Minamashima is tricked-up omakase-style dining where you let the chef choose the best seafood across 16 or so courses of nigiri and eye-catching desserts. Everything is meticulous – wait staff move effortlessly between guests adjusting settings as courses seamlessly evolve. The nigiri is shaped, torched, brushed with soy or wasabi, and placed into your hand to eat, while cooked courses honour traditional techniques. A showstopping gold-leaf maguro maki (tuna sushi roll) is optional – if you have $100 to spare for four pieces. Indulge in rare ingredients flown in from across Australia and Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market, including a poisonous puffer fish made safe by expert chefs for the fugu chawanmushi (egg custard). End on a high note with a trio of Japanese green tea chocolate squares that evolve from bitter to sweet. 4 Lord St, Richmond; minamashima.com.au.

Yakimono, a name combining ‘yaki’ (grilled) and ‘mono’ (thing) presents an energetic inner-city offering from Chris Lucas (of Society, Chin Chin and Kisumé fame, among others) and acclaimed chef Daniel Wilson from Huxtable. The first thing you’ll notice is the bright neon lights, which offer a dazzling display, channelling the colour splashed streets of Tokyo at night. The next thing that will hit you is the sweet, smoky smell of sticky glazed meats cooked over charcoal. Daniel Wilson’s extensive selection of snacks offers a creative interpretation of contemporary Japanese cuisine. The menu goes beyond the usual chargrilled sticks to include raw plates, handrolls, rice and noodle dishes, and charcoal barbecue. Desserts include a banana cake spiked with dried shiitake mushroom powder and a yaki-kult and raspberry ice-cream sandwich, made from a yakult-flavoured frozen yoghurt with raspberry gel and monaka wafer. 80 Collins Street, Melbourne; yakimono.com.au.

From a buzzy dining room to an intimate omakase counter, this South Yarra eatery covers all bases. Good things come in threes, that’s the philosophy at Yūgen Restaurant. Why have one dining option when you can offer a trio of Modern Asian experiences? There’s the main restaurant, bar and private dining space, a six-seater omakase, and a golden orb-shaped dining room suspended from the ceiling. Each space is connected to the other, in what LK Hospitality Group believes is one of Melbourne’s most innovative new dining experiences. LK Hospitality’s culinary director, Stephen Nairn, and Yūgen’s head chef, Alex Yu from Sydney’s Sokyo are behind the menu. The share-style dishes are modern takes on old favourites. A smoked eel chawanmushi comes with brown butter and crispy chicken skin. Abrolhos Island scallops are a mix of acid and sweetness thanks to green nahm jim and coconut. If you’d prefer a more intimate omakase experience, you’re in luck. Head sushi chef, Samuel Chee, has sliced fish at Kisumé and Nobu. Head to the mezzanine level for delicacies such as kobujime, abalone, A5 wagyu and engawa sushi. 605 Chapel Street, South Yarra; yugendining.com.au.

Hospo kingpin Chris Lucas’s Japanese-eating, French wine-sipping wonderland, Kisumé, has many moving parts. The three-storey fine-diner boasts an intimate 12-seater chef’s table and Chablis bar upstairs, a New York-style sushi den at ground level and a busy kitchen downstairs. Kisumé (Japanese for a pure obsession with beauty) is powered by chefs with decades of craftsmanship. Salt-kissed, garlic-oiled edamame beans, funky miso soup, pan-sizzled pork gyozas, tasty tempura-battered things and high-grade Angus or wagyu steaks. Stick to the script and try the best boxes of nigiri (raw fish on rice), sashimi and maki rolls in town, starring the usual suspects of salmon, tuna and kingfish, but also innovative flame-licked beef and foie gras. The best-selling Wagyu truffle is loaded with mozzarella and finished with truffled mayo. 175 Flinders Ln, Melbourne; kisume.com.au.

Restaurant founder Shigemi Kawahara made kogashi (burned miso) ramen soup big in Japan, before opening Gogyo restaurants in Sydney and Brunswick St. Kogashi ramen has a distinctive deep-brown broth with sand-like char specks throughout, packs strong umami flavours and comes with fall apart pork belly, chewy noodles and crunchy wombok. There’s also izakaya-style small plates, unique to Gogyo Fitzroy – tender wagyu beef tiles with blushing red centres in a zingy yuzu ponzu dressing and irresistibly crisp tofu nuggets in the bitter kale salad. Gogyo also does sushi, like sweet prawn and scampi nigiri, and golden karaage chicken, also exclusive to the venue. 413 Brunswick St, Fitzroy; ippudo.com.au/gogyo.

