First Look: Chef Fujio Tamura Wants Fitzroy’s Udon Izakaya Tanukiya to Feel Just Like Japan

Self-described “ramen man” Fujio Tamura has spent almost 20 years making ramen, but his newest restaurant doesn’t serve a single bowl of it. Instead, at Udon Izakaya Tanukiya on Johnston Street, the Shoyuya and Misoya Sake Bar co-owner is focused on something more pared-back and, he says, closer to everyday life in Japan. “Everybody told me to do ramen here, but I wanted to offer something different to the neighbourhood,” he says. 

At Tanukiya, udon is inspired by the sort of local chain or neighbourhood shop you might stumble into in Tokyo or Kagawa Prefecture, the region most closely associated with the noodle. “I really want local people [to] know real Japan,” he says.

Tanukiya’s signature kamaage udon set centres on thick, slippery noodles served with a deeply savoury hot or cold broth that’s built on freshly shaved bonito and designed to dip your noodles into. Toasted sesame seeds, spring onion, ginger and fresh wasabi are served on the side, so diners can season each bite as they go.

Before opening, Tamura travelled to Japan, tasted widely and decided to import frozen udon from Kagawa rather than make it in-house. The decision is more about control than convenience. “Frozen is super reliable and doesn’t compromise on quality,” he says. Freezing preserves the texture of the noodles, while keeping each bowl consistent. 

The set comes with genmaicha, roasted over charcoal, and your choice of karaage, a changing selection of sashimi, smoked duck slices or prawn or vegetable tempura. Tamura is especially particular about the latter. “Everything’s fresh,” he says. “We batter and fry to order.” Some of the vegetables, including thin-skinned Japanese eggplants and shishito peppers, come from Ume Nojo, a small Japanese vegetable farm in Woodend.

Beyond the set menu, there are a few other udon variations. Kitsune udon comes with bean curd; tanuki udon – a style that lends the restaurant its name – is topped with crunchy scraps of tempura batter. Then there’s tan-tan udon, a bowl with rich soy-milk broth and pork mince, offered at three escalating spice levels: fire, volcano and sudden death.

At night, the restaurant leans further into izakaya territory. Udon remains, but shares the table with sushi, ochazuke, Wagyu steak, beef tataki and agedashi tofu. There’s also nekomama, a humble rice dish topped with soy sauce and with freshly shaved katsuobushi – something Tamura used to eat as a hungry teenager coming home from school. Drinks are similarly neat and unfussy with a compact saké list, Yebisu and Orion beers and a few local wines.

The space was formerly omakase restaurant Shusai Mijo, which Tamura opened with three Warabi alums in 2024. At the end of last year, the team closed the restaurant, where a meal started at $180, citing the economic climate and the rise of cheaper omakase options.

Tanukiya is a reset. And Tamura is clear on how he wants the restaurant to be. “If Japanese people come in, I want them to say, ‘Oh, this is just like Japan’.”

Udon Izakaya Tanukiya
256 Johnston Street, Fitzroy
(03) 9599 2799

Hours:
Tue to Sat 11.30am–3pm; 5pm–9pm
Sun 11.30am–3pm

www.udontanukiya.com.au
@tanukiya_melbourne