A tiny taste of Tokyo at Nomidokoro Indigo in Darlinghurst

No, this isn't yet another 12-seat omakase restaurant that will cost $350 a head. Sorry to disappoint.

Nomidokoro Indigo is a 12-seat izakaya instead, with normal everyday prices for the sort of food you could happily eat every day.

Things like deep-fried chicken wings, and sashimi, and tsukimi udon, and brothy agedashi dofu. Things that go with sake and beer and whisky and Coke.

It's the latest venture from Tin Jung Shea, Mitomo Somehara and Chris Wu of Hatena Group, the force behind Darling Square's raucously popular Nakano Darling, and Crows Nest's Yakitori Yurippi and Tachinomi YP.

Like them, it taps into Japanese drinking culture in a surprisingly – and endearingly – traditional way.

Behind the half-open wooden door, the dining room is as small as a bento box, with a wardrobe-sized tachinomi (standing bar) to one side.

Walk-ins might snare one of two tables on the Darlo footpath; otherwise you need to book (way) ahead to get a seat at the long, thick plank of camphor wood that forms the counter table.

Chairs are tiny and low, and getting to them involves much holding-in of tummies as you squeeze behind those already seated.

It's a very deliberate initiation, designed to set you at ease enough to talk to your neighbours. If that doesn't work, then the Orion beer on tap ($12) will; or the fizzy bottled Kizakura yuzu-infused sake highball ($17); or the 20 different sakes.

Everything on executive chef Hideyuki Kato's menu goes well with a drink, funnily enough. School prawn karaage ($15) is a perfect kick-off, the salty, crunchy, tempura-battered school prawns served heads and all in a small, tall wire basket.

If they had to undergo a performance evaluation for a job as "drinking food", they'd score highly.

An old favourite of mine, itawasa ($6.50) sees a log of kamaboko fish cake with a tiny groove set along the top, into which the chef has piped nasally challenging wasabi. So kawaii (cute)!

It's sake time. The Hakkaisan Junmai Daiginjo from the Niigata prefecture ($32) is light, dry and clean-tasting; good with two big, fleshy Japanese scallops ($18) complete with coral that recline in an umami-loaded soy butter.

Steamed baby clams come in an intense sake-forward broth ($18) already, so save the sake for the must-have deep-fried chicken wings ($13).

The meat is soft and sweet; the skin dusted with the spicy warmth of togarashi sprinkles; best taken with a silky, viscous Yamato Shizuku Junmai Ginjo from Akita prefecture ($17). You'd kill for something like this when you're halfway through a 20-course omakase slog.

There's resilient, fresh rankin cod sashimi ($18) and hand-pressed onigiri rice balls stuffed with mentaiko (bright, sharp cod's roe, $6). Some dishes are garnished with red oakleaf lettuce but would be better off without it.

On the counter, a black cast iron pot hangs above a small portable stove for the ever-changing simmered dish ($12), which could be pork belly and daikon (delicious), or soft, creamy beef intestines (even more delicious).

Mini-udon also makes a nice closer ($9.50), with thick white udon noodles lurking in a good broth with wakame, kamaboko and soft-yolked onsen egg.

What else? It's a fun and friendly, no-fuss sort of place that has immediately slotted in to the Darlinghurst neighbourhood. It's great for solo diners.

Early seatings are more sedate than the later ones, for obvious reasons. There's a pull-out drawer beneath each chair for bags (because there is literally nowhere else for them to go).

Staff wear indigo-blue overalls and are well-drilled on sake, but once they've set you up with oshibori (refresher towels) and menus, the level of engagement is up to you.

And the best thing? You could eat here twice AND throw in a rowdy night eating excellent pork gyoza and juicy chicken karaage at sister bar Nakano Darling as well, and still come out for less than a $350 omakase. Your call.

The low-down

Nomidokoro Indigo

Drinks A wall full of sake, plus Orion beer on tap, yuzu highballs, Japanese whisky, and shochu

Vibe Squeezy back-alley Tokyo bar for 12

Go-to dish Hand-pressed onigiri rice balls stuffed with mentaiko, $6