RFK Cuisine · Sushi · Melbourne
Best Sushi Restaurants in Melbourne 2026
Sushi · Melbourne · 6 counters ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published June 20, 2026 · Updated June 20, 2026
Koichi Minamishima runs an omakase counter hidden behind an unmarked door in Richmond, and for years it has been the answer to the question of where Melbourne's best sushi is eaten. The city took to the form late but hard. A decade ago a serious omakase was a rarity here; now there is a cluster of twelve-seat counters across South Yarra, Port Melbourne and the CBD, a Glen Waverley room that locals drive across town for, and a forty-year institution that still sells nigiri by the piece. Ranked here on the rice, the fish and what the bill buys, with what to order at each.
1.Minamishima
Melbourne's best sushi, Koichi Minamishima's three-hat Richmond counter; book the $295 omakase weeks ahead for a special-occasion night.
Koichi Minamishima opened his Richmond counter in 2014 and has held three hats, the top rating in the Good Food Guide, more or less ever since, the clearest benchmark for sushi in Australia. There is one experience: a single omakase (chef's choice) of around twenty pieces, roughly $295 a head, served at an intimate counter where Minamishima builds each nigiri in front of you. The fish is aged and treated with a precision that no other Melbourne counter quite matches, and the rice is the reason the room sits at the top. This is a special-occasion seat, not a casual sushi dinner. Book several weeks ahead, take a counter seat over a table, and clear the evening; the meal is unhurried by design.
Book online weeks ahead; the single omakase, at the counter.
2.Komeyui
Motomu Kumano's Port Melbourne counter, a ten-course sushi omakase from a chef raised in a fishing town; book for serious value.
Motomu Kumano grew up in the small Japanese fishing town of Shiraoi and started cooking at sixteen, and his Port Melbourne restaurant, popular enough that he added a second venue in South Melbourne, serves some of the highest-quality omakase in the city. A long stone counter is reserved for the ten-course sushi tasting, a rotating menu that might run from sous-vide toothfish to sake-steamed abalone to a dedicated nigiri course over perfectly seasoned rice. It delivers much of what the top counters do at a friendlier price, which makes it the value pick among the serious omakase rooms. Go for a sushi-led tasting without the special-occasion outlay. Reserve two to three weeks ahead and ask for the counter rather than a table.
Book online; the ten-course sushi omakase at the stone counter.
3.Aoi Tsuki
Tei Gim and Jun Pak's twelve-seat South Yarra bar, a twenty-course degustation with banter; go for a lively omakase night.
Aoi Tsuki began life as a lockdown sushi delivery service and has grown into a sleek twelve-seat omakase bar in South Yarra, run by chefs Tei Gim and Jun Pak, who trained between them at Kisume, Nobu and Kenzan. Diners sit around a U-shaped counter for a seasonal degustation of twenty or more courses, and the draw is as much the room as the food: the two chefs work off the table, no two seatings the same, with a generous helping of playful conversation. It is the most sociable of Melbourne's serious counters, lively where Minamishima is hushed. Go with people you want to talk to over a long, animated meal. Book online a couple of weeks ahead; the twelve seats fill on weekends first.
Reserve online; the seasonal degustation, and sit in for the banter.
4.Kisume
Chris Lucas's design-led Flinders Lane omakase, around $175 at the bar; book for sushi with a glossy, see-and-be-seen room.
Kisume is Chris Lucas's three-level Japanese restaurant on Flinders Lane, its name meant to evoke an obsession with beauty, and the design is as much the point as the food: a glossy, multi-storey room that is one of the see-and-be-seen rooms of the CBD. The serious sushi happens at a twelve-seat bar upstairs, where executive chef Kyungsoo Moon runs a deluxe omakase around $175 a head built on the state's best local produce alongside Japanese imports. It is less austere than the specialist counters and more of a night out, with a sprawling restaurant and bar around it. Go when you want strong sushi inside a glamorous evening rather than a monk-like counter. Book the bar omakase online, ideally a couple of weeks ahead.
Reserve the upstairs bar; the deluxe omakase, around $175.
5.Shira Nui
Hiro Nishikura's Glen Waverley room serves Melbourne's best chirashi; drive out for omakase that undercuts the CBD counters.
Shira Nui has run from an understated room at 247 Springvale Road in Glen Waverley since 2003, under head chef and owner Hiro Nishikura, and it has built a loyal following well beyond its suburb. It is widely rated as one of the best places in Melbourne for a dinner omakase, and the dish that draws pilgrims is the chirashi (sashimi over seasoned rice), regularly called the best in the city. The room is modest and the prices undercut the CBD counters, which is exactly why people drive across town for it. Go for serious sushi at sane money, with the chirashi as the non-negotiable order. Book a few days ahead, plan for the drive out of the centre, and ask whether omakase seats are open that night.
Book a few days ahead; the chirashi, or the dinner omakase.
