And the winner is … Melbourne

Sydney was a mere pit stop en route to a more important destination, a city deemed more sophisticated, more Manhattanesque, more worthy of opening a high-class, internationally-renowned restaurant owned by a movie star.

That city would be Melbourne. The archrival Sydney thought it had outclassed in the metropolis stakes was De Niro's first choice to open a $10 million version of his flagship Tribeca restaurant, Nobu. So tonight, in a celebrity-studded sake opening, Melbourne will join New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong in the global Nobu empire.