Melbourne lost an institution when Izakaya Den closed in April after 15 years. The subterranean restaurant helped usher in a wave of izakayas, which were not commonly found in Melbourne when it opened in 2009, but today are an integral part of our restaurant scene. Since its closure, the venue has remained empty – but that’s set to change in March thanks to chef and business person Chen Chen.

Chen – who has started 17 businesses, including restaurant Whitehorse Chloe and cafe Platform Seven, which both closed during Covid – plans to open Miyazaki Gyu, a Japanese restaurant with two distinct dining experiences, in the space.

At the front, there’ll be robatayaki – charcoal-grilled skewers of fish and meat – which you’ll be able to watch chefs cooking from the open kitchen. “We’ll cook in front of you. You’ll feel the aromas, you’ll see the fish on the skewer, and the chef will put salt on it dramatically,” Chen says.

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At the back will be a private dining room and tables with built-in barbeques for shabu-shabu, a type of Japanese hotpot.

Chen supplies Wagyu to restaurants including K-BBQ spot Woo 399 and the izakaya Ikkai, and owns retail seafood businesses including Chen’s Seafood Butcher in Burwood East. “I’m famous in Toyosu Market now,” chef and business person Chen Chen tells Broadsheet, somewhat jokingly. “They know me as the seafood importer from Melbourne.” At Miyazaki Gyu, diners can expect local and Japanese seafood as well as Wagyu and what Chen says he expects to be the city’s biggest menu of sakes.

As for the decor? “I wouldn’t change a lot,” he says. He’s keeping the open kitchen, but lightening up the basement venue by re-styling the dark charcoal-coloured walls and making the design more “traditionally Japanese” with Japanese sculptures, umbrellas and paintings.

Miyazaki Gyu is expected to open at 18 Russell Street, Melbourne, in March 2025.