6.Kenzan
Melbourne's 40-year Japanese institution in Collins Place; sit at the sushi bar for nigiri by the piece, no omakase commitment.
Kenzan has been serving traditional Japanese food at Collins Place in the CBD since 1981, which makes it the elder statesman of sushi in Melbourne, longer-running than the entire omakase wave above it. Alongside a full restaurant and a private room, it keeps an intimate twelve-seat sushi bar, and the appeal is flexibility: you order nigiri by the piece, maki rolls, chirashi bowls or arranged sushi and sashimi plates, with no fixed tasting menu to commit to. That makes it the easiest entry point on this list, good for a quick, well-made lunch or a sushi dinner on your own terms. Go when you want quality sushi without booking weeks ahead or sitting through a set menu. Walk in or reserve same-week, especially for lunch.
Walk in or book same-week; nigiri by the piece at the sushi bar.
How Melbourne eats sushi
Melbourne's sushi splits cleanly into two modes. The omakase counters, Minamishima, Aoi Tsuki, Komeyui and Kisume, are the destination tier: twelve or so seats, a fixed chef's menu, booked weeks ahead and priced from around $175 to $295. They cluster in Richmond, South Yarra, Port Melbourne and the CBD, close enough to fold into a night in town. The other mode is the a la carte room, where Kenzan in the city and Shira Nui out in Glen Waverley let you order plate by plate and pay far less, with Shira Nui's chirashi the dish that proves you do not need a tasting menu to eat brilliantly.
The etiquette tracks the tier. At the counters, take the set menu, flag allergies in advance, and keep your booking, since a no-show costs a small room dearly. At the a la carte rooms you can walk in and graze. Lunch is the value window across the board. For the wider city, the Melbourne dining guide maps the rest of the scene, and the best sushi restaurants worldwide set these counters against Tokyo, Osaka and Hong Kong.
Where not to look for it
Skip these for serious sushi
Food-court sushi rolls. The grab-and-go hand-roll counters in the malls and on every corner are cheap and fine for lunch on the move, but they are a different food from the rooms above. For real nigiri you want a chef and a counter, not a fridge.
Minamishima on a tight schedule. The Richmond omakase is a slow, fixed twenty-course sequence and it does not bend for a packed evening. If your night is short, eat at Kenzan or grab a chirashi at Shira Nui instead, and save Minamishima for a night you can give it two unhurried hours.
Frequently asked
What is the best sushi restaurant in Melbourne?
Minamishima in Richmond is the best sushi in Melbourne, an omakase-only counter run by chef Koichi Minamishima that holds three hats in the Good Food Guide. The single set menu runs around $295 a head and the seats book out fast. Below it, Komeyui in Port Melbourne and Aoi Tsuki in South Yarra are the strongest of the city's dedicated omakase counters, and Kisume offers the most polished room of the group.
How much does omakase cost in Melbourne?
Melbourne omakase, the chef's-choice sushi menu, ranges widely. Minamishima sits at the top at roughly $295 a head for its single set menu. Kisume runs a bar omakase around $175, and Komeyui's multi-course sushi tasting lands between the two depending on add-ons. Out in Glen Waverley, Shira Nui undercuts the city counters, and Kenzan in the CBD lets you skip omakase entirely and order nigiri by the piece, which is the cheapest way into good sushi here.
Where is the best omakase in Melbourne?
For a pure omakase experience, Minamishima sets the standard, with Koichi Minamishima building each nigiri at an intimate Richmond counter. Aoi Tsuki, the twelve-seat South Yarra bar run by Tei Gim and Jun Pak, is the liveliest, a long degustation served with the chefs' running commentary. Komeyui in Port Melbourne is the value pick of the serious counters, and Kisume on Flinders Lane is the most designed room. All seat around a dozen, so book ahead.
How far ahead should I book sushi in Melbourne?
Book Minamishima several weeks out; the omakase-only counter is one of the hardest tables in the city. Aoi Tsuki, Komeyui and Kisume take online reservations two to three weeks ahead and are easier midweek. Shira Nui in Glen Waverley needs a few days' notice and a drive out of the CBD. Kenzan, with a full restaurant alongside its sushi bar, is the most walk-in-friendly of the group, especially at lunch.
What should I order at a Melbourne sushi restaurant?
At the omakase counters, Minamishima, Aoi Tsuki, Komeyui and Kisume, you take the set menu and let the chef lead, course by course of nigiri and small plates. At Shira Nui, order the chirashi, the bowl of sashimi over rice that regulars rate as the best in Melbourne. At Kenzan, build your own meal from nigiri by the piece, maki rolls and sashimi plates. Across all of them, the quality of the rice is the tell.
More sushi, by city
More from RFK
Browse the full Melbourne dining guide, compare the global picks in the best sushi restaurants worldwide, read the best Japanese restaurants in Melbourne, plan a solo counter dinner, or open the full RFK cuisine index.
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