Izakaya Fujiyama

Came here for my wife’s work Christmas dinner. The staff were very organised and helpful, plenty of drinks available, fun funky atmosphere, however I did expect more from the food. We had the set menu and to me, as someone who has been to Japan for extended periods of time and I absolutely love Japanese food, I thought the food was very much westernised, not at all what I expected from this restaurant especially for the price. I do think the a la Carte menu would of been a better option as it seemed quite a lot more authentic, but being a large group it was just a lot easier for the set menu.
The sashimi we had was going a little dry by the time we got it, zucchini flower? Colli flower? A small single pork rib that was 90% bone and near impossible to share between 4 people let alone feed 4 mice? Fried battered squid was nice and was similar to what you would get in Japan.
Over all it was just above an average experience, probably would of been better with a more authentic set menu. Next time I would just order from a la Carte instead.
I’m sorry but I can only give this place 3 stars so far.

Oh man, I think I’ve found my go-​to Izakaya place. It’s a bit pricey, but the quality of the food is amazing. Really fresh, tasty, with unique items on the menu.
We ordered:
— Edamame. Good, but then again I don’t think you can go wrong with edamame?
— Kenji’s Fried Chicken. Really yummy karaage.
— Teriyaki Beef Rib. This was amazing. It was soooo soft and flavorful.
— Fujiyama Snickers. Deconstructed Snickers bar. This was interesting, but I’m not sure I’ll order it again. It’s a bit too unusual for my taste.
— Mushroom, Garlic, Chilli & Soy Sauce. This is a special. It was good, but I found it quite heavy.
— Wagyu Bao. Yum! This was soft and tasty.
— Plus a bottle of Shiraz.
Came to around $ 180 for two people.
I would order the fried chicken, beef rib, and wagyu bao again. The other dishes were pretty good too, but I think I’ll try the other stuff on the menu as they didn’t really stand out for me.
My friend is a regular, so Kenji very nicely gave us a platter of nigiri: D
Loved the ambience, too. It gives off this relaxed, bar, chill-​out vibe.

A little gem hidden in the back streets behind Crown St in Surry Hills.
Service, food and drinks were all exceptional. For an izakaya style establishment (casual Japanese pub), the décor far exceeds the description — it’s a trendy, cool restaurant. Although, if the décor was more upmarket, it would be a stand out restaurant for sure.
There is a food menu, a specials menu and an extensive drinks list that is longer than both food menus put together! This is not surprising given there must be more than 100 bottles of exotic Japanese alcohol lined up against the walls.
My thoughts on the food and drinks:
— Prawn and chicken wontons — mind-​blowingly amazing! Huge flavour hit, and tasted fresh and healthy at the same time.
— Yellowtail tataki with ginger and shallot. I love raw fish with a passion, and the Yellowtail was fresh, soft, and moist, and coupled with the baby shallots and hint of ginger, it was perfectly cool and refreshing on the palette.
— Mushrooms, asparagus, chill and garlic dish sure was filling! The generous serve of chunky mushroom slices and had perhaps a tad too much oyster sauce, but this is a minor complaint.
— Salmon and avocado hand roll, and the tuna and shallot handroll — good, but probably our least favourite of the night. The rolls had an amateur untidy look about them — as if I had rolled a sheet of sushi on rice.
— Wagyu cheek buns — the knockout dish of the night. From the first dish, the standard had been set so high that when we bit into the baos, we were speechless, staring at eachother with smirks in our eyes, in awe of the mindboggling flavour punch and textures of the tender Wagyu, mayo and the super soft bao. This was without a doubt the best bao I have ever had, and it was that delicious that I would bet money that it’s the best in Sydney. They even came with a hand towel — how thoughtful!
— Japanese whisky — very strong! There are around 10 to choose from.
— Umeshu (plum wine) — light and refreshing, just how I like it. There are around 10 types to choose from.
I am so pleased that I have found this little gem which I can add to my list of must try again restaurants. Will be returning!

