Pizzeria where takeaway menu offers much more than pizza

Beautifully cooked fish, pasta and desserts join a lengthy line-up of pizza on a celebrated South Brisbane pizzeria’s amazing takeaway menu.

It’s a coronavirus crisis knees-up kind of evening.

We kick off with a Zoom birthday party for a friend, which involves a pile of us sitting in front of laptops talking over the top of each other and waving around drinks.

This early evening frivolity derails preparation in the kitchen so we decide on takeaway.

We would have usually celebrated my mate’s birthday with dinner at a restaurant but that possibility now seems a mind-bending, industry-ruining lifetime ago.

Now it’s work, if you’re fortunate enough to have a job, party and dinner, all without leaving the table.

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A trawl online reveals Julius Pizzeria, which pre-corona appeared to be always heaving with patrons at its digs on the corner of Fish Lane and Grey St, South Brisbane, is still operating, offering a wide range of takeaway dishes with something to keep everyone in the family happy.

Julius Pizzeria at 77 Grey Street, Southbank, chef Antony Nicastro cooking the Salsicca pizza. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

Julius opened in 2014, a younger sibling to long-established Teneriffe casual Italian success story, Beccofino.

A slightly modified menu now offers antipasti including arancini, focaccia and calamari, more than a dozen rosse and bianche pizzas, pastas from pappardelle with duck ragu to tagliolini with roasted mushrooms, butter, garlic and parmigiana.

Mains are fish of the day or crumbed chicken breast, there’s a selection of sides, desserts and children’s pizza and pasta meals.

Ordering is straightforward online, or if you live close enough, Deliveroo is an option.

Julius Pizzeria’s Salsicca pizza Photography : Russell Shakespeare

We choose to pick up and finding a park is no problem with QPAC and many nearby hospitality businesses sadly shuttered.

There’s a stiff breeze blowing down Fish Lane and the only activity seems to be on Grey St at nearby restaurant Gauge, where the chefs are working to a rocking soundtrack while cooking a takeaway, ever-changing set menu.

There’s a short wait for our order and a steady stream of patrons picking up packages from tables placed just inside Julius’s open front windows.

It’s a 15-minute trip home and the robust, salty, golf-ball sized arancini ($13.50), with a molten mozzarella centre, survive the journey well.

More surprisingly, fish of the day, in this case barramundi ($34), travels like a beauty.

Squeezed into a plastic container on a bed of broccolini, I thought the condensation might make the fillet a limp shadow of its former self by the time it made it on to a plate.

However, the skin retains a good crunch and the flesh is firm, not overcooked, and delicious.

Julius Pizzeria’s arancini balls. Picture: Russell Shakespeare

Pizza salsiccia ($24) would have undoubtedly have been in its prime served straight from the imposing wood-fired oven burning at the back of the store, to the table, but it’s in good shape.

The base is springy and light with hints of char, showing right there why this is one of Brisbane’s most popular pizzerias.

Topped with tomato sauce with a hint of chilli, mozzarella, provolone, chunks of pork and fennel sausage and a final scattering of rocket, it’s a fine version.

Dessert is either pannacotta or tiramisu (each $11).

We opt to share the former and the vanilla bean-scented, wobbly, sweetened cream favourite wears a garland of mint and is drizzled with aged balsamic vinegar and surrounded by sliced, fresh strawberries.

Like a metaphor for the times, it’s a bittersweet ending to a quality in-home pandemic picnic.

JULIUS PIZZERIA

Food 4

Ease of ordering 5

Value 3.5

Overall 4

Must try: Pizza salsiccia

77 Grey St

South Brisbane

Ph 3844 2655

juliuspizzeria.com.au

Mon-Wed 5-8.30pm, Thur 5-9, Fri-Sat 4-9pm, Sun 4-8.30pm