Sure it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but ’90s grunge, ignited by Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, spoke for a generation of rebellious spotty sprats who needed an outlet. And although it’s a restaurant, the city’s latest izakaya eatery, Kid Kyoto, embodies the essence of grunge’s enthusiasm, too.

Backed by Sam Prince Hospitality Group (Zambrero, Mejico, Indu), Kid Kyoto takes influence from Japan’s underground izakayas (places to drink and eat). Switching the entrance from Bridge Street to Bridge Lane adds to the hole-in-the-wall ideal and reveals the hidden architectural joys of Sydney.

The threshold itself, with a neon ‘come as you are’ nod to Nirvana, is a riff on Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari Shrine – where a multitude of vermillion torii gates arch over a path four kilometres long. At Kid Kyoto they’re fluorescent teal, and in only a few metres you’re inside a shrine to the lighter side of ’90s grunge.

It’s not as dark and dingy as one might anticipate and, as far as izakayas go, Kid Kyoto is a kind of unplugged version. It’s izakaya lite. In fact, far from the dive bar watering holes of Tokyo and Kyoto, it’s more casual restaurant than arm bender with bites.

The real show here is chef Seb Gee’s food. Carrots are sous vide, given karaage (battered and fried) treatment and served with a punchy orange kosho (citrus chilli paste), while wobbly pork belly yakitori gets a kick out of a squeeze of lemon, quandong and karashi.

Pickled watermelon and roasted wakame kosho bring the noise to kingfish ceviche, while a confounding pea wasabi sauce underpins king (saiko) salmon that could have been smoked a little less. But walnut miso adds a wonderful, sweet earthiness to wok- smoked mushrooms, then corn dashi and pickled bamboo are bang on with a silky, steamed barramundi. To be honest, one could skip the grunge themes, but what with food like this it’d be hard not demanding an encore.