Raku

In the heart of Canberra's Civic, behind floor-to-ceiling glass on Bunda Street, this Japanese room arranges itself like a small amphitheatre: an open kitchen at the centre, ringed by a bar where diners watch sushi chefs slice snapper, tuna belly and scallop, and a robata grill sending up smoke from high-grade wagyu. Wood-panelled booths, dark walls, ikebana and a well-stocked whisky shelf give the space a moody, considered polish. The cooking runs on two currents: cold, precise work at the sushi bar, where kingfish comes dressed in truffle and yuzu and aburi pieces are lightly seared to order, and the fierce heat of the charcoal grill for meat and seafood. It moves easily between a quick express lunch and a longer tasting menu that climbs toward genuine occasion, and the sake and whisky lists reward lingering. The result is a Japanese fine-diner that punches well above the size of the city it sits in, often called the best of its kind in the capital, without ever slipping into stiffness. The pleasure is in the front-row view: a seat at the counter, the theatre of the knife and the grill, and food that takes its craft seriously while keeping the room genuinely warm.