Revisit your favourites: Izakaya Fujiyama

Recently there has been a lot of publicity around the restaurant industry and the difficult period restaurateurs currently face. There really is no better time than the present to get out and into your favourite restaurants to support them. Not only is it the owners’ livelihoods that could be lost, it’s essentially our collective eating-out livelihoods too.

The combination of a prolonged economic “recession” and the more cautious consumer discretionary spending habits associated with it; the MasterChef effect; rising living costs; a changing consumer and diner; and quite honestly some overambitious plans should not herald any end to the vibrant dining scene we have in Sydney. The current state of flux is an evolution of the industry that will take its course – if not tomorrow, next month or next year.

Asazuke - salt pickled mixed vegetables from Izakaya Fujiyama, Waterloo Street, Surry Hills

Izakaya Fuijiyama in Surry Hills is one of my favourites. It recently celebrated its first year anniversary and its menu has expanded and matured along the way.

It’s a great drinking and eating venue on the quieter side of Surry Hills and has really developed a niche in its sake range. All I know is that I picked sake #77 (name forgotten, but lovely and dry) and there were more than 77 on the list.

We started on Japanese pickles which have more of a salty aspect compared to various other Asian and non-Asian pickles, which often have more sweet and sour elements. But all the better to drink with, which is the precise idea of an izakaya.

This bowl was predominantly juicy Chinese cabbage and cucumber, with some grated carrot gracing the salty jumble.

Orion beer

It was my first time seeing Orion beer, ordered from the extensive drink specials menu. An easy-drinking beer from Japan’s Okinawa, it’s touted as an American style beer; and not half bad.

Three bean salad with sesame dressing

It is all too easy to get carried away with the exciting proteins and deep fry action on the menu so I make a conscious effort to order vegetables.

A vision of green, the three bean salad is worlds away from the tinned stuff, featuring snow peas, green beans and sugar snap peas all in fantastic states of crisp freshness. The nutty sesame dressing was pretty full on, adding serious weight to a bowl of greens.

Kingfish nuta with tortilla

One of my favourite dishes from every visit has been the kingfish nuta, which has evolved with the restaurant to its present spicy form served on a plate.

Our fears that there weren’t enough deep fried tortilla segments were unfounded, especially when the raw, miso-dressed kingfish is best piled on liberally.

I have to say I prefer the non-spicy version, but this one packs a flavour punch that makes one glad they drink beer.

Sashimi platter

It’s impressive that Izakaya Fujiyama does the quality of sashimi and sushi that it does, as your average izakaya in Japan is unlikely to dabble in raw fish at all.

The platter of ten generous pieces features five impeccable varieties, presented so alluringly that sharing amongst three is a slight problem.

Sashimi platter

The tuna was lean and light, while the kingfish got my vote of the platter. The skin-on bonito didn’t have any overriding fishiness while the finely-scored squid makes for a pretty sight aside the creamy salmon belly.

Kenji's fried chicken

As much as I try to resist fried chicken, it’s near impossible. Chef Kenji Maenaka’s fried karage chicken is as juicy as you’ll get; the thigh chunks covered in a golden batter that’s enhanced ten-fold with creamy Japanese mayonnaise and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Crispy pork belly

The crispy pork belly off the food specials menu arrived as three strips: perfect for sharing among three but a little difficult to handle with chopsticks.

The blistered, burnished skin wasn’t quite at crackling state, but close, lined with a layer of fat and fall-apart soft cross-sections of meat.

The lemon was a lifesaver of the dish; being rather crucial in cutting through the fatty mouthfuls and overall richness while the paste-like yuzu pepper added a zingy kick.

Teriyaki beef kalbi

The teriyaki beef short rib is an epic-looking dish that chopsticks, again, struggle with – although I have no issue with picking up and gnawing off bones.

The multiple dips into teriyaki sauce while being grilled probably have a lot to do with the appetising caramelised edges of the beef rib, which was succulent and still a little pink in the middle.

It’s quite the rich serving so the green chilli relish went some way in ensuring that beef overload didn’t hit too soon – though it definitely has some punch of its own.

Vanilla ice cream with Japanese vinegar

Depending on your food choices at Izakaya Fujiyama, you may or may not end up gorged and unable to contemplate dessert – as I was. However, it didn’t stop me from having a taste of the vanilla ice cream with a curious Japanese vinegar sauce.

A little like a caramelised balsamic vinegar, it wasn’t overly weird as it may have sounded initially but it also probably won’t make my list of favourite ice cream toppings.

It was another thoroughly enjoyable evening of food and drinks at Izakaya Fuijiyama and I definitely don’t want it to be my last, so I’ll be making sure to revisit this and my other Sydney favourites soon.

A mountain of sake at Izakaya Fujiyama

Giving Surry Hills' Crown Street a very good run for its money is what one might call Surry Hills west, between Central Station and Crown Street where a mass of restaurants have opened recently. The latest is Izakaya Fuijiyama, featuring no bookings Japanese eats, lots of sake and Japanese beers.

Sake on display at Izakaya Fuijiyama, Waterloo Street, Surry Hills

Alongside the new El Capo and fairly new Orto Trading Co., and one street up from Muum Maam, Cotton Duck and Vini, (and not to forget District Dining closer to Central Station), this part of Surry Hills is turning seriously food-centric despite pubs on every corner.

Sake - served at room temperature

From a full menu page of sake, listed from mildest to strongest, I randomly pick something middling in strength and price (prices go up to $20 or so for some 90ml pours). This one (name forgotten) turns out to be quite mild with a floral hint.

