5 Chef Hat-Awarded Japanese Restaurants You Need to Visit.

What makes Japanese food different from other global cuisines is the essence of simplicity at the core of the country’s culinary dishes. Most classic Japanese recipes comprise of only a handful of ingredients, allowing the fresh flavours of the main components to shine.

In Australia, we are totally in love with Japanese food from exclusive, seemingly hard-to-book omakase restaurants to regional styles of ramen and noodles, we can’t get enough!

As we continue on our delicious drive around Chef Hat-awarded restaurants countrywide, here are five Japanese venues you need to visit:

Lovingly crafted Japanese flavours are on the plate at Kadota restaurant on Camp Street in picturesque Daylesford. This warm and inviting venue is the passion project of owners Aaron Schembri and Risa Kadota, whom the restaurant is named after, who met while working at some of Japan’s finest restaurants.

 

They have brought their passion for captivating food, drinks and hospitality from Risa’s hometown of Okayama to Aaron’s hometown of Daylesford; expect to be blown away by quality, taste and presentation. Try scallops, tomato tea, braised konbu and dried scallop crisp to start, before braised duck yakitori and fermented tofu.

With a name meaning ‘theatre’ in Japanese, expect culinary masterpieces on the plate at Haco on Alberta Street in Sydney. In the hands of Executive Chef Keita Abe and Head Chef Kensuke Yaka, this elegant restaurant comes to life as a singular, extraordinary tempura dining experience as delicious dishes made from premium ingredients are crafted right before your eyes.

Indulge your senses and palate with a premium omakase menu plating up temptations such as tempura Wagyu with foie gras, sesame leaf, corn purée and sweet and sour wasabi sauce; or tempura Hokkaido scallops, cauliflower purée and cuttlefish in squid ink and bacon sauce.

A dazzling Red Thread of Fate light fixture twists its way across the dining room welcoming guests to Akaiito on Flinders Lane in Melbourne city. A moody vibe of black marble, dark granite and plush grey banquette seating awaits discerning diners, while the overhead red luminous thread is mirrored in the red plates on the tables. 

 

The interior is beautifully designed with Japanese elements throughout, ideal for perusing a seasonal Kojin menu with small plates of diced Wagyu tartare on a crispy potato gratin with horseradish and black caviar; before larger offerings like robata-grilled toothfish, caviar, walnuts, diamond clams and beurre blanc sauce.

Tantalise tastebuds with modern Japanese fare at Raku Dining on Bunda Street in Canberra. Combining the precision of Oriental cuisine with the vibrant energy of Mod Oz dining, Raku is all sleek lines, pale wood tables and stools, mixed with glossy tiles and floor-to-ceiling glass windows, to create a chic and trendy vibe.

 

Best described as art on a plate, be prepared for starters like salmon tartare, yuzu miso and a squid cracker or a selection of Chef’s nigiri; before tempura soft-shell crab with potato starch and kimchi mayonnaise, or Alaskan black cod, saikyo miso and pickled cauliflower.

Open the barn door at Etsu Izakaya on Gold Coast Highway in Mermaid Beach to discover a magical mystery tour of Japanese share-plate dining. Moody surrounds of neon signage, walls plastered with photographs and a long, low-lit dining space make this izakaya-style restaurant an ideal place for a romantic encounter, or chilling out with friends for after-work drinks.

 

The menu embraces all aspects of Japanese fare from sushi and sashimi to tempura, salads and teriyaki; think plates like kingfish carpaccio, yuzu soy, fermented jalapeño and coriander, moving onto robata-grilled pork belly or char-grilled fish collar with yuan yaki sauce.