Making the sojourn south for the Australian Open this year? Because you can experience one Brisbane’s best sushi restaurants, in Melbourne.

James Street star Sushi Room will be hosting a pop-up for the duration of the tournament, with chef Shimpei Raikuni taking over one of the stadium’s player change rooms for a 12-seat omakase experience.

We use the term “pop-up” loosely here, with the change room being given a luxe makeover of red carpet, concrete walls and a pale timber counter, reminiscent of the flash Brisbane restaurant. In the corner will be a bookshelf with a record player and a stack of vintage vinyl.

“It’s in the tunnel to the main Rod Laver Arena,” Sushi Room owner Simon Gloftis says. “We’ve a full setup in there. It’s not like some sort of pop-up drinks cart thing. They’ve actually built a Sushi Room.

“People can go in there, have an omakase experience with Shimpei and a few of his other chefs. They’ll eat, then they can walk out down the tunnel where the players walk onto the court. There are [12] seats literally on the court; it’s not in the stands.”

The menu will be “about 15 courses” of nigiri and sushi with paired drinks courtesy of STK Group’s beverage director Alex McPherson and AO champagne partner Piper-Heidsieck.

“It’s a great little offering,” Gloftis says. “We have some fantastic tuna that Shimpei has organised that is being aged up as we speak.”

Sushi Room is the first Brisbane restaurant to appear as part of the Open’s precisely curated AO Reserve food experiences, which this year also includes The Bistro by Rockpool and an appearance by celebrated Mornington Peninsula restaurant Tedesca Osteria.

You’ll pay for the experience, though, with tickets ranging from $3000 to $16,050 (for the semifinal matches) per person.

“The opportunity came through some people we looked after years ago,” Gloftis says. “They said, ‘You should come up and try it,’ and the AO people came up, and it was just one of those things that happened slowly. I’ve been around long enough to know that’s how these things go.

“I’m really humbled and proud to be asked – to be part of the Australian Open in Melbourne. I’m from Melbourne so it really works in that sense … and it represents the national nature of our food scene.”