The First Australian Outpost of Tokyo’s World-Famous Pizza Studio Tamaki Lands in Sydney

Tsubasa Tamaki is graceful with a pizza peel. He’s used the long paddle to place, turn and pull thousands of pizzas in his career as a pizzaiolo, which began in earnest during a years-long apprenticeship to Susumu Kakinuma – known as the godfather of Japanese pizza – at Savoy in Tokyo. He then moved to Pizza Strada before opening Pizza Studio Tamaki (PST) nearby in 2017. From that humble, compact shop (now a Tokyo institution) in Higashi-Azabu, Tamaki has set on a path of global expansion, opening restaurants across Asia, New York and now Sydney, where his first Australian outpost opened its doors on Saturday.

In true Tokyo style, Tamaki’s pizzas look a lot like classic Neapolitan pizzas – the crust is at once chewy and crisp, with fire-kissed bubbles around the edges – but the exacting attention to detail is all Japanese. For example, the cedar chips added to the fire that lend a touch of spicy-sweet, resinous smoke to the crust, and the mineral-rich sea salt from his native Okinawa that amplifies every topping.

“During my youth, I tried a lot of pizzas and travelled around the world,” Tamaki says. “Using Japanese ingredients on pizzas was my attempt to create a unique style of pizza.”

His style is unique, but many of the toppings are familiar. His eponymous Tamaki pie, for instance, features smoky mozzarella, basil and explosively hot cherry tomatoes. The Bismarck, meanwhile, is a white-base pizza with an egg cracked over mozzarella, mushrooms, house-made pork sausage and pecorino romano, and the Diavola features pork sausage, briny olives, basil and chilli flakes. Made from rounds of dough proofed for 30 hours, each expertly shaped and topped pizza is blasted in an extra-hot oven (480 to 500 degrees Celsius compared to the typical 400 to 450 degrees). A generous burst of salt is thrown over the pizza and a handful of cedar chips added at the end to flare the fire and add smokiness to the crust.

Although PST has ranked in the top 10 globally at the Best Pizza Awards and won multiple Michelin Bib Gourmands, Tamaki isn’t trying for the kind of authenticity that would secure him accreditation from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, the Italian group that protects the integrity of traditional Neapolitan pizza-making. Instead, he’s focused on what he thinks are the best ingredients. “I enjoy using so many Japanese ingredients, like Okinawan salt, but I also love to use quality ingredients from Italy because of the high standards.”

For anyone who’s visited Tamaki’s other restaurants, the custom-made oven will be familiar: a black iron dome that’s lined, igloo-like, with bricks. A half-circle opening reveals the stone cooking surface inside, where pizzas blister and char to perfection. But the style of the restaurant itself seems to differ from city to city. The George Street space is moody, with a distressed brick feature wall emblazoned with the words “Pizza Studio Tamaki” in pink and yellow neon. Olive-green velvet and timber booths fill the room, each curving round a white marble-topped table. There are 78 seats, making the Sydney restaurant the biggest PST in the world.

Making excellent pizza is one thing, but Tamaki’s main focus is his customers’ happiness. His pizzas are celebrated around the world, and he’s riding a wave of popularity. Over the years, he’s opened locations in Bangkok, Manila and Singapore, and the Sydney restaurant opening follows the launch of his first permanent spot in New York by just 11 days. But when asked what the sticklers for tradition think of his craft, he’s thoughtful and open. “I always want to make sure my customers enjoy my pizza. Some people are just okay with my style. Other people love it.”

Pizza Studio Tamaki
259 George Street, Sydney

Hours:
Sun to Thu, 5pm–9.30pm
Fri & Sat, 5pm–10.30pm

pst.pizza
@pst.australia