The executive chef behind Itō and Jōji is turning his attention to Japanese-Peruvian cooking, with ESCA Hospitality Group’s latest restaurant set to open in Darlinghurst in late October.
Erik Ortolani is taking on another Sydney kitchen, with the executive chef behind Itō and Jōji set to lead new Nikkei restaurant Amé when it opens in Darlinghurst next month.
The latest venue from ESCA Hospitality Group will occupy the ground floor of a heritage-listed 1927 building at 84 Oxford Street, on the corner of Oxford and Foley streets.
For Erik, Amé marks a new direction.
The Milan-born chef has spent much of his Australian career developing his understanding of Japanese food, first at Cho Cho San and more recently at Itō, where his Italian background has increasingly intersected with Japanese technique.
At Amé, that exploration moves into Nikkei cuisine, shaped by more than a century of Japanese migration to Peru and the meeting of Japanese technique with Peruvian ingredients and flavours.
From Milan to Sydney
Erik trained at ALMA in Italy before working in Michelin-starred kitchens and luxury hotels in Milan, including Park Hyatt and Armani Hotel.
A period at Nobu Milan deepened his interest in Japanese ingredients and techniques before he eventually moved to Australia.
He later spent four years at Cho Cho San in Sydney, running the pass for the final two, before joining ESCA to open Itō on Crown Street in October 2023.
At Itō, Erik developed a menu rooted in Japanese cooking but informed by his Italian background.
Dishes have included yellowfin tuna on bonito bread with bottarga and Wagyu mafaldine with white shimeji and miso, alongside pasta and seafood dishes drawing on both culinary traditions.
His role has since expanded across ESCA. At Jōji, Erik oversees the à la carte offering alongside head chef Kihoon Kim’s sushi program.
Amé takes that progression somewhere different.
Looking to Peru
As part of the restaurant’s development, Erik travelled through Peru earlier this year to explore the food and culture behind Nikkei cooking.
He already had some familiarity with Peruvian flavours from growing up in Milan, home to a substantial Peruvian community, but the trip gave him a deeper understanding of the cuisine and the way Japanese and Peruvian traditions have developed alongside each other.
Rather than trying to reproduce traditional dishes ingredient for ingredient, Erik plans to build on his Japanese foundation using Australian and Japanese produce alongside Peruvian flavours and techniques.
Sourcing will play an important role.
Some corn varieties, root vegetables and other ingredients used widely in Peru can be difficult to obtain consistently in Australia. Chillies will help establish the flavour profile, with more readily available produce forming much of the menu around them.
For a professional kitchen, it presents a familiar challenge: how do you respect the foundations of a cuisine while building something that can be sourced and executed consistently in Sydney?
Sushi, anticuchos and a new kitchen team
The menu is still being finalised, but sushi and anticuchos are expected to play a significant role.
Dishes under development include sashimi finished with fried quinoa and beef tataki with Erik’s take on salsa criolla.
A version of causa, the Peruvian layered potato dish, is also being considered, while a guava kakigori first served during an Itō Nikkei event is set to return.
Erik will also have an experienced Japanese chef alongside him.
Kihoon Kim will move from Jōji to become head chef at Amé, bringing experience in Japanese fine dining and omakase from Bay Nine, Besuto and Saké.
Kihoon’s seafood knowledge, sushi background and knife skills should provide a strong technical base for a menu that pushes further into the sharper, brighter flavours associated with Peru.
Another step for Erik
Amé will open almost exactly three years after Itō first welcomed diners in Surry Hills.
But it is not simply an extension of what Erik has already been doing.
Itō gave him a place to explore the relationship between his Italian background and Japanese cooking. Amé asks him to work with another culinary tradition, another set of ingredients and another layer of cultural influence.
For chefs, that may be the most interesting part of the project.
The challenge is not simply combining Japanese and Peruvian flavours. It is understanding which techniques are essential, which ingredients can realistically be sourced and where there is room for the chef’s own identity.
For Erik, Amé represents another step in a career that has moved from Italian kitchens to Japanese cooking and now into the Japanese-Peruvian traditions of Nikkei.
The question now is how that progression will translate when the doors open in Darlinghurst.
Amé is expected to open at 84 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, in late October 2026.
