RFK Cuisine · Japanese · Melbourne
Best Japanese Restaurants in Melbourne 2026
Japanese · Melbourne · 6 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Koichi Minamishima spent fifteen years cutting fish at Kenzan before he opened a counter down a one-way street in Richmond, and that apprenticeship is why Melbourne now holds a sushi room that belongs in any global conversation. Minamishima is the only Japanese restaurant in the city with three hats, the top rating the Good Food Guide gives — Australia has no Michelin — and beneath it sits a genuinely deep field: a two-hat kaiseki room hidden off Bourke Street, a glamorous three-level operation on Flinders Lane, a Euro-Japanese degustation that migrated from the country to Carlton, a Southbank room with the river out the window, and the Flinders Lane institution that trained the master in the first place. These are the six Melbourne Japanese restaurants worth booking now, ranked on the cooking, the room and what the bill buys, with what to order at each.
1.Minamishima
Melbourne's only three-hat Japanese room; book the counter at Minamishima for chef Koichi Minamishima's Edomae omakase and the city's finest nigiri.
Minamishima, at 4 Lord Street in Richmond, is the best Japanese restaurant in Melbourne and one of the great sushi counters outside Japan — the solo venture of Koichi Minamishima, who spent fifteen years at Kenzan before opening his own room. It is the only Japanese restaurant in the city to hold three hats in the Good Food Guide. The fifteen-course Edomae omakase, taken at the long bar, is pure nigiri: fish aged, cured and brushed to order in near silence, served piece by piece in the classic Tokyo tradition. There are tables too, but the counter is the experience. For the city's definitive sushi meal, book a bar seat. Reserve several weeks ahead and choose the omakase at the counter.
Reserve direct at the counter; the full nigiri omakase, with the sake pairing.
2.Ishizuka
A hidden two-hat kaiseki room; book Ishizuka off Bourke Street for a sixteen-seat multi-course tasting that is Melbourne's most refined Japanese meal.
Ishizuka, down an alleyway off Bourke Street in the CBD, is Melbourne's home of contemporary kaiseki — a serene sixteen-seat room, two hats in the Good Food Guide, where the kitchen builds a long, seasonal multi-course tasting in the classic Kyoto progression of small, precise dishes. Where Minamishima is pure sushi, Ishizuka is the whole arc of a Japanese fine-dining meal: broths, grilled courses, a rice course, restrained desserts, each plated with quiet exactitude. The basement setting makes it feel sealed off from the city above. For a special-occasion Japanese tasting menu rather than a sushi counter, this is the booking. Reserve a couple of weeks ahead for a weekend seat.
Reserve direct; the full kaiseki tasting, with the matched sake flight.
3.Kisume
The Lucas Group's glamorous three-floor Japanese; book Kisume on Flinders Lane for a sushi-bar dinner or the chef's table with real spectacle.
Kisume, at 175 Flinders Lane in the CBD, is the Lucas Group's grand, three-level take on Japanese dining — a sushi bar on the ground floor, the more serious chef's-table dining of The Table above, and the Chablis Bar stacked on top, all in a glossy, design-led room built for a night out. The kitchen ranges from precise nigiri to modern Japanese cooking and a deep sake and Chablis list, which makes it the most versatile Japanese room in the city: equally good for a sushi-bar dinner, a celebration upstairs, or a glass and a few plates after work. For a stylish, flexible Japanese night in the CBD, book it. Reserve a week ahead, more around theatre nights.
Reserve direct; a sushi-bar selection downstairs, or the chef's table at The Table.
4.Kazuki's
A Japanese-French degustation that moved from the country to the city; book Kazuki's on Lygon Street for one of Melbourne's most distinctive tasting menus.
Kazuki's, on Lygon Street in Carlton, is the husband-and-wife project of Saori and Kazuki Tsuya, who built a cult following in Daylesford before bringing the restaurant to Melbourne. The cooking is genuinely its own thing — Japanese ingredients and technique threaded through French degustation, offered in two, three, five or seven courses so you can scale the meal to the night. Dishes move between dashi-deep Japanese flavour and classic French richness without ever feeling like fusion for its own sake, and the small room runs with real warmth. For a Japanese-rooted tasting menu unlike anything else in the city, this is the pick. Reserve a couple of weeks ahead and take the longer degustation.
Reserve direct; the seven-course degustation, with the wine matching.
5.Saké Restaurant & Bar
The river-view modern Japanese under the Arts Centre; book Saké at Hamer Hall for contemporary plates and the city's easiest pre-theatre Japanese table.
Saké Restaurant & Bar, beneath the Arts Centre at Hamer Hall on Southbank, is the most accessible serious Japanese room on this list — a large, contemporary dining room looking out over the Yarra and the Southbank promenade, with a long sake, wine and cocktail list. The menu is modern Japanese built on good sourcing, from sustainable bluefin tuna and hiramasa kingfish to robata and rolls, and the à la carte format lets a table eat as lightly or as lavishly as it likes. The setting makes it the obvious pre-show booking before a performance at the Arts Centre. For a flexible, river-view Japanese dinner with a group, it is the pick. Reserve a few days ahead, earlier before a show.
