The first time I ordered pasta in Japan, I had to do a double take. On top of a bed of spaghetti, there was dried nori seaweed as well as a sauce made up of tiny balls of cod roe (mentaiko). I thought that it was the strangest sort of pasta. However, never letting surprise spoil the chance for a meal, I took a bite of it and pondered the salty, rich roe and the savoury strips of nori and decided that perhaps it wasn’t so weird after all and it was all rather quite delicious.
So when Mr NQN and I are in Porcorosso, a Japanese Italian restaurant in Waterloo and I see mentaiko and seaweed on top of spaghetti, I know that I have found an authentically Japanese Italian experience. In fact, it is the merging of four Italians and one Japanese (the chef). Intrigued by the name we had to ask – Porcorosso is named after the animated Crimson Pig (Porco Rosso) which is the name of the film’s main character. He was an Italian WWI fighter ace pilot turned bounty hunter who was cursed and turned into a pig. Well it all makes sense when you watch it I’m sure.
The restaurant is subtly signposted, the only indication is that there isn’t much else on quiet Allen Street apart from the restaurant next door. Inside are exposed concrete and brick wall and a large fighter pilot pig sits in front of the kitchen glass. The walls are covered in metres of grey tactile paving which is a common sight on Japanese subway stations and footpaths, albeit in yellow. The menu is two sided with drinks, entrees and salads on one side.
On the other side are the pizzas on the left named after Italian numbers and on the right are the pastas, named after Japanese numbers (although number four appears to be missing in both columns – according to a Japanese friend, four is inauspicious in Japanese culture). Service is very sweet and friendly and it was politely suggested that we may have over ordered (oops over-itis again!). However Mr NQN was hungry and we figured we could take the leftover pizzas home with us.
Tofu salad $14.50
I am a sesame dressing fiend-it’s light and packs so much flavour and this salad had it all. There was seaweed salad, a generous amount of edamame, shallots, green leaves and a sesame and miso based dressing along with crumbled tofu. If I worked or lived near here I’d probably order this salad every day for lunch.
Go $19
The pasta was spaghettini with chilli marinated mentaiko (cod roe), nori seaweed, fresh basil and lemon zest. I was lucky I ate my portion of this while Mr NQN was busy taking the photos because he wolfed it down in about three large, enthusiastic mouthfuls. The pasta was silky and noodle-like, the mentaiko had a gorgeously rich, spicy flavour. Within each mouthful, you first had the nori and cod roe, then the basil stepped up and then the lemon zest. All of the pastas are home made and you can see them sitting on a counter in trays.
Cinque $20
The pizzas were large and Napoletana style with a super thin polenta dusted base and thick puffy sides. The cinque had tomato sauce, spicy salami, nduja, mozzarella and Spanish onion on top and it had a good amount of spice although I think we would have both loved a bit more chilli heat.
Otto $22
We weren’t quite as taken with the Otto, a pizza with tomato sauce, pork sausage, mozzarella, wild mushroom and radicchio as there weren’t any standout flavours and compared to the rest, it just wasn’t as flavoursome.
San $20
I liked the richness of the fettuccine with home cured salmon, asparagus, fresh cream and dill which had large chunks of soft, salty cured salmon and thin, silky fettucine. Oh and that reminds me, gluten free eaters, they offer a kamut spaghetti which is an ancient wheat that is said to be easier to digest and well tolerated by gf eaters (I didn’t try this though).
Tiramisu
I know, how could two people that ate all of that have room for dessert? When one of them has enviably hollow legs -that is, Mr NQN. In the front display there are a range of home made cakes from an orange and poppyseed slice, chocolate friands, strawberry slice and a huge tray of tiramisu. Our waiter recommended the tiramisu so who was I to disagree? It came as an enormous slab with light and creamy mascarpone but with a slight difference. Their tiramisu is made out of sponge cake rather than sponge fingers. Now I know that I’m not Italian and the use of sponge cake might be sacrilegious to some but it was really delicious and strong with coffee and liqueur. I usually try a spoonful of tiramisu and leave it as I often find it a bit watery but this was worth the extra pitstops with the fork.
Carrying our leftover pizza, we bade the fighter pilot pig sitting on the table ‘ciao’ or ‘sayonara.’ He didn’t answer back.
So tell me Dear Reader, what is your favourite fusion food combination? And are there any cuisine fusion combos that you think would be good or terrible?
Porcorosso
33 Allen Street, Waterloo, NSW 2017
Tel: +61 (02) 9698 2983
Monday – Friday 7:30am – 4pm
Thursday – Saturday 6pm – 10pm
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42 Comments | Add your own
One of my fave combinations was the Mexican taco with Korean beef filling, and that was divine
I’m not sure that’s a movie I need to see! The food looks good. The salad looks very crisp and fresh and I like the look of the pizza. Shame the sausage pizza didn’t have much flavour because it sounds like it would be sensational. Great to have leftovers to take home. Fusion food? In this house it’s the Aussies and the Kiwis getting together xx
I like the look of that pasta–something different indeed. I don’t remember ever eating that in Japan, but I would have if I had known about it.
I am immensely fond of Nonya cooking with its Chinese-Malay and some Indian fusions. I also really like Mexican-Mediterranean as found in Baja, MX. I once had Caribbean and New Orleans fusions that was a total bust. Awful.
The food looks delish – but you know the tiramisu has my heart.
Have never heard of the Japanese take on Italian cuisine before but I am prepared to at least try anything and this looks good to me
OMGGG The pasta looks so good Lorraine! I would have wolved down everything too!! I absolutely love Japanese style pasta! It’s almost udon like but not really. lol! I’m totally craving pasta right now!!
