With cross-cultural respect and experience in spades, Heirloom French-Japanese restaurant and sake bar has opened on Bourke Street.

Heirloom is about collaboration; Shigeo Nonaka from Japanese restaurant Shoya and Kyle Doody (who has worked good stints at Jacques Reymond and Gills Diner among other places) are in the kitchen bringing together what’s described as ‘French/Japanese cuisine’.

There may be utterances of the ‘f-word’ (fusion) as you read this but the strength here is that Doody has experience in European cooking with Asian elements from Jacques Reymond and Nonaka’s focus at Shoya is based on Wafu cuisine, Japanese cooking with European elements. For instance, you’ll find Drunken Tofu (with a sake and chilli marinade) alongside terrine of rabbit and hazelnuts in the entrees.

There’s a Sake Bar, where you can enjoy sushi, high-end yakitori, and soon, tempura. There’s also a meat locker drying our heaving cuts of Black Angus beef and a delightful small room for about 30 people out the back with a stunning granite table to seat 12. But it’s the cavernous concrete-walled 85-seat room designed by Victor Isobe (whose projects have included Tempura Hajime and Yu-u) that pulls you in with its clever use of blacks, greys, silver and a splash of red.

The emphasis on balance, cross-cultural eccentricities and quality should see Heirloom slowly bloom.