It can be difficult enough having one chef in the kitchen, but what about two? Fujisaki opens at Barangaroo with two formerly hatted Good Food Guide chefs; a dynamic that immediately makes it twice as interesting as your average identikit contemporary Japanese.

Sushi master Ryuichi Yoshii, who has been quietly running Yoshii for the past 20 years, is upfront in the open, counter-lined raw fish kitchen, while former chef and owner of Claude's in Paddington, Chui Lee Luk brings her finesse to the simmering, steaming and robata-grilling.

Fujisaki is the flashest of Lotus Dining group's presence in Barangaroo, with Lotus Barangaroo and Bing's Bao already there, working their butts off.

Here, the Design Clarity team has created a refined Scandinavian, not overly Japanese-themed interior for 146 diners, with glass-fronted wine cellar, smoked mirrors, plush velvet seating and three private tatami rooms.

Tables also line the street outside, their harbourside views somewhat diminished by proximity to passing cars.

Eating Yoshii's sushi and sashimi once again is a real treat; complete with his high-detail trademarks of serving two different shoyu sauces – one for rice and one for non-rice dishes – and grating fresh Tasmanian wasabi to order. It's a revelation to anyone who has grown up on the green stuff in tubes and sachets.

His nigiri sushi selection ($24/$45) is super elegant, yet generous. Sashimi ($48, 14 pieces) is almost too pretty, too intricately worked into chequerboards and roses.

A playful take on maki rolls in which fresh spanner crab, avocado and nori are wrapped in a skin of burnt pickled cabbage ($24) is an engaging mix of the preserved and the fresh.

Lee Luk brings French technique and a Malaysian/Chinese sensibility to the Japanese menu. So a fine chicken liver parfait, its cubes gradated in pinkness, is animated with umeshu plum wine and garnished with umeshu-marinated currants, dried taro and lotus root crisps ($14).

Another very together dish is Chinese-inspired salted duck ($32), hung for five days and finished on the robata. The uniformly tender slices are arrayed over a tangle of swede "noodles" cooked in duck fat. Again, there's a fruity, punchy component – this time, native muntries.

Whole flounder ($33) marinated in sake kushu (sake lees) and grilled in paper bark is delicately steamy, and deep-fried prawn and vegetable tempura ($17) is fun to eat, like crunchy fritters.

Some dishes are a little more oblique – pipis in a sauce of squid and preserved broad beans ($20) has the warmth of black bean, but isn't otherwise remarkable.

Pastry chef Kumiko Endo's "sweet wasabi" ($18) intrigues – could it be the Japanese version of Brae's legendary parsnip dessert? No, it couldn't.

Instead, it's a kitschy-cute, green facsimile fashioned from Valrhona's blond muscovado chocolate, mango cremeux, toasted buckwheat and crystalised wasabi leaf, that tastes more "sweet" than it does "wasabi".

While Barangaroo has been smashed with dozens of restaurant openings over the past year, most have been casual, office-friendly offerings built for turnover.

Fujisaki is more elegant and crafted; a close cousin, perhaps, to Sake and Sokyo, with good staff capable of explaining any complexities.

It's a step up for the precinct and for Lotus, and a rap on the knuckles for anyone lazy enough to roll out the old proverb of "too many cooks".

The low-down

Drinks Big on sake and Japanese beer, plus an impressive, 300-strong wine list and a temperature-controlled, on-view, on-site cellar

Go-to dish Sushi, $24 for 5 pieces; $45 for 11 pieces

Pro tip Book a front-row seat at the sushi counter for Yoshii's special omakase menu ($140 to $160pp)

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.