Melbourne has no shortage of exemplary, and longstanding, Japanese restaurants. But omakase is really having a moment. The intimate, high-end, chef’s-selection style of Japanese dining – roughly translated as “I’ll leave it to you” – is an experience like no other. Here are five new restaurants where you can splash out on a degustation of sushi, sashimi and other seasonal Japanese dishes – including one that manages to avoid the usual hefty price tag.

Aoi Tsuki
During Melbourne’s lockdowns, a number of sublime takeaway sushi services popped up to fill the hole left by restaurants. Aoi Tsuki was one of them, with founders Tei Gim and Jun Pak boxing up fish from a small shop in North Melbourne.

Now the two chefs – whose combined experience spans Kenzan, Shoya, Kisume and Nobu – have spun that lo-fi operation into a definitively hi-fi 12-seat omakase restaurant in South Yarra. In true omakase (“I leave it up to you”) style, there’s no food menu; no à la carte options. It’s all up to the chefs and what they’re feeling.

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Whether that be blue cheese and caviar on chawanmushi; clam soup; aged bass grouper sashimi with Japanese plum; kingfish sashimi with chilli-vinegar miso; or steamed snapper with Japanese pepper, wasabi and deep-fried alfalfa.

Sushi On
South Korean-born chef JangYong Hyun is behind Kew’s new eight-seat omakase diner. Hyun served in the South Korean army before moving to Japan to hone his sushi craft. He then moved to Melbourne, working at Komeyui and Kisume before striking out on his own. The suave suburban spot has one sitting per night. Hyun takes diners through 23 changing, mostly one-bite courses for $190. He works quickly and deftly right in front of you, shaping rice, expertly slicing fish, then lightly searing some pieces.

You might start with an oyster, move onto nigiri, progress to maki, and finish the savoury journey with soup. Additional courses depend on market availability – they might be Kumamoto Wagyu nigiri or sea urchin gunkan. The menu is 95 per cent seafood. Sushi On is fully booked through February and March, and you’ll have to be quick once reservations open for April. Stay up to date on Instagram.

Yugen
There’s something very Hollywood about the Yugen experience – entering a curtained-off street-level tea bar, gliding below ground in a glass-walled elevator, stepping out into the golden glow of an extravagant two-level bar and dining room, and taking in the orb-like mezzanine suspended above you, before plotting your next move. Will it be an Ume Negroni at the gilded bar – underneath the dazzling Jennifer Conroy-Smith chandelier – before an à la carte adventure? Or are you heading straight upstairs for Melbourne’s most memorable new omakase experience?

When reservations for “sushi florist” Alex Yu’s (Sokyo Sydney) six-seater, coral-hued marble omakase bar opened, the first six weeks sold out in just nine minutes. It treats diners to an intimate performance art, where chefs deftly prepare exquisite bites of seafood. The two set menus are a celebration of Yugen’s sushi and sashimi offerings. Failing a reservation, there’s also an à la carte offering (of charcoal-fired skewers, crispy lamb ribs, a prawn-toast-Chinese-doughnut hybrid, and more) available to book or for walk-ins, plus a late-night supper menu available from 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays .

Asoko
Sandwiched between a drycleaner and a pharmacy in Port Melbourne, this unassuming new sushi bar – helmed by chef Martin Kim – is offering something a little different to the others. “Other omakase restaurants are selling a brand,” he says. “If you dine at [some], you get status by doing so. I can’t give you that. So, how can I compete with them? I want to be a hidden gem in a local neighbourhood, offering friendly, intimate service at a lower price. But still with top-quality food.” Kim honed his sushi skills in his native South Korea before briefly moving to Sydney, then Melbourne, where he worked at Koko at Crown for many years.

Pull up at the Bay Street eatery’s 10-seat timber bar (which Kim custom-built) to sample his skill. The omakase experience starts with various zensai, or Japanese appetisers. The sashimi course is different every day, with Kim’s good relationship with his fish supplier affording seasonal variety. Misoyaki follows – the fish of the day marinated in sweet miso. Then Kim deftly slices up 12 different nigiri right in front of you, to be dipped in a soy sauce he makes from scratch. Dessert might be crème brûlée. Asoko also offers a tight list of sake and plum wines, as well as whisky by Asaka, the only whisky-producing distillery in the volcanic Tohoku region of Japan.

Yakikami
In South Yarra, Yakikami is a sophisticated Japanese barbeque restaurant from the team behind Melbourne’s Wagyu Ya and Niku Ou. It is a lavish dining experience focused on high-grade Kobe beef, sizzled over red-hot charcoal josper grills. But there are also yakitori tables dedicated to the succulent chicken skewers, made with Sommerlad chicken from Adelaide. (Also a standout is the nine-hour chicken-bone ramen; it’s hearty but lighter than expected.)

Or you can push the boat out with the high-end omakase experience in the private dining room. At $285 a head, it features 15-plus dishes curated by head chef Hirokazu Sasaki, including A5 Wagyu tartare topped with smoked black caviar and plenty of Kobe beef. It’s served alongside a selection of micro-brewed sakes imported from Japan. You can get a front-row seat to all the action by perching at the luxe bar, or there are plush semi-private booths in dimly lit surrounds.

Looking for more excellent Japanese around the city? Check out our Best Japanese Restaurants guide.