Sake connoisseurs will certainly be familiar with the brand Dassai, a beloved name in the sake world both in its home country of Japan and internationally. It is so highly revered that bottles have been auctioned at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and Japan’s former Prime Minister, the late Shinzo Abe, even gifted it to Barack Obama during a White House state dinner.
Recently, the Dassai Summer Festival brought a premium Japanese lifestyle experience, including sake, seafood and sun, to Penang. At this event celebrating the high points of Japanese connoisseurship, Robb Report Malaysia, together with its partner venue Haku, showcased the new battery-electric Lexus RZ 450e. The event comes on the heels of the car’s launch, with the version in Luxury trim priced from RM429,888 (OTR without insurance). It offers a WLTP-rated battery range of 440km, with 0-80 per cent recharging in 30 minutes.
A community of supercar owners also joined in the festivities, as esteemed guests converged at Haku Extraordinary Japanese Cuisine restaurant at Jazz Hotel for the exclusive three-day event. Here, guests could go on test drives of the Lexus RZ 450e and appreciate its new spindle body design on the outside, complemented by a swish, first-of-its-kind Tazuna concept in the futuristic cockpit with Ultrasuede upholstery and Tsuyasumi design for a high-gloss charcoal effect within. Inside the cabin, guests could also experience the Active Sound Control, which dynamically produces sound based on the car’s function and environment with its 13-speaker Mark Levinson Premium surround sound system.
Officiating this three-day event series were Jagdeep Singh Deo, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II, and Yoshiyasu Kawaguchi, the Consul-General of Japan in Penang. Both graced the festival participating in the Kagami Biraki ceremony—the breaking of a ceremonial mochi, a traditional Japanese ritual.
The showstopper of the day was undoubtedly the ‘Heaviest Bluefin Tuna Live Cutting Event’, a feat which placed Haku restaurant in the Malaysia Book of Records. Kawaguchi, as well as the other guests, were awestruck at the 224.1kg creature – equivalent to three average adult males. He remarked, “Even Japanese do not have the opportunity to see the tuna in such a colossal form.”
On the following day, Haku restaurant made another mark in the Malaysia Book of Records with the ‘Most Buri Hira Cuts Served in a Month’.
Specially curated dishes from Haku were served throughout the weekend accompanied by sake including Dassai 23, Dassai 39 and Dassai 45, which served to open up the palette with its elegant flavour profile and pleasant, lingering aftertaste.
This included the light and subtly sweet Akami and rich and buttery Otoro portiLons of the tuna. Guests also indulged in the Chutoro area of the tuna, with its complex and satisfying flavour profile topped by Frosista Caviar as they clinked sake glasses to cries of “kanpai” while the night faded away.
Photography: Momenz Creation
