Japanese dining group Master Den is expanding its restaurant empire with a pop-up to join sibling ventures Izakaya Den and Hihou. On June 20, the group will welcome Master Den’s Poppu Uppu; a hot-pot pop-up set in the former space of Kappo.

Poppu Uppu (a take the Japanese term for pop-up) is a temporary winter-based dining experience that is a special new interpretation of traditional nabemono. Typically, a pot is filled with broth and allowed to simmer, before vegetables and protein are gradually added to cook. Poppo Appu will follow this design, allowing guests to make their own at the table guided by staff. There are dozens of different hot-pot varieties to choose from, but Poppu Uppu will focus on three dishes in particular .

First and foremost is the shabu shabu, featuring a konbu-flavoured broth and partnered with a plate of wagyu rump, topside and sirloin 6+, with the option to add speciality cuts like rump cap, scotch fillet and Japanese Cube roll. There will also be a Hokkaido-style seafood nabe, which features a light miso-flavoured both to be filled with Tasmanian salmon fillet, local mussels and mackeral, or the option for local flathead fillets, New Zealand pippies, Coffin Bay oysters, Crystal Bay prawns and Harvey Bay scallops. A vegetarian option will also be available in the special mushroom hot pot, complete with konbu, sake, and soy-flavoured broth, silken tofu, and a collection of Japanese mushrooms from enoki to oyster.

All hot-pots come equipped with an array of vegetables and accompaniments. There’s everything from wombok potato to house-made special sauce, and Udon noodles; handmade by Udon specialist and Izakaya Den original head chef, Yosuke Furukawa.

It won’t just be hot-pots to nibble on however, with a snack menu set to include sansho pepper edamame, coffee-cured salmon sashimi, tofu and shitake mushroom rice puff tempura, and Hihou’s fried chicken. “What better winter experience than sharing a hot pot with someone you love, a group of your friends or family, on a cold Melbourne night,” says Master Den’s Simon Denton of the concept, “it’s comfort food at its best – fun, unpretentious, and full of flavour and ritual.”

Master Den’s Poppu Uppu
1 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
masterden.com.au