Most restaurant reviewers will tell you they don’t have a favourite restaurant, or they don’t play favourites. For one, they can’t be seen to be favouring a venue, and often I suspect they want to keep their little find to themselves too. A safe haven. One they can rely on to deliver exactly what one needs to be sated when dining out.

It’s a quandary I’ve found myself in, and if ever a restaurant embodied this in my travels it would be Izakaya Fujiyama. By no means is it the perfect restaurant, but each time I’ve dined here I’ve been reminded of why we dine out. Or at least, why I do. Chef and owner Kenji Maenaka is one of the most under-rated chefs in sin city, and yet he is one of the most humble. He cooks to satisfy the clientele, not his ego and it shows. Fujiyama is a place that creates happiness without hitting your wallet. You can loosen the tie, and even the belt, and drop as little or as much money as you like. An Australian spin on the classic Japanese Izakaya (a place to drink and snack on food) Maenaka’s vision is more restaurant than drinking den. The dark, moody room taps its foot to rockabilly tunes as polite and almost apologetic staff swing from table to table delivering shared plates of food that is as soulful as any I’ve encountered.

Think agadashi tofu with gooey okra and slippery shiitake. Charred Kingfish head smoked over coals and served with a cheek of lemon. Crisp Pork belly with yuzu or crunchy, then juicy kaarage (fired chicken). Then a salty, sweet and textural spin on a snickers sees peanut butter cake, chocolate custard and salted caramel ice-cream sending you off with a smile. Maenaka is not delivering anything ground-breaking, but he reminds us what restaurants are truly about. A place to share food, enjoy ourselves and forget our woes, even for but a brief moment.

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