Do you wafu? This BYO spot will change your mind about Italian-Japanese fusion food

Sydney’s lower north shore has long been the home to an excellent collection of Japanese restaurants. In Neutral Bay, there are almost 20 around Military Road, packed into an area smaller than eight football fields. Near Coles, Komaru quietly pumps out excellent sushi and sashimi lunch sets, while Jugemu & Shimbashi is still one of the only restaurants in Sydney making soba by hand.

Just down the road in Crows Nest, meanwhile, legendary ramen shop Ryo’s Noodles stands out, along with Hatena Group’s three-storey delight featuring Yakitori Yurippi, Ramen Auru and Ichiro’s Japanese Sports Bar. And that’s barely scratching the surface.

Another, more unsung, resident is Jicca Dining. Opened in 2020 just months before the COVID lockdown, Jicca (meaning “home sweet home” in Japanese) initially launched as a Japanese spaghetti restaurant. In the years since, evolving into a broader Japanese-Italian diner has helped it quietly build its reputation, but it’s “wafu” pasta that still anchors the menu.

In a city where the pasta game continues to reach ever-greater emulsified-sauce heights in scope and quality, one sub-plot that hasn’t quite taken off is the idea of “wafu”, or applying Japanese ingredients into Western food, especially pasta.

It’s a dish that reads like another Italian nightmare, and when it arrives, I’m surprised.

Often, that means pasta cooked with sauces and proteins commonly enjoyed with rice in Japan, especially uni, tarako or mentaiko (salted cod roe), shirasu (young sardines or anchovies) and other seafoods, flavoured with soy sauce, dashi, seaweed, butter and miso. Others have dabbled with wafu or Italian-Japanese fusion, but few with the steadfast commitment to Japanese flavours and ingredients as Jicca.

Come on a Friday night, and even though Jicca only has three staff, including chef-owner Ken Takenaka, tables are turning and food is coming out fast. The surrounds are comfortable – navy walls, a blackboard menu, wooden floorboards, black leather seats – but there’s a casual tone here. Locals duck across the road to The Oaks to pick up a cheeky takeaway drink to take advantage of BYO for $7 a head at Jicca, where there’s even an enclosed play area for kids.

Start with antipasti, and the brief expands broadly into Europe. Hiroshima oyster ajillo ($28) is Jicca’s take on tapas, presented as four large, plump oysters with garlicky broth, served with toasted baguette. Move to pasta, and – especially if you bring an Italian friend – it’s best to check any preconceptions at the door. Take the sea urchin-cream spaghetti. It might sound like a nonna’s fever dream, but it is an absolute treat for umami-chasers, the urchin-infused cream sauce clinging to every strand, with fresh uni and dried seaweed bringing more savoury, oceanic flavours.

If you didn’t BYO, Jicca has a small selection of Australian wines, as well as some sake and Japanese whisky. Veer to sake and the drier Shirakabegura Kimoto Junmai, with roasted and savoury notes, pairs well with the spaghetti, while Takenaka also offers a selection of cold-brewed Japanese tea, presented with tasting notes. The kome hojicha blend from Saitama and Ibaraki prefectures (2022 vintage), for example, has a sweet and roasted scent that pairs well with richer seafood dishes, such as the crab and salmon roe “risotto”.

It’s a dish that reads like another Italian nightmare, and when it arrives, I’m surprised. First, like all dishes here, the serving size is extremely generous. Then, instead of risotto, I’m reminded more of China’s “paofan”, or submerged rice, where cooked rice is mixed with a rich broth, a preparation also popularised by Teochew communities, particularly in Singapore and Taiwan. Koreans might think of gukbap, while Takenaka might call it an ode to Japan’s soupy ojiya or zosui.

The rice itself has almost a congee-like consistency, but crisp kale adds texture to the crab-infused broth that builds on the traditional Japanese kaeshi base of soy sauce, mirin and sugar with anchovies and garlic. Each bite is an adventure: soft rice, then crunchy kale, then sweet crab, followed by bursts of salmon roe. I couldn’t get enough.

Another interesting dish is the beef tongue wrapped in filo pastry. The tongue is braised until fall-apart tender, then a hunk is wrapped and baked to order in wafer-thin house-made pastry that shatters under the lightest touch. It’s paired with a beef stock and tomato-based sauce, carrying signature Japanese sweetness and umami. As it is, the filo counteracts the rich texture of the tongue, but a more buttery pastry might serve it better.

Dessert? Tiramisu is a must, with a generous dusting of matcha checking the sweetness. Pair it with an oolong blend from Shizuoka for a fresh, fruity finish. Not sure about drinks? Waiters are happy to ask Takenaka in the kitchen, in keeping with service that’s warm, friendly and accommodating.

Takenaka came to Australia in 2005, with the Sapporo local’s only prior cooking experience being four years at a Japanese spaghetti restaurant. He’s since learnt how to make sushi at Sushi Samurai (now Izakaya Samurai) in Neutral Bay, then ran Sushi Train Neutral Bay for a decade before starting Jicca Dining and now Deli by Jicca – a sandwich shop a few doors down. With a dream to change Australian minds about Japanese wafu pasta, perhaps the exploding popularity of Australian tourism into Japan, and a growing appetite, will bring that goal a little closer.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.