Not good as expected, rice of nigiri is bit weird, put to much suger in the rice, and the sashimi on the top isn’t so fresh, taste Sticky.

Friendly hosts, tasty ingredients, but knife work is poor here. Japanese chef asked what I thought of mixed sashimi plate and told him. 90% perfect, but knife work on the tuna was poor and gave me chewy fish. Knife work on veggies and beef also an issue. Also if you close the kitchen at 10 but stay open until 11, don’t be surprised that nobody would want to come here and drink when you have TONS OF NOISE and scrubbing. Mark my words, this place is almost finished of they don’t re-​prioritize. This means you, owners.

My favourite restaurant in Sydney!
You can’t go wrong at this place. Nothing is a miss as all dishes are hits! Everything has a different flavour and character to offer but whatever you order, trust it will not fail to impress those taste buds and hungry bellies.
Casual yet trendy. Music is always awesome. Atmosphere has no pretentions. Lively with honest good food.
Personal favourites are the Wagyu Oxtail, BBQ Octopus, Kingfish Nuta with fried tortilla, Tuna belly, BBQ Beef Sagari, Chicken & Prawn Wontons, Bean salad & Agedashi tofu.
Thumbs up to chef and owner Kenji Maenaka, such a great talent!

Claims to be open until 11:30, I was turned away at 9:40 on a Saturday night. Fix your hours, or stay open until posted hours. Waste of time.

Even though the food was pretty good, the order our dishes came out is all wrong. All the hot food came first and the sashimi last. Got to do better than that and the service was erratic at best. Spoiled the experience.

Visited the place for the first time on Friday night, I was impressed. A smaller, more chilled vibe then some of its competitors, great little spot on a quieter surry hills st.
Ambience and fit out of this place was spot on, we had a waitress who knew her stuff and got us on the right path with food and drink.
Like others, I was impressed by both the sake selection and the Japanese beer offering.
Food was also top quality, duck, spare rib and chicken spot on. Has to be the best Japanese fried chicken I’ve had.
Recommended.

Always great. Put your sake cup in the capable hands of the guy in the kimono and you won’t be disappointed.
Fish head a must! Do yourself a favor.

This place is the Japanese version of Bodega in Surry Hills… without a doubt. It’s not easy to find, but I generally enjoy places like that.
This is the best selection of sake I’ve ever seen and if you like fresh sashimi… they fillet the damn fish right in front of you and it comes straight to your plate! Small place, great service, good music, and the food was spectacular.
We ordered the Blue Fin Tuna sashimi, KFC (Kenji’s Fried Chicken), the Kingfish w/​Lime, pickled cukes, and the Teriyaki Beef Ribs. It was all very good… they also have a very limited amount of imported Japanese beers on tap that we’re very good.
It’s a casual place so you shouldn’t worry about getting fancied up… just head out and have an appetite. Perfect place for a dinner with a group of friends!
Enjoy!

I was in Sydney for 24 hours and getting overwhelmed with the number of restaurants in Surry Hills, decided to wing it and turn up at 6pm on a Friday evening with my work colleague and dining companion.
They don’t take bookings anyway, but between 6 and 6.30pm the restaurant completely filled.
The sake list is enormous, with around 100 varieties, but we went with beer, good old Asahi which is on tap.
There is the usual menu and a daily handwritten menu which has feature dishes. The restaurants is Izakaya style, which means small dishes to share and munch on whilst drinking, but there are larger plates as well.
We had to start with a bowl of edamame to munch on whilst we decided on our dishes, which to tell you the truth were a little oversteamed.
Prawn and chicken dumplings with ponzu and chives were delicious and had a slightly spicy flavour. Kenji’s fried chicken was simply a great version of karaage chicken.
Our braised oxtail dish was super fatty but in a delicious way, amazingly delicate, served with a buckwheat/​beetroot/​shredded oxtail meat salad combination.
The favourite was certainly the pork belly. They nailed the crackling, and it was superb. We were a bit meated out, and probably should have substituted a lighter dish like sashimi or sushi, but I was super happy with our meal.
Didn’t get a chance to linger a lot, as we could feel the pressure of diners waiting outside to get a table, but it would have been nice to sit for ten minutes to digest, and then order dessert later.

