{"id":90059,"date":"2026-09-07T09:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90059\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T09:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T09:26:14","slug":"ame-is-the-ito-chefs-next-big-sydney-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/90059\/","title":{"rendered":"Am\u00e9 Is the Ito Chef\u2019s Next Big Sydney Restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erik Ortolani is known for his own brand of Italy-meets-Japan cooking at Ito<\/a>, which opened on Crown Street three years ago. Ravioli stuffed with scallop and prawns, slick in a umami butter and topped with fried Japanese firefly squid. Yellowfin tuna with bonito bread. Silky sak\u00e9 rigatoni. Daikon-filled olives, fried and served with yuzukosho mayo. Japan influences his next project, too: Am\u00e9, a Nikkei restaurant opening in a 1927 heritage-listed building in Darlinghurst.<\/p>\n

The venue is the latest from ESCA \u2013 the team known for Aalia and its adjoining wine room, Besa, Nour, Joji and Henrietta \u2013 and it sits on the busy corner of Oxford and Foley streets. The distinct cuisine is from Peru, where the large Japanese population married their kitchen techniques with Peruvian dishes and ingredients. The hospitality group\u2019s co-founder Ibby Moubadder has wanted to spotlight Nikkei dishes for years; with Ortolani leading the kitchen, though, it\u2019ll stray from the traditional.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Am\u00e9 has] a very strong identity,\u201d Ortolani says. \u201cIt\u2019s not really similar to anything I\u2019ve seen around in Sydney. It\u2019s very focused, very sushi-forward, with skewers \u2013 anticuchos<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

His menu is a few tastings away from being locked in, and it\u2019s been one of his career\u2019s biggest challenges. The chef is drawing on his experience cooking in Japanese kitchens, his heritage and a research trip to Peru earlier in the year. \u201cI\u2019m Italian, so I tasted a lot of Peruvian cuisine back in Milan. There is a very big Peruvian community, so I wasn\u2019t completely foreign to the flavour profile \u2026 To be honest, I came back with more questions than answers \u2013 so it broadened my horizons a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

What we can expect is sashimi topped with fried quinoa, and beef tataki dressed with Ortolani\u2019s riff on salsa criolla<\/a>. Perhaps a rendition of causa, the layered citrusy dish of potato, avocado and white fish, which Ortolani enjoyed in Lima \u2013 and surely a comprehensive line-up of grilled anticuchos. What will definitely return is the guava kakigori Ortolani made at Ito\u2019s Nikkei pop-up<\/a> last year, the South American fruit zipping through the Japanese shaved-ice dessert.<\/p>\n

Joji\u2019s Kihoon Kim is trading kitchens, joining Am\u00e9 as head chef \u2013 lending his extensive experience in Japanese fine dining and omakase. \u201cThat\u2019s a big anchor of the kitchen,\u201d says Ortolani. \u201cAmazing knife skills and knowledge of the products and seafood. I\u2019m just going to shake him up a little bit \u2013 with the garnishes and the, sort of, kicks I want on the menu.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peruvian cuisine in general, and food from wider Latin America, is underrepresented in Sydney and Australia, despite large populations of Latin Americans living here. There\u2019s Callao<\/a> in Barangaroo for Nikkei; while Alejandro Saravia\u2019s Morena<\/a> awaits in Martin Place, and taberna Pepito<\/a>\u2019<\/a>s<\/a> in Marrickville. Difficulty sourcing specific ingredients (Ortolani highlights root vegetables and corn varieties) is a contributing factor, making menus tricky to execute at scale. His fix? \u201cJapanese or local ingredients, with Peruvian accents. Obviously, the chillies are the non-negotiables to recreate the flavour profiles in Peru, but with [other] ingredients that are fresh and readily available here, rather than relying on shipping in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Am\u00e9 is expected to open at 84 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, in late October 2026.<\/p>\n

@ame.sydney<\/a><\/p>\n