The Counter

Takashiya opens onto a small, cherry-blossom-framed room beneath the Emporium Hotel on Grey Street in South Brisbane. The kind of restaurant a traveller could walk past on a rainy Tuesday and not know they had missed one of the city's great rooms. The twelve-seat counter is the only meaningful dining option: everyone eats what the chefs decide, at the pace the chefs set, facing the chefs as they work. This is omakase in its proper register. Reverence, restraint, attention. And it is almost unheard-of in Queensland at this level.

The design is quiet and deliberate. Pale timber. A cherry-blossom installation over the counter that diffuses the light without obscuring the workspace. The glassware is correct. The knives are correct. There is no soundtrack competing with the small sounds of the kitchen. The rasp of a knife on a sharpening stone, the brush of fingertips over sushi rice, the soft crackle of binchotan charcoal. To sit here for two hours is, in a small and absolute way, to leave Brisbane.

The Omakase

Takashiya offers omakase experiences beginning at $88 per person. One of the great under-priced luxuries in Australian dining. With longer counter experiences in the Omakase Room at premium tiers. The entry-level menu typically runs to nine or more courses built around the freshest available seafood flown from the Tsukiji and Sydney markets and the best of Queensland's local waters. The premium experiences ascend into kaiseki territory, with more courses, rarer seafood, and expanded sake pairings.

The nigiri portion of any Takashiya menu is where the kitchen's discipline is most visible. The rice is cooked, seasoned, and handled with the fingertip pressure of a Tokyo counter. Not tight, not loose, compressed only by what the grain itself requires. The fish is sliced to angle and thickness specific to each cut. The tuna ranges through akami, chutoro and otoro in a single service; the aged whitefish carries the umami depth of traditional Edomae technique. The temaki that closes many menus is a showpiece: nori freshly torched, rice warm, filling generous.

The Sake

The sake list is one of the most considered in Australia, with pairings selected by the counter team to match the pace and weight of each course. The wine list is compact but sensible. An Alsatian riesling or a grower Champagne, chosen for sushi rather than for show. The service is warm. The chefs speak through the food and through small, courteous exchanges that never break the rhythm of the room. Valet parking is available at the Emporium Hotel for $35. A civilised arrival for a civilised evening.

Perfect for: Solo Dining
There is no room in Brisbane where solo dining is more at home. The omakase format presupposes a diner who has come to eat. Not to perform company. The counter seats you beside the chefs, which means the evening is social in exactly the way a good restaurant should be: you are part of the kitchen, without the pressure of conversation. For the solo diner wanting to treat themselves with uncommon seriousness. A birthday, a professional milestone, a Tuesday when Tuesday needed to be sharpened. Takashiya is the answer.
Perfect for: First Date
Taking someone to Takashiya on a first date signals that you are operating in the register of care and attention. The counter format removes the awkwardness of menu negotiation. You both eat what the chef offers, and each course becomes a shared experience. The quiet of the room forces real conversation, but the chefs' work at the counter gives you something to watch when you need a pause. It is intimate without being suffocating.