- 445 Little Collins St Melbourne | Wed to Sat 6 - 11pm
- info@roninomakase.com | 0401 721 491
A Korean omakase keeps the shape of the Japanese original and changes what comes out of the kitchen. At Rōnin Ōmakase that means Korean fermentation, jang and charcoal, plated with Australian seasonal produce, served at a ten seat counter at 445 Little Collins St in the Melbourne CBD. The word itself is Japanese, it means leaving the choice to the chef, and that is still exactly how the evening runs.
What does not change is the shape of the night. Ten guests face the chef, there is no printed menu and nothing to order, and about ten courses arrive over roughly two hours, each one finished in front of you and handed straight across. If the format is new to you, the plain explanation of omakase covers it in a few paragraphs.
The Korean half of the meal starts long before you sit down. Jang, the family of soy and chilli pastes at the base of Korean cooking, takes time to build, and every ferment and every banchan served at Rōnin is made in house rather than bought in. That is the part of the kitchen a guest never sees and tastes in almost every course.
Charcoal carries the rest. Courses are finished over fire at the counter and passed across within a step or two of where they were cooked, so the cooking and the serving happen in the same small space. Australian produce in season decides what goes on the coals in any given week, which is also the reason there is nothing printed to read when you arrive.
None of this is announced in advance. Courses are not published before a sitting, so the closest thing to a preview is the gallery, where the counter and the plates are photographed as they come out.
Cuisine aside, the practical questions are the ones every omakase guest asks. The omakase is A$195 per guest at the soft launch price, paid in full at the time of booking, and the counter runs Wednesday to Saturday from 6pm to 11pm. Seats for each month open on the 20th of the month before at 8pm Melbourne time, and bookings are online only. A date that is not showing before that evening has not been released yet.
One line is worth reading before you commit. The counter runs on a single chef, so dietary alterations cannot be accommodated. Late arrivals, cancellations and group enquiries are answered on the FAQ, and the Korean omakase page gathers the format, the price and the address in one place.
Chef Liam Lee trained at Gyungbokgung Hanjungsik in Seoul and has spent more than ten years leading Australian kitchens, including Nomad, Firebird and Studio Amaro. Rōnin opened in 2023, and the Korean direction, with Chef Liam Lee at the counter, dates from 2026. Melbourne food press has written about the change, and those pieces are collected on the news page.
His background is set out on the chef page, and what a full sitting looks like is described on the omakase page. When the month you want is open, reserve a seat at the counter.
