City of Melbourne shuts down Alex Cheah’s tiny eatery Teishoku Tuesdays

A passionate, self-taught cook was running the city’s smallest, and most in-demand, eatery from his Carlton apartment — yet there was one problem.

Self-taught cook Alex Cheah had been running Teishoku Tuesdays weekly out of his small Carlton apartment since September — until he was shut down by City of Melbourne last week. Picture: David Caird.

A self-taught cook behind a TikTok-famous underground eatery has vowed to “keep this dream alive”, after council shut down the home operation.

Alex Cheah’s Teishoku Tuesdays had been running weekly since September, cooking for two guests at a time from his tiny Carlton high-rise.

For a short while, it carried the title of Melbourne’s smallest restaurant – even smaller than Chae; a six-seater Korean eatery born out of a Brunswick apartment in 2021.

The $70 per person experience included an authentic teishoku (set-menu) feast, complete with Japanese inspired cocktails – and had become some so popular it was fully booked for 2023 and boasted a 500-person waitlist.

Hype for the intimate dining experience quickly snowballed after being posted on TikTok.

But City of Melbourne pulled the pin last week, citing two major problems: Alex’s food business wasn’t registered and he didn’t have a liquor licence.

“It was something that started with friends and then snowballed so quickly,” Alex said.

“I didn’t really have any idea at all what went into running a restaurant.”

Teishoku Tuesdays was for a short while Melbourne's smallest restaurant — seating only two people at one time. Picture: David Caird

Alex has been passionate about Japanese food since childhood.

He grew up in Malaysia and the UK, two countries without a strong Japanese cuisine presence.

After visiting Japan later in life, he began chasing his dream, reading recipes from his favourite chefs and honing his technique at home.

While he has no formal chef qualifications, he has been cooking all his life and recently began serving set menus for his friends, which is how Teishoku Tuesdays was born.

During the past five months, Alex has cooked guests authentic Japanese eats including miso leek beef, chicken karaage, salmon shiozake and pork katsu alongside a raft of sides, miso and rice.

Alex has closed Teishoku Tuesdays for now, under orders from City of Melbourne, and is working on finding a new location to run his business.

City of Melbourne confirmed it had received a report of an unregistered food business operating from a Carlton apartment, which is an offence under the Victorian Food Act.

Council said it has not yet received an application for registration from the resident.

There are 13-home based food businesses registered within the council area but this is the first ‘home restaurant’ they had encountered.