Italian and Japanese together in the one place!
It sounds and looks fascinating.
SSG xxx
I was never game enough to eat pasta in Japan. It looked a little strange.
mmm their pizzas look so simple but so good! Would be interesting to taste the combination of japanese and italian flavs
Definitely fusion Japanese restaurant! Reminds me a little of UCC cafe in Hong Kong that originated from Japan which has fusion Italian and Japanese dishes hehe
I actually quite like the fusion of Japanese and French
To me they’re very similar hehe
At our house it’s definitely American and Australian fusion or as I like to call it, “We’ll eat what I feel like cooking.” All this food looks delicious!
I haven’t had a real chance to eat fusion food before. I can sort of see how the two cuisines could overlap and/or interrelate.
Horoki in Melbourne, hands down the best Japanese Italian fusion food I’ve tasted so far. Must try this place as Horoki is the only other place I’ve been to so far that does this well!
I tried a Thai-Italian fusion last week and it was rather nice.
Hello Monday! If it starts with this warm laugh, it’ll be OK
! I cooked fusion food ere long that term was invented, but I had never ever thought of putting Italian and Japanese together!! Suppose I have to think this thru’ but if it works, God bless! Loved the Japanese side more in this find of a place: that tofu salad looks extraordinarily moreish and since I eat a lot of soba, ramen etc noodles, would like to taste that pasta dish! I love ‘natural’ fusion like much of Singaporean or South African or Malayan cooking, but am most likely to cook Australian seafood any Asian style or even place my Moroccan tagines atop Asian noodles rather than always make couscous!
I loved finding cod roe in my onigiri while travelling around Japan. That salad sings to my soul!
I certainly wouldn’t have thought that this cultural combination would produce such amazing flavours! That salmon dish looked so lovely indeed!
Enjoy always learning something new!
And through your eyes…WHOO HOO!
Mexican, Indian and enjoy fusing two difficult cultures of foods (at home) together,
At our parties (for me), it does not get any better!
I love experimenting fusion foods at home ( a cross between Indian and American )..
That first photo of pig looks too cute
Just a heads up….kamut is not suitable for gluten free people (for example coeliacs) as it does contain gluten. For some of those lucky ones with “just” a wheat allergy it can however be tolerated.
I ‘fuse’ whatever food i can find in fridge & pantry to (hopefully) make it into an edible dish…(family members are still alive & eating
I have always admired how the japanese fusion their food with other country’s food and make it so unique and yummy!
I have eaten here a couple of times and it has blown me away every single time. Cost wise it is what I would call cheap but quality wise…amazing!
I think anything goes with fusions, although that 90′s trend to fuse things that shouldn’t be fused at all, just because you can, was terrible!
I’ve added this to my list of places I want to try – yummy I love japanese pasta! I think Japanese French fusion is quite good!
I’m in love with all the food on offer in this beautiful restaurant but the tiramisu has my heart of course
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
What an enexpected two ethnicities to pair together; not sure I would have enjoyed that pasta but I am glad you did. I prefer traditional flavours but we shall see when we go to Lyon and dine at one of Chef Bocuse’s restaurants.
Haha wow. I never would have thought a Japanese Italian restaurant existed! But everything looks soo good!
I love Japanese French fusion – sooo good. Hmm.. I imagine an African French restaurant might be good.. So many possibilities to be thought about!
The mix of Japanese and Italian elements in both the design and the flavors sounds like a seriously fun and interesting notion!
I have seen Porco Rosso and their discription of it does not do it justice. It is a Hayao Miyazaki film and is well worth watching. The food also looks great and I would love to try it sometime.
Google Maps says this place is 750m from my office. Tofu salad will need to be acquired very soon!
Lorraine, you absolutely have to get hold of the Studio Ghibli box set and watch all of the movies! They are wonderful, especially Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.
Just your quirky cup of tea.
I’ve never had Japanese Italian food before, but this looks great!
The tofu salad and tiramisu looks insanely good!
Japan italian fusion is actually really common. (mostly mentaiko though.. but in nyc there is Basta Pasta, and there used to be another place that only did japanese style pasta but it closed down…) i sometimes make my own mentaiko pasta (from scratch.. not the msg filled pre-made packets) but I can’t get it to be as tasty as the one at porcorosso… the other one I can’t stop eating here is the carbonara – so rich and tasty.
I can’t even pronounce some of the names you have mentioned. But they all look so good, though I am never sure I can ever remember to ask for them specifically.And yes, for two people, this IS a lot of food. But even I can save some space for that yummm looking tiramisu…
Lorraine, the boys at Porcorosso are northern italian, and they’re going to have little different flavour profile and wouldn’t be like the southern italian places that have been in Sydney.
Looks great. The Japanese and French cuisines work well together – both entirely pedantic about I gradients and presentation, as well as culturally protective. Vietnamese do great French too – for obvious reasons. This is all making me far too hungry.
Oh I do love Japanese-Euro fusion! And I’d happily gobble down a whole bowl of that “go” pasta!
My favourite type of fusion is the Japanese take on French patisserie – everything looks so perfect and precise! My favourite patisserie in the whole world would have to be Sadaharu Aoki… mmm… those green tea croissants!!
I made and photo shoot my mentaiko pasta. I hope you will like my post when I share it.
My photo is not so pretty (or presentation too) but it was delicious! This place looks so good!!
I love Ghibli films! When i clicked on this post I thought the title sounded familiar.
Interesting concept, I’m intrigued.
I dont often get an upset stomach after eating but have been quite ill since eating at this restaurant Guess it must be the ajinmoto that they add to the food to make it taste better and i am allergic to it Oh well there are plenty better restaurants
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