Is this Australia's most expensive steak yet?

"It's the most expensive meat we've seen. I've costed the (deli-thin) slices we're using at between $15 and $17 a portion wholesale," LuMi chef Federico Zanellato says of his newly landed edible star.

The relaxation on imported Japanese meat this year has seen wagyu flood into Australia, but Zanellato says the marble score 12 Itoham A5 Cherry Blossom Wagyu is at the summit of both marble score and price.

"Luckily you can't have more than a little bit of it, given its fat content," he says.

At LuMi it is thrown on a barbecue for less than a minute, cologned with a house-made fish sauce, then flopped over rice with a shiitake and mushroom stock.

Altitude restaurant in the city serves it with ox cheek and a fennel and anchovy puree. If you fancy cooking with it yourself, it is available at Wrights the Butchers in Alexandria for an eye-watering $650 a kilogram.