Just a few weeks back, the crew behind Wagyu Ya opened a new, high-end Japanese barbecue restaurant in South Yarra called Yakikami, which focuses mainly on a top-level wagyu barbecue banquet.

When I read about the launch, I noticed that one of the owners was quoted as saying that this type of barbecue, of this quality, is one thing that has been missing from Melbourne's dining scene.

Except that it hasn't – not if you know where to look. There's Katori in Box Hill, and quite a few others. But perhaps the best example is Marble Yakiniku, which has been serving upmarket Japanese barbecue, along with all the traditional trimmings, down a backstreet in the heart of Glen Waverley's dining district since late 2020.

If you care about food and you haven't explored Glen Waverley recently, you're missing out. The area around the Glen shopping centre is a gold mine of deliciousness.

I could spend a year just wandering about, sampling the Korean soft tofu stew, the Hainan chicken, the ramen, fresh seafood plucked straight from the tank, the Cantonese feasts, the laksa, the shaved ice desserts, the dumplings … you get the idea.

Marble Yakiniku is perhaps one of Glen Waverley's best-kept secrets. It's not easy to find and, unless you're seeking it out, you'd probably never think to look beyond its large glass doors. But if you did, you'd find an L-shaped room that glows: back-lit blond wood, softlight-casting lanterns, broad polished tables that are fitted with custom grills. It's just swank enough to feel special and just laid-back enough to be unintimidating.

The menu is overwhelming. In fact, menu (singular) is a misnomer. There are multiple menus: the yakiniku (barbecue) menu, the main menu and the seasonal special menu.

You could come here for a full meal of sushi and sashimi if you wanted, or for Japanese hotpot, or make a night of feasting from its current winter specials menu, most of which includes fresh black truffle that's shaved tableside.

But the easiest (and most cost-effective) way to go here is to order one of the three banquet options ($90-$130), all of which are barbecue-focused but allow for sampling from across the spectrum of what's available.

You'll start with a selection of sashimi – tuna and salmon and kingfish – that's extremely fresh and perfectly firm. You'll move on to the hotate mentai, a whole scallop slathered with fish roe sauce and cooked to a plump, rich, snackable treat.

Around this time, the beef will arrive, along with a flaming bucket of binchotan white charcoal that's placed in a grill well at the centre of your table. Depending on the level of banquet you've chosen, the three types of wagyu delivered will be either Japanese or Australian or a mix of the two. Regardless, you have a lot of fatty opulence in your near future.

A waiter will demonstrate how to swipe the sliced meat across the grill to create a cooking-appropriate slickness, and how to avoid the outbreak of flames that's likely once the highly prized fat from your beef hits the charcoal and combusts.

The fire is hot, the wagyu sliced thin; the cooking time ought to be measured in seconds, not minutes. And then the prize: sizzling meaty glory with a taste that's part beef and part butter. The restaurant provides three sauces for dipping and they all taste good and yet still aren't really worthy of introduction to the wagyu. Why mess with perfection?

The bonus with the $130 version is a side of foie gras rice, a staple of expensive yakiniku restaurants that here includes truffle as well. Presented with a full lobe of fatty liver at your table and then mixed into the rice at the table, it's exactly the kind of overwhelming decadence you will not need at this point in the meal, but will gobble up anyway.

I couldn't help but order from the other menus: a king crab chawan-mushi ($24) with fresh truffles; a fantastically over-the-top boom roll ($60) piled high with tuna belly, creamy sea urchin and pops of saline freshness in the form of salmon roe.

Everything here is made with the same care and attention to luxury as the wagyu; that is to say, a lot of care and attention. As my dining companion said as we looked around our table heaving with the highest-grade beef, jewel-toned fish, truffle-bedecked silky egg custard and more: "It's an embarrassment of magnificence."

Vibe: Sleek and modern, but inviting

Go-to dish: One of the three banquet options

Drinks: Nice but not overwhelming sake selection; small wine list

Cost: If you're here for the wagyu, from $200 for two, excluding drinks

This review was originally published in Good Weekend magazine