Minamishima chef leaves Melbourne for Coast at Hervey Bay

Chef Hajime Horiguchi has left the double-hatted Minamishima restaurant in Melbourne for much more breezy digs at Hervey Bay's Coast restaurant.

Horiguchi originally hails from Kyoto in Japan, and was head chef at Wasabi at Noosa before he left Queensland to join the kitchen at Sake in Melbourne in 2014. He then took up a position working alongside owner and sushi-master chef Koichi Minamishima at the Richmond sushi restaurant when Minamishima opened in December 2014. The Melbourne restaurant was awarded two hats in The Age Good Food Guide.

So what's made him return to the Queensland coast? Sun and seafood, Horiguchi says. "I couldn't stand the cold weather. And the seafood here is so much better."

The now keen fisherman got into fishing while working at Wasabi. "There are many fishermen here, especially being so close to Tin Can Bay, and so it's easy to make those relationships and get the best seafood, which is not the case in Melbourne."

Horiguchi plans to scope out the town's growing restaurant scene with the intention of opening something of his own in the near future.

In the meantime, he's joined chef Nick Street-Brown in the Coast kitchen.

"It's a bit surreal actually," says Coast owner Julia Paussa. "We feel like we've won the lotto or something." While Coast boasts it's own hat, it's a far more casual experience than Minamishima where the omakase (chef's choice) menu costs $150.

"The staff are all really excited to have him," Paussa says.

Horiguchi started this week, but Paussa says once they've introduced him to the local seafood and fishermen, she expects that he'll put his mark on the menu.