Pizza is the world’s favourite fast food – we eat it everywhere, at home, in restaurants and the park.
Some 3 billion pizzas are consumed in the United States alone each year, that’s a whopping 46 slices per person!
People have been eating pizza in some form or another for centuries – pieces of flatbread, topped with savoury offerings were served as a simple and tasty meal for those who couldn’t afford plates, or were on the go.
In the late 18th Century, the pizza we know today came into being. Naples had become one of the biggest cities in Europe and fuelled by trade and an influx of peasants from the countryside, its population boomed.
Always on the go in search of work, these country folk needed cheap and easy food – pizza met these needs. Street vendors would carry huge pizza boxes under their arm, which would be cut to meet the customer’s budget or appetite.
Not that different to having a pizza in a hot box delivered to your door by bicycle!
As we celebrate all things pizza this week, here are five of our favourite restaurants to get your fix:
Those seeking artisan sourdough pizza in the heart of Woy Woy follow tantalising aromas along Blackall Road to find Nero’s Woodfired Pizza. Enjoy a choice from carefully selected Italian wine and beer that pairs perfectly with gourmet pizza slices, indoors in the cosy dining room where the oven takes pride in place, or alfresco in the courtyard.
Using organic stoneground Italian milled flour for the dough, then cooked in the iron bark-fuelled woodfired oven; expect the freshest ingredients on slices like sopressa biella – tomato, Grana Padano, salami, onion, olive, fior di latte and EVO.
Located on busy King William Road in Hyde Park, Godi La Vita has quickly become one of Adelaide's most sought-after Italian restaurants. Those seeking signature cheese wheel pasta dishes head to this modern Italian eatery in droves to satisfy cravings in charming surrounds of polished wood, statement pendents and tempting aromas of pizza, pasta and much more wafting from the kitchen.
Deep pan pizza is the ultimate indulgence at this venue, think pies topped with Italian pepperoni, capsicum and chilli, or chicken, housemade BBQ sauce and broccolini, with a side of hand-cut chips and green leaf salad.
A promise in a name, Locale Pizzeria Deakin on Hopetoun Circuit provides inspired Italian dining to Canberra locals. Drawing an after-five crowd, Locale encourages guests to take time dining with family and friends, relaxing, celebrating and socialising over sumptuous food.
Embracing traditional style, pizzas like Rustica – fior di latte, gorgonzola, potato, rosemary, Italian sausage and truffle oil - are offered with an option for gluten-free, quinoa bases.
Tucked behind the dunes at Sapphire Beach, find Stef Beachstone Café on Beach Way in Coffs Harbour, the ideal place to relax and chill out in a simple vibe. Reimagined by Stefano Mazzina, this no-fuss dining destination emphasises quality and friendliness in stacked stone and recycled timber surrounds, while the undercover alfresco area beckons on balmy days.
From a menu reflecting Stefano’s Italian roots and his life experience as a global traveller, expect to devour slices of pizza topped with chorizo, mozzarella, potato, grilled radicchio, blue cheese and roc.
Afternoon wines, tasty pizza and fancy oysters have Nambucca Heads locals and visitors returning time and again to Matilda’s on Wellington Drive. Housed in a charming cottage with a white picket fence, side verandah and bright and breezy interior of blond wood and cane pendents, this is the ideal hang-out to replenish and recharge.
Chill with an ice-cold glass of Chardonnay and enjoy the Zesty Prawn pizza – confit garlic, fior di latte, spinach, taleggio, citrus marinated prawns, chilli, tomatoes, basil and goats’ chèvre.
If you still knead to know of a pizza joint near you, click here. It’s the yeast we could do!