We're informed that the sake here are only served at room temperature, and that warmed sake was usually something reserved for lower grades of the rice wine where the heat masks the inferior flavours.

Umeshu - plum wine

There are also a few options for plum wine, or umeshu - most of which I've never seen before. And with prices starting at $9.50 for a 90ml glass, it's no surprise that this is far superior to the almost sickly sweet umeshu I'm accustomed to having in your average, casual Japanese eatery.

Instead, this has a clarity of flavour without the overpowering saccharine hit, and also lacks that sometimes preserved flavour that's apparent in cheaper umeshu.

Yellowtail tataki

Traditionally, in a Japanese meal one would eat the cold courses first, including sushi and sashimi, followed by the hot dishes and rice. Dashing in from last week's torrential rain, I couldn't quite stick to that tradition, except for a daily special of yellowtail tataki.

More commonly seen in its beef form, this tataki features thick-ish, raw slivers of yellowtail - a pink-fleshed fish with quite a soft texture - tossed with shallots and fresh, ground ginger on a string bed of daikon strips. Served with soy sauce, the combination of seasonings took on a Cantonese flavour; albeit light and fresh with natural sweetness of the fish.

Satsuma age - housemade fish cake (two serves)

I'm generally a fan a fish cakes and these golden square halves were no exception. Light and a tad floury in a good way, they had peeled edamame beans to be found inside their golden skins. Dipped into a vinegary sauce, they were comforting and definitely a good drinking snack.

Kenji Fried Chicken

Named after chef and owner Kenji Maenaka (ex Porteño, Bodega, Forty One Restaurant, Four in Hand, among others), the KFC is a more substantially sized dish of karage chicken.

Battered hunks of succulent chicken were served with lemon and a creamy mayonnaise, and showed no indication whatsoever that the chef hadn't cooked Japanese food professionally for eight years.

Japanese fried potato

Looking a lot like Italian arancini or indeed, turtle eggs; these perfectly round balls of creamily starchy taro were firm but velvety in the way that only taro is. It lacked the spice flavours as advertised on the menu (and potato?), but went rather nicely with wasabi and soy sauce.

Grilled mackerel with grated daikon

The grilled mackerel was served with flaked pieces along with grated and seasoned daikon - the flavours, including sesame oil, were subtle, clean and quite special. This felt like a healthy, salad-type dish, but also went very well with the sake.

Next sake

Thoroughly warmed following our first round of mostly hot dishes, it was time for another (also unknown name) sake further down the list in strength. This definitely hit the palate harder with that almost-savoury flavour typical of rice wine coming to the fore.

Potato salad

Somehow, we'd managed to turn traditional eating style back to front by following up with a number of cold dishes. Traditional Japanese mashed potato sounded intriguing, and scattered with onions and paper thin pickled cucumber slices, it certainly was.

The tartness of the pickles was just the thing to complement the creamy, mashed and chunky bits of potato in this carb-olicious salad.

Miso tofu

We see the delightfully firm tofu being sliced and then dressed in a white miso sauce. The latter is more sweet than salty, but provided an unexpected depth to the clean, earthy flavours of the cold tofu.

Kingfish nuta with fried tortilla

The most playful dish of the night had to be the kingfish nuta (though I have no idea what 'nuta' is). Served a bit like a ceviche with deep fried tortilla triangles, this was so flavour-packed I was using the tortilla chips to get every last bit of sauce out of the bowl.

Marinated with lots of lime and miso for creaminess, this fine dice of kingfish topped with shallots simply blew me away with its gigantic flavours - sweet, salty, creamy and a little spicy. Eaten cracker style on the crisp, golden tortilla chips, this is one hell of a Japanese nachos.

Grilled mackerel with teriyaki sauce

Despite the fabulousness of the nuta, it was outdone (just) by the daily special of grilled mackerel. Having seen it cook on the grill and go out to another table, we quickly added the fish special to our order - thankfully, in hindsight, as it was my favourite dish of the night by far.

Three thick slices of the most gorgeous-looking, raw, skin-on mackerel (purchased that morning at the Sydney Fish Markets, Maenaka tells us, like all his fish) were skewered and placed directly onto an open yakitori-like grill. It's turned from time to time, as well as dunked into a large pot of house-made teriyaki sauce and returned to the grill.

Chef Maenaka leans over to tell us that no-one else in the world would have his teriyaki sauce, since he dunks his fish and beef into it; the juices from both contributing to the flavours of the sauce, which is boiled out every day like a master stock.

It's pretty special and it shows with the appetisingly caramelised surface of the fresh-off-the-grill mackerel. Dunked and turned on the grill many a time, the firm flesh of the fish, along with the deeply sweet teriyaki sauce, make this dish simply divine, while the thin slices of pickled daikon cut through the rich sauce in just the right way.

Chocolate ice cream with bourbon

Watching desserts leave the kitchen seems to magically make way in my stuffed belly for dessert too. Something small to share, we went with the house-made chocolate ice cream with a sauce of orange and bourbon.

Not being a drinker of the latter booze, I left most the sauce in favour of unadulterated chocolate ice cream - silky smooth, luxuriously creamy and one of the best I've had in ages. There were also some chopped shortbread biscuits nesting at the bottom, reducing the richness as well as the slippery, sliding ice cream factor.

Washed down with a pot of Japanese green tea, we watched the rain continue to belt down and wash the roads, footpaths and pretty much anything/one not under cover. Completely stuffed and just warmed from the sake, I concluded that next time would have a much better attempt at conquering the Fujiyama mountain of sake on offer. Along with tasty eats, izakaya-style, of course.