Bar Kaeru

The bar is a horseshoe on purpose, so the staff stand inside the curve and talk a hundred bottles of sake through with whoever is sitting there.

Why go

Sean Then left the late shifts at Leonie Upstairs to open Cafe Tomi in late 2024, then came back to evenings with this (Broadsheet). His diagnosis is not that Melbourne lacks sake, but that it lacks anywhere to learn about it, and the room is built around that. Instead of fixed pairings the team put up several options against each dish so you can compare styles side by side. Look for Abe Sake Brewery of Niigata, which is the bright acid-driven end, and seasonal bottles from Koueigiku in Saga, whose labels change with every brew. Head chef Jayden Chiang is Taiwanese-born and New Zealand-raised and came through Marmelo, Society and Ides, and he cooks across Asia rather than staying strictly Japanese. Bar Kaeru sits in the small Tomism group alongside Cafe Tomi, with a bakery called Interlude planned upstairs.

Order this / avoid

Order: ask for a comparison rather than a glass, and let them run you across sweet, dry, bold and umami. Fried chicken lollipops with Sichuan pepper to eat alongside. The beef tartlet with charred spring onion and crispy leek.
Avoid: Tuesday and Wednesday, when it is shut. And do not take one pour and leave, because the whole room is arranged for comparison.

What locals & experts say

Sean Then, owner, on the gap he built the bar into. He owns it, so this is intent rather than endorsement: "People are starting to learn about sake, but what's missing is a space where we can explain it, where people can actually understand it, not just drink it." ref
Then again, on the range, which is the design principle for the list: "I didn't want it to be one-sided. It's about showing a full spectrum, sweet, dry, bold, umami, something for every mood and every person." ref
Broadsheet put it in the ten best new bars in Melbourne for 2026 within two months of opening, which is a roundup rather than a signed verdict and is the second independent editorial signal this bar carries. ref
No critic has ruled on it and no chef names it, four months after opening, across 74 picks by 44 working Melbourne chefs and writers. That is stated rather than filled in. ref

Good to know

Where: 62 Little La Trobe Street, and it is deliberately not easy to spot.
Timing: Thursday to Monday from 5.30pm until late. Closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Booking: worth making, since a horseshoe bar has a hard seat limit.
Coming: a bakery called Interlude upstairs, and a programme of visiting brewers from Japan, both announced rather than confirmed running.
Diet: no allergen or dietary statement is published, so nothing is flagged.
Hygiene: Victoria runs no venue rating scheme like the UK's FSA. What it does publish is Safe Food Victoria's register of convictions under s.53D of the Food Act 1984, where a conviction sits for twelve months. The register as at its 21 July 2026 update carries fifteen entries and this venue is not one of them. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Nothing here is Jeff's. Melbourne carries no raw saved-places export in this repo, so there is no Note column behind a jeff_note and the field stays empty rather than composed.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — The bar is a horseshoe, and that is the whole idea. Sean Then's read on Melbourne is that sake is available and unexplained, so he built a room where the staff stand inside the curve and talk you through a hundred bottles rather than handing you a list. His words: 'People are starting to learn about sake, but what's missing is a space where we can explain it, where people can actually understand it, not just drink it.' The list runs classic producers, modern brewers and seasonal releases, with Abe of Niigata at the bright acid-driven end and Koueigiku of Saga changing its labels with every brew. Rather than fixed pairings the team offers several options against each dish so you can compare, which is a service model built for learning. Head chef Jayden Chiang came from Marmelo, Society and Ides and cooks across Asia rather than strictly Japanese: fried chicken lollipops with Sichuan pepper, a beef tartlet with charred spring onion. Four months old, no critic has ruled on it, and it is already the most interesting drinks proposition in this batch after Above Board.