Walk through a non-descript entrance under an office building in South Melbourne to find yourself in a very private dining room that is Tempura Hajime. This is the entire restaurant, and seats 12 diners for dinner per evening and some lunches.

With one man at the helm at this operation, the sushi chef Shigeo prepares and cooks the entire meal right in front of you. As one might assume, this is a tempura counter restaurant, a degustation of mostly battered and fried morsels of Japanese food artistry. The menu is fixed at $72 per person, and for that you are served an array of small dishes.

These will change regularly but is likely begin with an appetiser of cucumber and minced chicken in miso-sesame dressing and sashimi of ocean trout, kingfish, tuna, gurnard and wagyu beef.

Then the battered dishes begin. These may include asparagus, sweet potato or corn tempura alongside a succulent piece of john dory or eel, both in tempura. Other dishes of sea urchin, scallop and nori tempura will follow, while you sip on saki or from a hand-picked vessel. There is also a large wine list, including plum wine, and several Japanese beer options to quench a thirst, before desert of yoghurt panacotta with grapes.

The interior of the small room is stark, and a little bright, but we have to come to a happy medium for the chef. It is like a show after all, which gives good reason for the circular seating arrangement around the open kitchen in the centre.

Despite the deep fried nature of the dishes, they are remarkably light and fresh, and leave you feeling like you’ve just stepped out of a small izakaya in Tokyo.