Surry Hills restaurant Izakaya Fujiyama changes hands

Kenji Maenaka built a culinary temple around high-wire dishes such as smoked fish with salted caramel popcorn and octopus with candied grapefruit, but now Maenaka has sold his hatted Surry Hills restaurant, Izakaya Fujiyama.

Good Food tracked Maenaka down in Thailand, where he is recharging his batteries after selling to Koji Shibata​ from Circular Quay's Tokyo Laundry.

While they've inherited Maenaka's menu, the chef says Shibata and his team will stamp more of their own imprint on the food. Maenaka is headed briefly to Japan to help a friend who is opening a new restaurant in Tokyo.

Hopefully his talent isn't lost to Sydney. He's weighing up what he'll do next.