Opened over twenty years ago by chef and owner Hiro Nishikura, Shira Nui is the type of restaurant where looks can be deceiving. The dining room’s design is fairly basic and the menu is laminated — but the food is nothing short of incredible.

Nobu at Crown brings Nobu Matsuhisa’s esteemed fusion of traditional Japanese food with South American flavours to our city. You can feast from a bunch of different menus, but its the omakase experiences that showcase the chefs’ strengths.

Chef Yong Hyun heads up the kitchen at Kew’s Sushi On, bringing his twenty years of experience in Tokyo and his time at Melbourne’s Komeyui and Kisumé to the rolling mat. 

The simplest way to describe Kisumé may be this: three storeys of considered grandeur. You can go a la carte here but it’s hard to turn down The Chef’s Table multi-course dining experience. 

Tucked away in Flinders Lane is one of the most striking dining rooms in all of Melbourne. Think black granite, dim lighting, sleek leather furniture and a dazzling, illuminated red ribbon streaking across the room from the ceiling.

Omakase is typically extremely seafood-forward. But Yakikami — home to some of the best steak in the city — serves up a menu that champions top-quality wagyu beef.

Yugen Dining is a multi-faceted drinking and dining destination with a dramatic aesthetic and an impressive commitment to detail. Downstairs is home to a lofty, open restaurant space and adjacent bar area with soaring ceilings.

W Melbourne‘s omakase offering, Warabi, recently entered a new era. The appointment of Chef Hajime Horiguchi, who arrives after an extensive three-year search, signals a strong future for what is already one of Melbourne’s best omakase experiences. 

Now, Matsu isn’t technically an omakase restaurant, but it wholeheartedly deserves to be on this list. Instead of omakase, the tiny four-seater Footscray restaurant serves up a decadent kaiseki experience.

Carving out its own unique offering in Melbourne’s omakase scene is Aoi Tsuki, a pint-sized, 12-seat Japanese restaurant nestled on a busy section of Punt Road — an unlikely location for one of Melbourne’s best fine-dining restaurants.

When Minamishima first opened in 2016, it didn’t take long for people to notice. After 15 years at Kenzan, sushi master Koichi Minamishima decided to go out on his own, and he almost immediately started making waves in the world of sushi.