Meeting a New Fish: Working with a 45kg Moonfish
A rare Australian catch, prepared with curiosity, care, and respect.
Some ingredients stop you in your tracks.
This week, it was a 45kg moonfish — wild-caught off Bundaberg, Queensland. Sustainably sourced. Exceptionally rare. Only one fish was landed, and it found its way into our kitchen.
For Chef Mika, it was the first time he had ever worked with one.
Date: 24th June 2026
Location: Doju
Meeting a new fish
There's a particular kind of excitement that comes with an ingredient you've never held before. Not the loud kind. The quiet kind — where you slow down, pay closer attention, and let the ingredient do the talking.
With a whole moonfish on the bench, we didn't rush to cook it. We started by understanding it — the way the flesh sits against the bone, where the fat gathers, how different sections feel under the knife — which parts ask to be eaten raw, barely touched; which parts want heat, time, something more.
Before any dish is designed, there's always that period of simply listening.
From one fish, many things
Over the course of the week, the moonfish will move through the menu in different forms: sashimi, cooked plates, and a series of specials shaped by what we discover as we work through it.
Nothing is wasted if we can help it. The trim, the bones, the lesser-known cuts — they have a life too. Stocks. Small experiments that don't make it to the menu but teach us something anyway.
This is how we prefer to work with exceptional ingredients: slowly, attentively, all the way to the end.
The work behind the work
Moments like this are part of what makes our kitchen culture what it is. Whole-fish preparation is detailed, physical, unhurried work. It asks everyone in the room to pay attention — to technique, yes, but also to what the ingredient deserves.
It builds on training that has mattered to us for a long time. Back in 2024, the team spent a full day with sushi master Owari San, learning to break down an entire bluefin tuna and work through every part of the fish with precision and respect.
If you'd like to see more of that side of what we do, our Tuna Training Day→ post takes you behind the scenes.
From that tuna to this moonfish — the lesson is the same. Good technique is, at its core, an act of care.
Why this fish matters to us
Working with a rare catch like this is a privilege, and we're aware of it. This is wild Australian seafood, brought in by people who do it the right way. Our role is simply to honour that — from the fishers in Bundaberg to the producers and suppliers who share the same values we try to uphold in this kitchen.
What ends up on the plate is the result of many quiet decisions: how to cut, how to cook, how much to do and — just as importantly — how much to leave alone.
The aim is always the same: let the ingredient speak. Keep our hands honest.
A special fish. A special moment. And another reason we feel grateful, every day, to be cooking with Australian produce.
If you happen to dine with us while the moonfish is on the menu, you'll be tasting something we had never cooked before.
We think that's exactly how cooking should be.
A quiet moment in the kitchen, shaped by curiosity, care, and respect for exceptional Australian produce.