Sushi Kappo is an intimate, chef-led dining experience shaped around the counter. Guests are seated together and guided through a multi-course progression that unfolds with deliberate pacing, inviting attention, patience, and presence. This is a shared journey – focused, unhurried, and intentionally limited in scale.
The menu follows the seasons of Australia, interpreted through Japanese technique and sensibility. Each course is composed with balance and restraint, allowing flavour, texture, and timing to take precedence over display. Rather than repetition, the experience responds to the moment – the produce, the rhythm of the evening, and the people gathered at the counter.
Each seating is approached in the spirit of Ichigo-Ichie – a Japanese philosophy that recognises every encounter as unrepeatable. At Sushi Kappo, this means we treat each encounter as our only chance to look after you. Unexpressed needs are anticipated, interactions are personal, and the experience is shaped by what unfolds in that moment. It is an understanding that this meal, this meeting, this exchange will never happen again in quite the same way.
At the heart of the experience is what we call quiet support – a form of care expressed through human connection rather than instruction. From the calm movement behind the counter to the timing of each course, service is guided by observation and sensitivity. The cuisine begins with immediate enjoyment and continues toward a sense of ease and completeness, creating space for conversation, reflection, and connection across the counter.
Chef Ikuo Kobayashi leads the counter with quiet, graceful authority, shaped by his years in Ginza and experience in Michelin-recognised kitchens. His cooking reflects deep respect for seasonality, producers, and craft – guided by the belief that precision and restraint create the conditions for genuine human connection. Each action is deliberate, forming a calm exchange between chef, guest, and ingredient.
The dining experience is accompanied by a carefully considered selection of sake and wine, curated by Head Sommelier Sean Lam. The sake program traces the breadth of Japan’s brewing culture, reflecting regional character, technique, and time in each pour.
This journey is complemented by refined wines from Australian cool-climate regions and beyond, selected for balance and clarity, and chosen to move in quiet harmony with the rhythm of the menu rather than compete with it.