This was our third visit to Matsu in Footscray for their Winter kaiseki menu. We brought friends so there was more mmmmm and laughter than a focused on the ingredients and food. Everything was delicious, so this post will have minimal descriptions.
The Summer 2025 kaiseki post is here (LINK), and the Autumn 2026 post is here (LINK).
The set menu was $250 per person.
The Summer 2025 kaiseki post is here (LINK), and the Autumn 2026 post is here (LINK).
The set menu was $250 per person.
Winter 2026
Starting off with the sakizuke, a king crab chawanmushi with kani miso, butter, gamtae and ginger. This was a creamy flavourbomb.
This beautiful array was the zensai, with a sweet yuzu red prawn opener, a crispy katsu oyster and ending with Chef Han’s iconic abalone liver dish split into two bites.
The wanmono was a katsu and kelp dashi, with a Hokkaido scallop, Hokkaido snow crab, yuzu abd maitake. It was light, refreshing and heartwarming.
Our otsukuri was a warayaki katsuo (a bonito fish seared rapidly over burning rice straw) with sudachi ponzu, onion, daikon oroshi, yuzu and chives.
For our agemono, we had a shio koji marinated Mandalong Valley quail with sansho salt. We are addicted to sansho salt after our recent Japan trip, so to have it freely on this night was a godsend.
A preview of our charcoal grilled yakimono before the scampi was placed in a bowl of Inaniwa udon, with chives and karasumi (salted and sun-dried mullet roe). The intensity of umami in this dish was crazy, highlighted by the sweetness of the scampi.
Le palate cleanser
The nigiri selection was clean, creamy and delicious.
We were fat asses and got an extra toro nigiri $20 per person, and an extra A5 wagyu and foei gras nigiri for $33 per person.
For our shokuji, the clay pot rice was with grilled fish of the day (oops, forgot to write down what it was 😂), with ginger, katsuo dashi and spring onion. This was also our take-home onigiri.
We also had siru, an aka miso with scampi dashi, nameko and yuzu kosho.
We also had siru, an aka miso with scampi dashi, nameko and yuzu kosho.
The dessert was a monaka, kinako crumble, azuki ice cream, chest nut, azuki (red bean), persimmon compote and mochi. It was delicious!
Drinks
The sake pairing was $98 per person. We shared these two bottles instead as we were getting lit with our friends.
Review
The service and experience was as amazing as the first two visit. We look forward to tasting the next menu.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating.
