Nobu

There is glamour attached to the Nobu name, and a sense of expectation best met when seated upstairs with views over the Yarra, rather than in the dimly lit basement dining room. Food is sophisticated and polished, see-sawing from light and delicate (jewelled sashimi tacos) to sticky and rich. a dish of caramelised Blackmore wagyu intercostal melting with fat and packing a flavour wallop. Then, a mild peach salsa accompanying soft-shell crab that's subtle and sweet. Before you lose yourself in the menu, with more than 100 dishes, scope out the wood-oven section for a heavily marbled rib-eye that is more New York than Japan. But, then, this is a cross-cultural international franchise, a fact that's cleverly disguised courtesy of a sleek fitout that speaks directly to ideas of Japanese interiors. Desserts nod to tradition without being confined by it. think (surprisingly harmonious) marriages of caramel parfait and miso mousse.