Japanese restaurant Takashiya to bring taste of luxury

South Brisbane is set to welcome a new Japanese restaurant where no expense is spared on luxury ingredients.

THE ultimate gourmet Japanese dining experience is coming to Brisbane, with a new restaurant shipping in tuna and wagyu from Japan.

Takashiya will launch at the base of the Emporium Hotel at South Brisbane, featuring an Omakase VIP room for just 12 guests, alongside a Japanese dining bar for between 20 to 24 customers.

Headed by revered chef Takashi Nami (ex-Shishou, Fortitude Valley), the two venues will focus on using the highest quality ingredients, including premium blue fin tuna and wagyu that will be processed and vacuum packed in Japan before being flown to Brisbane.

“We want really, really top grade [ingredients],” Mr Nami said. “Fish will change depending on season and what’s available from Japan.”

Chef Takashi Nami outside his new restaurant Takashiya which will sit at the base of the Emporium Hotel on Grey Street. Picture: Brad Fleet

The chef will also use local fish from Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria that have the rich, fatty texture and flavour best suited to sashimi and sushi.

The dining bar will be the site’s more casual offering, specialising in some of the finest Japanese whiskies and sake served under a stunning canopy of cherry blossoms around a dark, horse shoe-shaped bar.

Its menu will be a tight but considered and refined affair of approximately 12 dishes, ranging from a sando with fried wagyu chateaubriand and a foie gras dressing to stuffed spanner crab and Oscietra caviar served with thinly sliced sashimi and shiso leaves.

“It will be Japanese nibbles but a little bit fancy,” Mr Nami said.

While the VIP room will be screened off by silk doors and feature a dramatic pale timber curved bar where the chef will plate up dishes in front of diners.

Guests can choose from two nightly sittings: an early, short (10-12 course) omakase, or the late, long (15-20 course) omakase with prices around $230 per person, plus the option of matched wine and sake for an extra $70.

The Japanese version of a degustation will include two entrees, a sushi course, main dishes, dessert and more, with luxurious fare such as Tasmanian sea urchin, grilled miso glazed 51 Glacier toothfish and Mr Nami’s signature of wagyu topped with foie gras and truffle.

The fit-out will begin soon on the venue, with Takashiya scheduled to open mid-August.