When online reservations first opened for Matsu, as many as 3000 customers attempted to secure a booking at chef and co-owner Hansol Lee’s Footscray restaurant. But with only four seats, the intimate space meant Matsu was limited to serving just 32 diners a week.

Two years after opening, Lee and his co-owner and life partner, Elly Hong, relocated the restaurant to a space with 12 seats. Lee and Hong are now able to serve kaiseki, a traditional Japanese meal featuring multiple delicate courses, highlighting the finest seasonal, local ingredients, to three times as many diners.

The menu, which can (and should) be paired with saké, is a thoughtful showcase of Victorian produce and Japanese culinary refinement. While it’s constantly changing, Lee has served dishes such as Inaniwa udon (thin, hand-stretched noodles from northern Japan) topped with shaved black truffle from Winter Creek Farm and tender Tasmanian abalone; and char-grilled Wagyu from Ballan marinated for two days in shio koji, a fermented rice-based liquid that tenderises the beef and deepens its flavour.