Where Chefs Eat: The Ramen Spot That Transports Emiko Davies to Tokyo

Though she’s lived in Tuscany for more than 20 years, there’s no small amount of national pride watching Emiko Davies school Stanley Tucci on the Florentine delight of panini di lampredotto (stewed cow’s-stomach sanga) in the A-list actor’s National Geographic series, Tucci in Italy. 

That’s our Emiko Davies! 

Naturally, Tucci loved the stomach, and got on famously with the Australian Japanese author, who’s written extensively about the cuisines of regional Italy and churned out seven cookbooks, including The Japanese Pantry, one of our favourite cookbooks of last year. Davies also holds culinary workshops at the natural wine bar she runs with her husband, sommelier Marco Lami, in San Miniato. 

“I have always loved living in Italy, but it really only started to feel like home during Covid when we moved out of Florence to my husband’s home town,” she tells Broadsheet. “It’s the kind of place where everyone knows each other and has lived there for generations”.

Now, Davies is hosting a series of workshops and events around NSW – and she’s feeling good about it. “I get to be here for autumn, my favourite season, and am spending a lot of time with family and letting my kids experience school and Australian life for a bit. It can be so hard living overseas and far away from family all the time, so this is a really special time.”

Here’s where our Emiko has been eating while she’s in town.  

Quick takeaway dinner: My friend Barbara Sweeney took me to Cairo Takeaway recently and I am obsessed. I wanted to try everything. Luckily, they do mixed plates (vegetarian or meat) for people like me who can’t decide and they decide for you. The falafel, the lamb kofta cooked over charcoal, the pickles – it was all so delicious. The shakshuka baked eggs and maqluba (slow cooked lamb and cauliflower) are next on my list. 

Favourite snack: Azuki in Newtown is a Japanese bakery and they make curry pan – delicious, pillowy little buns filled with Japanese curry that are crumbed and deep fried. They are a really nostalgic little snack for me as they remind me of my childhood trips to Japan to visit my grandparents there. 

Date spot: I feel like in Sydney it has to be somewhere where you can see the water, or even better, where you can go for a walk on the beach. I used to live right on Balmoral beach and worked at the Bathers’ Pavilion. It’s pretty idyllic and romantic. 

Sushi: To be honest, I would probably make it myself and I would do it the way my mother does at home all the time. I would go down to the Sydney Fish Market and pick some sushi-grade tuna. I also love kingfish and would usually buy a whole fish and fillet it carefully at home. I also usually make a tamagoyaki omelette too (one of my favourites) and add some homemade pickled ginger, and a little daikon and carrot salad. Place a bowl of steamed rice on the table, cut some nori into squares then let everyone dig in.

Noodles: Ramen Auru in Crows Nest is so, so good. From the ticket machine where you choose your ramen to the tatami mats, it feels like I’m in Tokyo. My favourite is the yuzu shio ramen, which is a brothier and lighter style soup rather than a thicker, richer one. Plus, I love the uplifting scent of yuzu.

Yum cha: I’m a bit out of the loop with yum cha, but I wanted to answer anyway because whenever I come back to Australia for a visit, yum cha is the number one thing I’ve missed and craved! My favourite things to order are turnip cake, slippery cheung fun noodle rolls with prawns, dumplings and sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf (lo mai gai). 

Sweet treat: I’m definitely going straight to Flour and Stone and it is probably a toss-up between the panna cotta lamington or the wholesome carrot cake – or whatever other delectable thing is on the counter. I love walking into Flour and Stone and smelling the waft of good things baking and settling into one of the little tables. It feels like home, only better.

Snack and a drink: I keep thinking about the prawn toast at the Bob Hawke Beer and Leisure Centre – perfect with a cold beer! Or Famelia, for a glass of wine made only by women and the Feather & Bone chicken liver pâté.

Bucket-list restaurant: Sean’s Panaroma. After all these years, I still haven’t eaten there, but it’s high on my list of places I know I’ll love, along with Erin French’s The Lost Kitchen in Maine. Erin is such an inspiration. She has an all-female staff, for one. Then she got so busy that she disconnected the phone and decided that to reserve a spot, you have to send a postcard in and if you’re lucky it will get drawn and you will be invited to come and visit. She has cabins in the woods to stay in, too. 

There are a few places I want to get to when I get back to Italy that I’m researching for my latest book – one is a little restaurant called Fiuri de Tapo that you can only reach by boat near Grado, between Trieste and Venice, which has a huge woodfired oven and a long barbeque where they grill the freshest seafood.

Favourite late-night snack: There is nothing like pasta con aglio olio e peperoncino. It’s an obligatory late-night food, if you ask me. While the spaghetti is boiling, get some garlic and chilli infusing in olive oil in a pan (try not to burn it). Add the pasta, toss and grate over the parmesan. Everybody loves this, how could you not?