We revisited one of our favourite chefs, Chef Samuel, at Yugen Omakase for his Spring menu and this was one of the highlights of our anniversary week. We pre-ordered 3 extra fried unagi wraps (because that is Mick’s favourite) so we left this dinner extremely satisfied and happy.
The set menu was $285 per person.
Winter 2026 menu here (LINK).
The set menu was $285 per person.
Winter 2026 menu here (LINK).
Spring 2026
We started with a repeat dish: snapper sashimi, with charred orange, micro green and shiso. The difference from the Winter to Spring menu was the use of charred orange instead of grapefruit, which made this bite more brighter and sweeter.
One of THE best abalone in abalone liver sauce we’ve had in Melbourne, that resembled the OG Sano’s abalone (LINK). If you follow the omakase scene in Australia, you would know Chef Sano has this iconic dish that is unbeatable. Many chefs try but not many get close, and we can safely report Chef Sam is VERY close to nailing this masterpiece. We had so much flashbacks to our time in Sydney through this dish. The crumbs were panko bread.
This duck chawanmushi needs no introduction because we have raved on and on about it previously on this blog, and to anyone who listens. The richness of the duck egg works so well in custard form. Paired with brown butter, caviar and gold flakes, and you get this beautiful and delicious creation.
The first nigiri was a Japanese scallop, with ichimi and lime. It was bright, sweet and creamy.
The detailed cuts in this local calamari with shiso leaf (NSW) was fantastic, making the bite extremely soft rather than chewy. The earthiness of the shiso came through brilliantly.
This was King George Whiting with yuzu kosho.
The akami also needs no introduction.
This was a fish roe gunkan.
Next was a glazed 51 toothfish with mushroom ankake. The savouriness and umami from this dish was unique. Most of the time a toothfish is glazed with miso, but the mushroom sauce highlighted the sweetness of the fish in a new way.
This fried unagi is so addicting! We haven’t seen anywhere that does it remotely good as Yugen’s Omakase.
This was Imperador aburi, another delicious repeat.
The chuutoro ⋆。°✩
This was my favourite, a seared scampi that was buttery and rich.
This was seared salmon belly with chimichurri.
This was a kingfish belly and I forgot to write notes on what the chef did to it, but it was delicious.
This bright and creamy bite was fresh scampi with yuzu.
The otoro 🤤
Holy fuck, this bite…. this was kamatoro (the toro cut near the collar of the tuna). It is meant to be the fattiest part of the fish, and very uncommon to get due to how limited it is, so to be served this in Australia was an absolute delight!
The next two dishes were yummy repeats, with this Australian wagyu with wasabi. Simple and delicious.
This was another staple of Sam’s menu: Japanese A5 with egg yolk and black garlic kare. Recommended one bite.
We ended our savouries with a shell fish, white soy sauce, bonito oil and sake broth.
The dessert was a tsudachi that was made into a marmalade. It was perfect: sweet, refreshing and light.
The final dessert was the delicious matcha ice cream with some petit fours.
Service
Chef Sam and the team at Yugen were great. We ordered a Magnum sake without realising how big the bottle was and when they brought it out, we all had a laugh because we definitely would not make it home had they gone through with the order. One server said “Idk, maybe they’re just thirsty” LOL.
Review
We will be back.
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
Thanks for reading. Happy eating!
