It offers more than 100 sake options, but this bar may have a little too much ambition

The sake we are drinking, a seasonal spring release from Hachinohe Shuzo in the Aomori Prefecture of Japan, is bursting with freshness. It feels apt for the early spring weather we’re having in Melbourne, and a fantastic way to begin the night at Bar Kaeru, the new sake bar tucked into a nondescript building on Little La Trobe street.

We’re sitting at the U-shaped bar in the dark room, trying to decide what to order next. Bar Kaeru’s sake offering can be overwhelming, despite the thorough descriptions on every one of the more than 100 options.

Most other customers are choosing from one of the three flights on offer, which takes some of that decision paralysis out of the equation. Others have the attention of Sean Then, who provides much of the knowledge and passion behind this list and this project.

Then is known for his passion – he also runs Cafe Tomi in North Melbourne, where he geeks out with customers over the provenance of the beans and the particular aromas and qualities each brew lends to his cocktail-like coffee creations. In both venues, eclectic vinyl is on rotation from a turntable behind the bar.

At Bar Kaeru, when you get that focus turned towards you and the things you might want to drink, you’re in for an exceedingly fun ride. But there’s only one of Then, and his attention is not guaranteed. I get the feeling that the same thing that drives his passion – a certain kind of obsessive hyperfocus – is the thing that makes the service experience at Kaeru a bit wonky.

Regardless, it’s worth coming here, not just for the extraordinary sake list, but also for chef Jayden Chiang’s concise menu of Japanese and Chinese-inspired izakaya dishes. This is snacky, drinking food at its umami-forward best, along with a couple of larger dishes that are surprisingly comforting.

I’m still thinking about the beef tartlet, a mouthful of jewel-like raw beef cubes with spring onion and crispy leek. The onion-on-onion treatment is sweet and pure and thoroughly delicious.

A generous heap of spanner crab sits atop a crispy rice cake, like a hash brown made of rice rather than potato, the flavours brought into focus by a shower of shaved nori. Prawn toast is all oily goodness, served with charred pineapple and aioli.

I loved the small bucket of crispy Jerusalem artichokes, but found the yuzu miso accompaniment a little too sweet – the root vegetable itself carries plenty of sugar, and a contrast would have been nice. But shelled XO mussels atop a creamy tofu ricotta was in perfect sweet-salty-puckery-stinky balance.

I can see myself stopping in here for a quick dinner on a cold night, craving the warmth of the excellent braised short rib with kohlrabi and rainbow chard, the deeply flavoured bone broth that makes it into a soup singing with star anise. Juicy grilled pork jowl could also be a meal in and of itself, if you were in the mood for something meaty and decadent.

I admire the ambition of Bar Kaeru, but I worry that it will fail in its mission – to bring more sake to Melbourne and create an army of sake lovers as a result – if the service issue isn’t addressed. I desperately wanted to try one of the fascinating looking cocktails on the list, but one evening I spent 20 minutes trying to catch someone’s eye to order one (after we had eaten) and couldn’t, so I left. Then was engaged in an hour-long conversation with some enthusiastic customers and never looked at the rest of the room once, and the other staff seemed more comfortable running food than engaging with customers.

Another night, I got Then’s attention, but he didn’t have the ingredients for the listed drink. He suggested something else, an off-menu matcha situation, went to make it, got sidetracked halfway through, and eventually got it to me. It was delicious, but I’m not sure the bar is really set up to handle cocktail service at all.

I hope Then finds the help he needs in order to spread his sake gospel, because he can’t do it all alone. Regardless, I’ll be back to peruse this list with or without help, and to slurp on that magical bone broth. Self-reliance has its own rewards.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.