South Yarra's glitzy and gold-tinged Yugen Dining opens the first of three dining spaces

October 13, 2022

Yugen restaurant in South Yarra features soaring stone columns and a menu that cris-crosses Asia, with premium sushi a focus.Sam Davis

Chiselled pink marble, artfully arranged sashimi and a James Bond-worthy bar flanked by stone columns are among the magnificence at Yugen, a subterranean bar and restaurant opening in South Yarra on October 14.

The crown jewel of the Capitol Grand building, also home to Omnia Bistro, is reached via a glass-walled elevator (another Bond moment). But culinary director Stephen Nairn says he doesn't want Yugen to be a stiff venue.

He encourages diners to visit the bar for snacks – perhaps skewers of chicken thigh or pork belly – and sip on shiso highballs beneath a chandelier evocative of rain drops. Or perhaps roll up their sleeves to pull apart steamed mud crab, served with Sichuan oil and salt and vinegar powder.

Steamed mud crab with salt and vinegar, Sichuan oil and yuzu mayonnaise.Gareth Sobey

Despite Nairn's assurances, there's no mistaking the big night out energy that radiates from Yugen, especially its warmly lit mezzanine where omakase, sashimi and other sushi, prepared by Sokyo alumnus Alex Yu, Yugen's head chef, and his sushi chef Samuel Chee (ex Nobu), will be served at a six-seat bar and tables for 20.

While diners will have to wait until November to sit at the marble counter for 18 to 24 courses of omakase, Yugen's lower level is now open for a la carte dining.

Japan is represented via smoked eel chawanmushi and a dessert of charred mochi, strawberry and matcha, but cumin-marinated lamb chops and satay-slathered prawns are a ticket to other corners of Asia. Aussie-Chinese gets a nod via prawn toast made from discs of youtiao (Chinese doughnut), while chilled drunken poussin is more textbook. A simmered dish marries spiced beef intercostal, pickled shiitake mushrooms and master stock.

Strawberry ice-cream with charred mochi and matcha is among many Japanese nods on the menu and drinks list.Gareth Sobey

Then there are sashimi platters, a preview of Yu's craft, starting at $125. Yu brings eight years of experience from Sydney's Sokyo, a leader in omakase dining and sushi.

"He's an absolute craftsman," says Nairn. "He understands that it's about the guests' experience, rather than about him."

Koji and the citrus fruit sudachi are among the Japanese ingredients deployed in cocktails, while a wide-ranging sake line-up joins wine, champagne and rare teas from Yugen Tea Bar upstairs.