Chefs put on an impressive culinary show at this sleek omakase restaurant. The philosophy behind this intimate, 37-seat Flinders Lane restaurant is rooted in the Osaka-born practice ofkappo. Kappo cuisine is one in which the chef’s meticulous knife-wielding techniques are showcased in an almost performative manner. While seated with a view of the chef’s worktop – around a communal, wooden bar – guests are treated to nine unique courses brought to life before them. With the restaurant’s sword-sharp focus on technique, simple yet toothsome ingredients become the true stars of this gastronomic theatre show. Prepared at the bar-turned cookery-stage is a string of artfully presented dishes flouting delicate textures, oomph-filled flavours and the freshest possible produce. 408 Flinders Ln, Melbourne; warabimelbourne.com.

A celebration of all things Japan, Robata is modern, cool and futuristic, and a world away from what head chef Stephen Clark is renowned for. Fir starters ruby-coloured Australian bluefin tuna was a real treat, as was the seared salmon – supple flesh countered by a fine layer of crisp, smoke-kissed skin and a mustard miso that should be bottled and sold.But skewered meat is Robata’s game and the binchotan is where it happens. Unlike other grills, these coals won’t impart flavour, which means the ingredients do the heavy lifting and take you to flavour town. Yakitori (chicken on a stick) lets you build a meal out of the broken down bird. There’s breast, thigh, wings and, for the adventurous, chicken hearts dusted with fiery chilli and beating with umami depth. Larger plates include a golden crumbed pork katsu, balanced with a refreshing cabbage slaw and nostril-twitching yellow wasabi mustard (karashi). 2 Exhibition St, Melbourne; robata.com.au.

This Richmond restaurant and bar delivers a considered take on Japanese flavours – from the grill and in the glass. Husband and wife owners Yuta and Shar Kobayashi bank on back-to-basics cooking from Niigata (Japan’s port city) and fun vibes to get you in the door. Bartenders shake up on-theme Japanese-flavoured cocktails like the Hello Kitty or Lost in Translation. Eazy’s sleek concrete bar is the best seat in the house, with full view of the glass-box kitchen serving up dinner and a show. Arm yourself with yakitori in one hand and a cold Kirin in the other and watch as chicken and vegetable skewers plume smoke from hardworking hibachi grills, imported from Japan. Much like the food, Eazy Peazy’s interior design is deliberately simple, seen in the raking of the rice-inspired walls and monochrome bar. Add friendly service and Eazy Peazy delivers a clever and considered take on Japanese food and is a whole lot of fun. 108 Swan St, Richmond; eazypeazymelb.com.

Andrew McConnell’s fast-paced mod-Asian casual eatery has been a CBD favourite for nine years, serving up all-day dining in the formidable Flinders Lane space. McConnell has borrowed influences from Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong and jammed it onto the origami-folded menu. A handful of plates change seasonally, but most are here to stay. Sip colourful cocktails and pick at free soy-glazed pepitas while you peruse. Switched-on staff will direct you to the house favourites – such as the now-iconic New England lobster roll, which sees sweet crustacean meat stuffed into a soft bun. Newer fare is found in sesame-studded flatbread, swiped through whipped cod roe. Eating at Supernormal is still a playful experience, with consistent, crowd-pleasing eats that will feed the imagination. 180 Flinders Ln, Melbourne; supernormal.net.au.

Husband and wife duo Hansson Shen and Lulu Gao opened Ichi Katsu early in 2022 and their love of Japanese food and culture is central to the venue, from walls adorned with Totoro the popular anime character, to the casual menu with katsu at its core. For the uninitiated, katsu is a panko crumbed fried cutlet, often pork, but can also be other meats, seafood such as prawn (ebi) or vegetables. It’s ubiquitous in Japan from 7-Eleven corner stores to high end restaurants and everywhere in between, served as a sando betwixt precisely cut soft white bread, on rice or in broth; served with a dark, rich and unctuous vegetable-based ketchup. While Ichi Katsu has a wide menu, its signature is the likes of the kurobuta ro-su-katsu a deep fried pork loin. Yakisoba, “Japanese style fried noodles” are also popular. 97 Kingsway, Glen Waverley; @ichikatsu_au.

Luring punters to the underground restaurant, which seats just 16 people, the Kagoshima A5 Wagyu is just one of 11 courses you’ll try from head chef Hitoshi Miyazawa’s kaiseki-style, multicourse feast. Find a seat overlooking the open kitchen, where Miyazawa’s intricately marvellous food is prepared and served by chefs and waiters in whisper-quiet unison. What seems like an ocean of seafood packs out the offering, with sashimi sliced before your eyes. You may try marron seafood bisque with crab, followed by an elaborate “autumn forest” of black cod, sanma (mackerel pike), paradise prawn, pumpkin castella and snapper sushi. Perhaps the most pleasing surprise comes in the form of yakimono (charcoal-grilled) barramundi with a spinach-green puree loaded with an elegant mix of zest, spice and sour notes. Tuna nigiri, eel and truffle, and a chestnut, persimmon and quince sorbet rounds out the two-hour dining experience. Basement level B01/139 Bourke St, Melbourne; ishizuka.com.au.