This place is fine. My friend Rodney says ‘fine’ is just one step up from ‘sh*t’ but that’s not where I’m going. Does a meal have to blow your mind to be any good? I came here with my blog group and we had such a good time, and left feeling happy and satisfied, but none of us was crazy about any particular dish. After consulting a menu I remember that the dumplings were good, the beef ribs very good, the agadashi tofu a waste of time and the tofu salad was a winner. What made the evening so good was the staff here. Total professionals, warm and friendly and intuitive to our needs. This is a great neighbourhood restaurant, but because the neighbourhood is hipster-​central there is that unwonted weight of expectation to be super groovy. I’d return anytime, it’s a nice place and the food is fine. Oh, and we ate a lot and drank a lot but the bill was barely $ 60 each — and that’s fine!

When trying to come up with a star rating for this hot spot all I could do was crack a wide smile. So I’ve gotta give all 5 stars to these hard working folks!
I was checking out Surry Hills and killing time before my 8pm dinner reservation. When 7:30 rolled around I had pretty much seen it all. As it was a Sunday, tons of neighboring shops were closed and I was running out of options. Izakaya caught my eye as it was packed with people, well-​lit and hey, I saw a huge wall of sake, ok? So I just had to pop in and grab a big cozy stool at the bar.
Not two seconds into my visit and a friendly bartender asks if I’ll be eating. I pass on the food but regret that decision as I see people eating all around me. In fact, the folks to my right were speaking loudly and I recall hearing that they were regulars and came for the sashimi as it was some of the best they’d had in town. (Good to know!) As I try to decide on a drink the bartender points out a specialty cocktail on their handwritten menus. Having never heard of a Green Tea Mizuwari, I went for it. Basically it’s a mixture of green tea soda and whisky and it was great! I hadn’t expected that combination to be so refreshing and it made for a nice little treat before dinner with friends nearby.
Noting that I’m not from Australia, the bartenders asked me about my trip to Oz so far and really made me feel welcome. So welcome in fact, that I got myself a second drink and hung around a bit longer! If you’re a cocktail fan, don’t be wooed by 50+ brands of sake decorating the walls. They’re certainly impressive but so were the mixology skills of the men behind the bar. I had a lovely Old Fashioned as a second drink and then wished I’d spent more of my evening here rather than fumbling around window shopping. The staff were all very friendly and the restaurant appeared to operate like a well-​oiled machine. No joke, if I head back to Sydney any time soon, I promise to pop back in and get that «mean Sazerac» the bartender promised me he’d make!

Terry Durack’s review sold me on the teriyaki beef kalbi — glazed beef ribs with green chilli relish. And it seems to be the order of the day. These babies are being pumped out like there’s no tomorrow. We kick off with the obligatory edamame, followed by the agadashi tofu with braised shitake mushrooms and okra, and it’s perfectly crisp and creamy. Kenji’s Fried Chicken — karaage chicken with mayonnaise is a finger lickin’ good, way upmarket version of KFC. And the site of the fish nanban on the neighbouring table compels us to try that too — fried snapper Japanese escabeche — fresh, light and clean. Our neighbours get stuck into the beef kalbi, but my not so carnivore dining companion is put off my the commitment of such a big hunk of meat, so we forgo the star of the show. Bummer. Instead we opt for pork belly with hoba miso and baked eggplant. The pork has been braised and to be honest the dish looks a little limp and unappetizing, but looks in this case are deceiving, because it’s super… but the three bean salad is a compulsory crunchy contrast. Forget the Japanese potato salad (traditional Japanese mashed potato) which tastes kinda like the one from Woolworths. The grilled fish head is a spectacular skeletal sight. But I think I’ll stick with the Izakaya thanks.