Reserve direct; the sashimi selection, a robata plate, and a sake flight before the show.
6.Kenzan
The Flinders Lane institution that trained Minamishima; book Kenzan for consistently fine nigiri and traditional Japanese without the omakase wait.
Kenzan, the long-running Japanese restaurant on Flinders Lane in the CBD with its GPO offshoot nearby, is the institution that shaped the city's Japanese cooking — the room where Koichi Minamishima trained for fifteen years before opening his own counter. It has stayed at the top of Melbourne's Japanese ranks on the strength of its fish and the consistency of its chefs, serving traditional sushi, sashimi and set menus in a calm, business-like room. It is not chasing trends or hats; it is simply reliable in a way that takes decades to build. For genuinely good nigiri and traditional Japanese without a weeks-long omakase wait, book it. Reserve a few days ahead, lunch included.
Reserve direct; a nigiri and sashimi selection, or the set lunch.
How Melbourne eats Japanese
Melbourne's Japanese dining is anchored by its counters and kaiseki rooms. At the top, Minamishima and Ishizuka run the two classic fine-dining formats — pure Edomae sushi and seasonal kaiseki — and hold the city's highest hats. Below them, the field broadens: Kisume turns Japanese dining into a glamorous multi-level night out, Kazuki's threads Japanese technique through French degustation, and Saké and Kenzan cover the everyday-excellent end with à la carte rooms you can actually get into. The thread running through all of them is sourcing — Australia's seafood is superb, and the best of these kitchens treat it with Tokyo-grade restraint.
Geography keeps most of it central. The CBD holds Ishizuka, Kisume and Kenzan within a short walk along and around Flinders Lane; Richmond, just east, has Minamishima; Carlton to the north has Kazuki's on Lygon Street; and Southbank, across the Yarra, has Saké under the Arts Centre. Book the counters and kaiseki rooms as far ahead as their windows allow, and lean on Saké and Kenzan when you want a Japanese meal on short notice. For everything beyond Japanese, the Melbourne dining guide maps the city by neighborhood and occasion.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious Japanese in Melbourne
The food-court teppanyaki and chain sushi. The mall teppanyaki counters and grab-and-go sushi-roll chains across the city are fine for a quick, cheap lunch, but they are a different product from a counter cutting Edomae nigiri to order. Do not judge Melbourne's Japanese cooking by them — book any room on this list instead.
The pan-Asian "Japanese-ish" room, for the real thing. Melbourne has plenty of excellent modern-Asian restaurants that borrow Japanese ideas, but they are not Japanese restaurants and do not set out to be. If you want sushi, kaiseki or a true izakaya, point yourself at Minamishima or Ishizuka rather than a fusion room where Japan is one influence among several.
Frequently asked
What is the best Japanese restaurant in Melbourne?
Minamishima in Richmond is the city's best Japanese restaurant — chef Koichi Minamishima's Edomae omakase counter, the only Japanese room in Melbourne to hold three hats in the Good Food Guide. The fifteen-course nigiri progression is the order. For contemporary kaiseki, two-hat Ishizuka in the CBD is the alternative. Choose Minamishima for pure sushi mastery and Ishizuka for a multi-course Japanese tasting.
Does Melbourne have Michelin-starred Japanese restaurants?
No — the Michelin Guide does not cover Australia. Melbourne's benchmark is the Good Food Guide's hat system, where three hats is the top rating. Minamishima holds three hats and Ishizuka holds two, which place them among the very best restaurants of any cuisine in the city. When comparing Melbourne with Tokyo or New York, read three hats as the local equivalent of the top Michelin tier rather than looking for stars that do not exist here.
How much does omakase cost in Melbourne?
Melbourne omakase sits at the high end of the city's dining. Minamishima's nigiri omakase runs well into the hundreds per person before drinks, as does Ishizuka's kaiseki tasting. Kazuki's offers shorter and longer degustations that let you scale the spend, and Kisume runs from à la carte sushi to a full chef's table. Saké and Kenzan are the most flexible, with à la carte menus where you can eat well for far less. Drinks are extra.
Where is the best sushi counter in Melbourne?
Minamishima, at 4 Lord Street in Richmond, is the definitive sushi counter — book a seat at the long bar for the full Edomae omakase rather than a table. Kisume, at 175 Flinders Lane in the CBD, has an excellent sushi bar within its three-level operation. Kenzan, the long-running Flinders Lane institution where Minamishima trained, also cuts consistently fine nigiri. For the city's purest counter experience, book the bar at Minamishima.
How far ahead should I book Japanese in Melbourne?
Minamishima is the city's hardest Japanese table — book several weeks ahead for a counter seat, more for a weekend. Ishizuka's sixteen seats and Kazuki's degustation rooms also need a couple of weeks for prime times. Kisume fills its best CBD tables a week out, more around events at the nearby theatres. Saké and Kenzan are the easiest, bookable a few days ahead, with Saké busiest before Arts Centre performances.
More Japanese, by city
More from RFK
Browse the full Melbourne dining guide, compare the global picks in the best Japanese restaurants worldwide, read the verdict on the three-hat counter at Minamishima, plan a first-date dinner on Flinders Lane, find a solo seat at the sushi bar, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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