Machi

This stylish L-shaped room accents a classic palette of red and black with a gleaming white-tiled bar and bare light bulbs woven inside wall-mounted geometric wireworks. Chef Tatsuya Yamazaki's menu features sensational, generously portioned izakaya such as sticky nasu dengaku and chicken karaage with green-tea salt, the sake-soaked meat tender under a crisp coat. Try seven-spice Coffin Bay oysters or the Moreton Bay bug handroll, or there's miso-baked lamb shoulder, slow-cooked in soy for seven hours. Service is helpful and attentive, the atmosphere is casual, and the lunchtime bentos are cracking value.