Just Open: Chotto, Fitzroy

We may have lost congee­-caff Lawyers Guns and Money but as a peace offering, the gods of hospitality bring you Chotto, a fine-­dining Japanese cafe on the city edge of Fitzroy.

It's husband-and-wife team Brendan and Caryn Liew​'s first venture. Chef Brendan used to be Andrew McConnell's sashimi guy at Golden Fields, and he cooked in Tokyo and Hong Kong at RyuGin, a Michelin-starred kaiseki (multi-course) restaurant. He's bundled up this training with a rice-based menu: claypot-cooked rice is served tableside from an ohitsu, an absorbent cedar pot designed to keep the rice fluffy and crisp­-bottomed.

The go-­to dish is a breakfast set of soy-marinated grilled fish, dashimaki tamago (rolled-up omelette) and wilted steamed greens steeped in house­-made dashi; otherwise check out the obanyaki (ham and raclette-­stuffed pancakes) or rice porridge with poached chicken, toasted nori and chrysanthemum.

Coffee comes courtesy of Monk Bodhi Dharma, and there's a focus on tea service: genmaicha and sencha from Kyoto's Wazuka tea plantation and proper ceremonial grade matcha whisked while you watch.

If the lightweight, soft-brushed plywood furniture looks disposable that's because it is; the three communal tables and their squat little stools will ship out to make way for a more formal omakase-­style restaurant later this year.

Open Tue-­Fri 6.30am-­3pm; Sat-­Sun 8am-­3pm.

35 Smith Street, Fitzroy, facebook.com/Chottomelb/