Ame opens this week as a 115-seat Peruvian-Japanese restaurant at GF.01, 90 Oxford Street in Darlinghurst. Book it if you want Esca's chef-hatted Nour and Aalia pedigree applied to Nikkei cooking; skip the first-week rush if you need a quiet two-top and a settled room from night one. The address matters: Ame sits inside the Oxford & Foley development at the corner of Oxford and Crown streets, with basement music bar Loa opening below via Foley Lane.
Ame Oxford Street offers a Darlinghurst table this week and a second venue downstairs. Chotto Matte brings a larger 250-seat Nikkei restaurant to Curlewis Street in Bondi in November, backed by Kurt Zdesar, the Sydney-born founder who launched the brand in London in 2013. Ame opens early in the CBD fringe, while Chotto Matte will offer a bigger Bondi room from an international brand.
What Makes Ame on Oxford Street Worth Booking
Esca, the group behind chef-hatted Sydney restaurants Nour and Aalia, has enough local form to make a 115-seat Nikkei opening feel like a real dinner reservation rather than a theme applied to a large room. Ibby Moubadder, Esca's co-founder and creative director, has built the group across venues including AALIA, Nour, Henrietta, Ito, Lilymu and Joji.
Ame is a strong Esca opening attached to a basement music bar, placed inside a development that has been waiting years for a dining anchor with enough pull to get people back toward the CBD end of the strip.
At 115 seats, Ame can absorb demand better than a 30-seat counter, but opening-week prime times will still go first among Sydney diners who follow Esca. Friday and Saturday dinner bookings are likely to go early. Ame is open for lunch Wednesday to Sunday, and the Oxford Street address gives diners pre- or post-meal options around Darlinghurst and the CBD edge.
The Nikkei Menu at Ame: Peruvian-Japanese Fusion Highlights
Executive chef Erik Ortolani oversees the Ame menu, and his internal track record is the key credential here. He also oversees Esca-owned Japanese venues Ito in Surry Hills and Joji in the CBD, which makes Ame a logical next format rather than a sudden left turn. Before the launch, Ortolani traveled to Peru for research into Nikkei cooking.
The opening menu includes specific dishes. Tuna nigiri acevichado puts Japanese rice-and-fish precision against Peruvian ceviche acidity. Kombu brioche with corn and miso combines sweetness, umami and bread service. Duck leg confit with Japanese crispy rice, inspired by a traditional duck rice dish, presents Ame's Peruvian-Japanese premise in one plate.
Nikkei has a migration history distinct from broad Japanese-Peruvian mash-ups. Peruvian chef Alejandro Saravia, who runs Morena at Martin Place with some Nikkei dishes inside a broader Latin American approach, has drawn the distinction clearly: "Those first Japanese migrants working in the cotton fields couldn't find ginger or wasabi, but they did find chilli," said Alejandro Saravia.1 That history is why the tuna nigiri acevichado matters more than a generic spicy raw fish dish would.
That trio covers raw fish, bread and a deeper savoury plate from the opening menu. Ame tests how Ortolani stretches Japanese technique through Peruvian reference points. Ito and Joji remain the stricter Japanese comparison.
Loa Gives the Booking a Second Act
Loa makes Ame more useful than a single 115-seat dining room on Oxford Street. Esca is opening the music bar in the basement, with its own entrance on Foley Lane, and a dumb waiter will move food from the Ame kitchen down to Loa. The booking can work as dinner first and then Loa downstairs, or as Loa for after-work food from the Ame kitchen.
The Foley Lane entrance is practical. It lets Loa function separately from the restaurant and gives the development a back-lane draw after dinner service begins to thin upstairs. A four-person dinner at Ame can roll into Loa without negotiating a second taxi or a different neighborhood. The basement bar lets diners move from dinner to another venue in the same address. Loa may become an easier way for solo diners or pairs to sample the kitchen once opening-week dinner slots tighten.
