This upper level restaurant at Manly Wharf shares the space with sister venue, Tex-Mex a go-go El Camino Cantina, but the two spaces couldn’t be more dissimilar.

Rockpool Dining Group’s contemporary Japanese restaurant fills its 300-seat indoor-outdoor space with Zen wood and stone styling and traditional Japanese architecture courtesy of red-hot design team Luchetti Krelle. This in-design power base currently burns brightly in Manly as they’ve also put their creative talents to work on another new Manly venue, beachside Manly Greenhouse.

Harbourside, stairs up to Sake lead to the glass entry, the floral arch and the statement New Stone Age reception ‘desk’ crafted from a 2-tonne anthracite boulder topped with a cantilevered timber counter. Everyone wants a spot on the terrace or a window seat, the chatty black-clad staffer tells us.

Sadly not everyone can have one, or one of the four private dining rooms with their moongate portholes and bamboo-slatted screens.

Rather than a table, our online booking has requested a spot at the chefs’ counter where there’s a view of the slicing, dicing and blow-torching at the sushi prep stations and the central Japanese style grill, the robata.

Side on, this elevated vantage point is also perfect for sneaky stickybeaking and solo dining. That view straight out to the ferries to-ing and fro-ing at Manly Wharf and the twilight sailing on the harbour isn’t bad either.

Sake’s comprehensive 30-plus page drinks’ list covers off pricey but trendy gin bowls, signature cocktails, Sydney-brewed Japanese craft beer, wine, sakes and Japanese spirits.