Comfortable booth seating, soft lighting, rich wooden interiors, brightly coloured sake barrels, and river views – this Eagle St, Brisbane CBD restaurant wins plenty of points for ambience.

Authentic fare more than matches the mood as does the friendly service.

The pick of the starters is the thinly sliced hiramasa kingfish with coriander ponzu but the real winners are the mains.

Miso caramelised “glacier 51” toothfish is a simple dish by appearance – a single grilled fillet and a side of lotus root pickles – but it’s packed with complex sweet, sour, savoury notes.

The slow cooked, achingly tender cape grim short rib is a terrific Japanese twist on ribs and chips, and comes with crunchy lengths of fried yam, and red miso and rich sweet soy condiments.

Dessert are non traditional in offerings such as chocolate cake and creme brulee but first timers should opt for the theatre of the dragon egg, which arrives in a fog of dry ice before hot miso caramel is poured over a large milk chocolate egg resting in bed of crunchy almond flakes. It’s one to be shared.

The drinks list offers ample choice with plenty of top Aussie wines, sake, Japanese whisky and umeshu (plum wine). If you can’t decide, set menus start at $60 for lunch, and $99 or $110 for dinner.

Exceptional dish: Miso caramelised ‘glacier 51’ tooth fish