By night, it’s a big-spender sushi counter, but I prefer the lunch deal that’s 90% cheaper

Have we reached omakase saturation point? Upscale sushi restaurants built on the prix-fixe, luxury tasting menu model – even very good ones – have opened and then quietly closed over the past couple of years. The appetite for these kinds of experiences is still in demand. Seats at the sushi bars of Richmond’s Minamishima and Yugen in South Yarra are hard to come by, and I see no lack of high-roller tourists whenever I pull up a seat at one of these counters. But the attention span of big spenders is fickle, and the competition has never been so fierce.

Ken Kee, the proprietor of Kentaro in the CBD, definitely did his due diligence before launching his own high-stakes sushi omakase joint. The chef gained a following with his pop-up at Japanese cafe Operator San near Queen Victoria Market before settling on a brick and mortar location last year.

At night, Kee is serving a $245 set menu ($285 on weekends) that hits all the familiar notes and includes decadent touches. The fish is fresh (though mostly cut prior to service), the rice is firm and there’s freshly shaved truffle on the tuna sashimi.

Here’s the thing: what Kentaro does at lunch is, to me, far more interesting, distinctive and necessary than the nighttime splurge.

If Kentaro served the lunch menu at night, I’d likely be there once a month.

This isn’t to say that the evening meal doesn’t have its particular pleasures. There’s a chawanmushi topped with a shoal’s worth of baby white fish, all silvery and slippery and mellow. I’m still thinking about the firm, sweet alfonsino nigiri served as part of the marathon Edomae sushi portion of the meal.

But there are other omakase spots – especially in this price range – that feel more special, and that extend the luxury of the experience beyond the gold leaf and caviar on the plate. (It seemed odd, for instance, to have the staff cleaning up using harsh-smelling chemicals while we were still seated at the bar finishing our dessert … you tend to care more about these details when you’re spending $500 on food alone.)

Lunch, however, provides something the city lacks overall: high quality, value-for-money sushi and Japanese cooking. If Kentaro served the lunch menu at night, I’d likely be there once a month.

By day, the curtain that creates an intimate sushi counter experience in the evening is pulled back to reveal tables that are usually full – the website says daytime walk-ins are welcome, but I’d go ahead and book.

A $115 omakase is available at the bar, a shorter and less lavish version of the evening menu, but for me, the best options are in the lunch-only specials.

You can get a nigiri plate for $29, which includes seven pieces of nigiri and three slices of roll, usually tuna. A more premium (and slightly larger) version is $75. I almost prefer the basic version, even if the fish is more predictable and unadorned. Thirty dollars for fish of this quality is an absolute bargain, and I’m not sure if I even want intense marinated truffle or gold leaf on my fish.

Twenty nine dollars will also get you wagyu shabu shabu don of thin-sliced chuck eye sizzled to a tender and satisfying texture, laid over aromatic rice, with an onsen egg as topping.

There’s a sashimi plate and a chirashi (scattered sushi) bowl that use the same high-quality fish as the omakase menu – also both $29.

There are don bowls using more premium cuts of beef, and an Ora King salmon aburi don that would be fantastic if it weren’t quite so drowned in sweet miso gloop.

Most things come with one of the city’s best miso soups, savoury and delicate, except the seasonal specials which run about $45 and come with chawanmushi, salmon carpaccio and dessert.

Lunch, of course, is a completely different vibe – all hustle and bustle as opposed to the serenity of the evening. And I’m sure there’s a financial calculation at play here, in which the big spenders at night help pay the rent, allowing for the more populist offering in the daytime.

I respect Kee’s ambition, and I wouldn’t turn down a seat at his evening sushi counter if it were offered. But damn, what I wouldn’t give for the option to eat fish this fresh and cared for in the evening, without having to commit to the time and expense and pomp of an omakase.

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