Ame plus Loa gives Esca a restaurant-and-nightlife pairing in one Darlinghurst address, while Chotto Matte's November Bondi opening will offer a larger 250-seat Nikkei room from a global restaurant brand. Ame combines food with a basement music bar. Chotto Matte will suit a beachside group dinner later in the year.
Loa also helps Oxford Street. The strip has needed anchors that work past dinner, and a Foley Lane bar connected to an Esca restaurant gives the precinct a reason to hold guests after 10pm.
Esca's Track Record From Nour to Ame
Esca's track record is the clearest reason to trust Ame in week one. Nour and Aalia give the group chef-hatted credibility in Sydney, while Ito and Joji give Ortolani relevant Japanese experience inside the same hospitality group. Moubadder's résumé also gives the opening weight beyond the food: he is co-founder and creative director of Esca, co-founder of Joji in Sydney's CBD, and the operator behind venues including Nour, Henrietta and Lilymu.
That portfolio makes Ame different from a chef-driven pop-up trying to teach Sydney a new format from scratch. Esca already knows how to run high-demand dining rooms in Sydney, and the group has built concepts across Middle Eastern, Japanese and bar-restaurant formats. Ame needs to make Peruvian-Japanese food feel specific rather than decorative. Ortolani's Peru research and the opening dishes suggest the kitchen is starting with technique and reference points.
There is risk, and it is worth naming before you book. Nikkei has had an uneven recent run in Sydney, with Nikkei Bar & Restaurant in Surry Hills and Lima Nikkei in Walsh Bay closing in 2024. That does not make Ame a bad bet; it means Esca needs to make the format legible to diners who may know Nobu but not the late 19th-century migration history behind Nikkei cooking. kombu brioche with corn and miso, and duck leg confit with Japanese crispy rice are concrete entry points.
The better peer comparison is Morena at Martin Place, where Alejandro Saravia takes a broader Latin American approach with some Nikkei dishes, rather than Chotto Matte alone. Morena is the better choice if you want Latin American range in a CBD setting. Ame is the better booking if you want a restaurant fully organized around Peruvian-Japanese ideas and backed by the same group that built Nour, Aalia, Ito and Joji. Chotto Matte, when it opens in Bondi in November, will be the larger international-brand counterpoint.
Practical Details: Location, Hours and Reservations
Ame opens at GF.01, 90 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, inside Oxford & Foley at the corner of Oxford and Crown streets. It serves lunch Wednesday to Sunday and dinner daily. The location is the CBD end of Oxford Street, which makes it easier for business dinners than Bondi and more useful for a full Darlinghurst night than a destination restaurant that requires a one-stop plan.
Book dinner if you want the room at full speed and plan to use Loa afterward. Book lunch if you care more about the menu than opening-week atmosphere and want a lower-friction way into a 115-seat restaurant that will draw Esca regulars. Groups should think in two stages: reserve Ame for the meal, then keep Loa as the flexible second act via Foley Lane. Couples should avoid assuming a new 115-seat opening will feel hushed in its first week; early services tend to attract industry watchers, regulars and friends of the group.
Dress for Darlinghurst dinner rather than beach Nikkei. Ame sits in a development with restaurant and bar operators around it, and Loa adds a late-night component, so the safest move is smart casual that carries from dining room to basement bar. If you are choosing between Ame and Chotto Matte, timing decides it: Ame is open this week, while Chotto Matte's 250-seat Bondi restaurant lands in November. Ame gets the first crack at Sydney's renewed Nikkei conversation, and Esca's Nour and Aalia history gives it the local credibility to make that first booking worthwhile.
If Ame fills its 115 seats and Loa gives Foley Lane a dependable late-night reason to linger, the Oxford & Foley corner becomes a dining address rather than another redevelopment promise. Watch the first month of reservations, the menu's handling of Nikkei beyond the opening dishes and whether Loa builds its own audience downstairs.
