We have found our go-to kaiseki spot in Melbourne. Matsu is a Japanese restaurant run by Chef Lee in Footscray, curating an amazing menu for $265 per person each season. This was our first visit for the Summer Menu of 2025.
Summer 2025
Throughout dinner, the staff would show an array of ingredients for patrons to take their “wow” photo, which was much appreciated.
We stared our meal with the sakizuke. This was unagi, cucumber, wakame seaweed, tosazu and sesame oil. The spring water eel was incredibly tender, with a delectable sweet char that melted in our mouths.
The zensai was DELICIOUS 🤤. This was an abalone in abalone liver cream sauce, pine nut, sushi rice, topped with caviar. The flavour was sooo intense and creamy, hitting our souls with a slap of umami. Thankfully it’s a dish that is always on the menu so yes, you’ll see this again in the Autumn menu (LINK).
The mushimono was another comforting and delicious hit. This was egg, dashi, prawn, scallop, camembert cheese, totoro kombu and kamaboko.
The hassun was the chef’s selection of the day. Pictures speak a thousand words and again, everything was delicious.
This was wanmono. It was a dashi broth with sweet corn, prawn, white fish, carrot, snow pea and king oyster mushroom.
The otsukuri was the chef’s selection of sashimi, including tuna, scallops and snapper.
The agemono was shiitake mushroom, prawn, kisu (silver whiting), green tea salt, and green tea soba. The batter on the tempura was amazingly thin, light but still crispy. The soba was light and enjoyable.
The palate cleanser was mildly sweet and very refreshing. I got too tispy here so I forgot the name of the fruit and gelato.
We started the osushi with a kinmedai (Golden eye snapepr). It was sweet and delicate.
The otoro was 10/10: fresh, fatty and rich.
This was a prawn, and also sweet and delicate.
My fat ass indulged in two uni nigiri for extra $$. From memory, these were about $40 each. Perfection.
The wagyu A5 with foie gras nigiri was an extra $33. Mick said it melted in his mouth.
Mick got another toro nigiri for $20.
This was shokuji. It comprised of a donabe rice with Japanese yellow tail, king oyster mushroom, chives, ginger, tenkasu, butter and pumpkin. It was like eating a creamy and umami spoonful of happiness.
It came with a shabu shabu, served with MS9+ Japanese wagyu, dashi, bamboo shoot, garlic chives, and goma (sesame) sauce. The meat was soooo delicate and fatty, disintegrating in our mouths.
It came with a shabu shabu, served with MS9+ Japanese wagyu, dashi, bamboo shoot, garlic chives, and goma (sesame) sauce. The meat was soooo delicate and fatty, disintegrating in our mouths.
For desserts, we had a kuro goma (black sesame) panna cotta, with pecan, Okinawa black sugar and kinako. It was the perfect balance of sweetness.
We ended with matcha ice cream with monaka, mochi, and red bean paste. The matcha was creamy and umami, with a touch of sweetness.
This was so sweet! It was a takeaway onigiri from the donabe rice to take home and eat later as a memory of such a good meal. We reheated it in the microwave for 30 seconds the next day and bam, we ended up rebooking our next visit 😂 (LINK).
Drinks
We opted out on the sake pairing $98 and ordered a few glasses of premium sake. 10/10 great selection.
Service
Chef Lee went around and took polaroids of every couple. And then he took photos with us as we left.
Regarding service throughout dinner, the team were an unstoppable unit. There was a lot of control from Chef Lee, where he spent enough time conversating with everyone while still keeping tabs of each patrons flow of food and dining experience. His team were quick to offer the drink menu and clearing the table.
Regarding service throughout dinner, the team were an unstoppable unit. There was a lot of control from Chef Lee, where he spent enough time conversating with everyone while still keeping tabs of each patrons flow of food and dining experience. His team were quick to offer the drink menu and clearing the table.
Review
This is our favourite kaiseki, and even if we have an omakase craving, we would consider returning to Matsu to scratch the itch. We highly recommend and have been telling anyone who listens to try it.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
