Nom Japanese

Address 166 Riley Street, Darlinghurst, 02 9332 1156

Opening hours Mon-Sat 6pm-9pm

Pro tip Book – spaces are limited and it really is a shoebox of cheapish delights

Try this The mentai potato salad might be served cold, but it's mighty comforting

Bottom line Mixed sashimi ($20); quails tulip ($12); gyoza ($12)

Like this? Izakaya Fujiyama offers updated takes on classic izakaya fun. Shop G09/52 Waterloo Street, Surry Hills; 02 9698 2797

"Excuse me, what is a 'quails tulip'?" In my head, I run through a few scenarios in which each answer to this question is more elaborate than the last. A quail wrapped in petals, say, or maybe the breast of a quail shaped into a beautiful just-blooming flower. Maybe the quail with be presented within a bouquet of tulips (the bliss!) There's some chatter from the kitchen and our waitress comes out to tell us triumphantly "it's a small chicken!".

Close enough. The end result, FYI, is a sort of deep-fried quail lollipop – the little legs crumbed and deep fried – salty and crunchy with tender rosy meat interior. If you don't speak Japanese (I sure as heck don't, beyond "Hi! My name is Myffy!" "That's refreshing!" and "Good!") or at least have a steady understanding of Japanese snacks on menus, you may be in for a few surprises ("soft bones"! Conger eel! Grilled "half-dried" squid!) at this tiny, warm Darlinghurst izakaya, hidden away on Riley Street. Happily, they're all good surprises. Like mentai potato salad – a smoky, mayonnaise-y mashed potato hybrid mixed through with fish roe.

Other dishes are a little more par for the course. Pan-fried pork gyoza, all chubby and fragrant with ginger – the thin skins branded deeply from the pan – or a mixed sashimi platter. Salmon belly and kingfish, deep-red slices of lean tuna and fatty, firm mackerel are served alongside two textures of wasabi but the raw fish is so fresh and flavoursome, they require nothing but chopsticks. Deep-fried tofu isn't what you'd call a win for Flavour Town, but it's redeemed by a little dish of dashi broth. They even do an apple pie. Here, the apples have been stewed until a deep golden smoosh, then captured in layers of lightly bruleed pastry. It's like breakfast fruits a la mode for dessert.

It's very easy to settle into this welcoming little hideaway, where you can just as easily nurse a ceramic mug of green tea as a hefty fistful of Japanese beers with some chicken karaage alongside something from the impressive sake list. The room's decked out in old Japanese beer posters, a chalkboard scrawled with specials in kanji but the best thing by far is the cheesy 1960s photo of the pretty Japanese teenager in a traditional kimono staring straight down the lens cradling a tiny ginger kitten. Sweet, but faintly sinister. DBC Pierre would have a field day with that.