beware, the restaurant has a ‘wastage policy’, if there is an excessive amount of food wastage, they reserve the right to add an addition to your bill.
Bradford has a new restaurant to be proud of, and whilst others have opened in the city centre and closed within a year, SakkuSamba deserves to be a success – and it is much nearer to home than Knightsbridge!
