Macquarie Park is home to the best dessert pizzas
LOOKING for the best dessert pizzas in the country? Head to Macquarie Park, where two chefs have taken out gold and silver in a national competition.
Northern District Times
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IT’S OFFICIAL: the country’s best dessert pizzas come from Macquarie Park.
Two pizza chefs took out the top two spots in the dessert category at the Australian leg of the World Pizza Championships.
Stefano Cirene from Verace Pizzeria on Khartoum Rd won gold for his ricotta and pear creation while Fabio De Lutiis from Macquarie University’s UBar took home silver with a rhubarb and raspberry pizza.
Cirene’s winning pizza takes about 25 minutes to make and comprises hazelnut biscuits, caramelised pears, ricotta and pear liqueur.
“I wanted to create a modern twist on traditional flavours – a salute to the creamy and nutty flavours associated with traditional Italian desserts,” Cirene said.
Verace Pizzeria is no stranger to the championships, having won six gold and two silver medals since 2015 were also named Australian Grand Champion twice in the past three years.
A few streets over at Macquarie University, The UBar is also serving traditional Italian pizzas.
De Lutiis, who trained in Venice 20 years ago, started working at The UBar seven months ago after moving from Melbourne where he ran a pizzeria for 16 years.
De Lutiis’ award-winning dessert creation included poached rhubarb, white chocolate cream, rhubarb and raspberry jelly, candied blood orange, and homemade frozen “dippin’ dots” – made using sorbet and liquid nitrogen and some pizza alchemy – on a marscapone and vanilla bean base.
“It’s got seven elements and about 30 steps to make,” he said.
“My goal was to put Macquarie University on the world pizza map and that’s what we did.”
■ Although the pizza is not on the regular menu, Verace Pizzeria will give away a slice to all lunch bookings on Saturday, October 13, to celebrate the restaurant’s third birthday, and The UBar will create a simplified version of the Ruby pizza for university students and staff to try