Chef and owner Moe Oo.Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola
When Burmese-born chef and owner Moe Oo opened his first restaurant in Leeming in 2012,patrons were on six-month waitlists,so he moved to a (slightly) bigger premise at Chelsea Village in Nedlands.
"It is only myself cooking,to expand I would need to find the right person to train who can work together with me,"Oo told us before he prepped another sell-out Japanese degustation at his venue.
Marumo might also be Perth's best-value restaurant.
A modest $75 gets customers a seven-course Omakase (chef's selection),plus an appetiser,palate cleanser and BYO drinks;the same outlay at other exclusive Perth restaurants might yield two dishes at best,without the option to bring as much wine,beer or sake as you like.
Mr Oo is also hesitant to increase capacity as he can't access enough of the high-quality produce he will only serve,such as 100 per cent grass-fed and finished Margaret River beef,Berkshire pork from the Wheatbelt and Wagin and his current favourite – yellowtail kingfish from Geraldton,which"has good fat content and is versatile,you can play with a lot of things".
A qualified engineer,Moe and his wife Marie began their humble dining venture after the chef spent 13 years mastering multiple methods of Japanese cooking,including technique,preparation and styles,from Hokkaido to Osaka.