Pizza Republica brings pizza, doughnuts and DSPs to Surrey Hills

Looking for the ultimate dinner and dessert combo? A new Surrey Hills pizzeria is serving up pizza and doughnuts exclusively — and the freshly-made delights are so popular the owners can’t keep up with demand.

Pizza Republica’S doughnuts are all made on site.

A shop making pizza and doughnuts has opened in Surrey Hills, courtesy of the creators of the popular Doughnut Snack Pack.

Open for less than a fortnight, Pizza Republica is already so popular owners Mark and Cassandra Micheli say they are selling out of doughnuts soon after they set up each day.

Their Italian delights are made specially for each order and the mouth-watering flavours can be smelt from the footpath.

The popular Doughnut Snack Packs are inspired by types of chocolate bars.

Doughnuts are cooked, glazed and filled while customers wait, just as the pizza is stretched, topped and baked on the spot.

Italian chef Mr Micheli has been in the pizza and pastry game for 15 years, and was a finalist in the Global Pizza Challenge aged 19.

Pizza Republica is his fourth pizza shop.

He previously established Pizzeria Express and Micheli’s Pizza, Pasta and Grill in Ringwood and New Age Pizza in Doncaster.

But he believes this shop is Melbourne’s first exclusive pizza and doughnut provider.

There’s a doughnut for everyone at Pizza Republica in Surrey Hills.

Mr Micheli said specialising in the two treats meant he and Ms Micheli, also a longtime chef, could focus on offering the best of the best.

He said the secret to their hand-stretched pizzas’ crispy bases and fluffy ciabatta-style crusts was the dough going through a 48-hour fermentation process, while their 40-year-old Italian doughnut recipe came from his grandmother in Napoli.

Mr Micheli said their doughnuts were extra soft and stayed fresh for longer because the pair made the dough daily.

Pizza Republica pizzas feature a crispy base and fluffy crust.

Pizza Republica offers a dessert for every kind of doughnut-lover, with the selection ranging from ‘monster’ glazed doughnuts to American jam and nutella-filled doughnuts and mini churros.

The classic Italian doughnuts are dusted with cinnamon and sugar and served with dipping sauce while the Panettone doughnuts are filled with varieties of cream and jam.

And there’s also the mouth-watering Doughnut Snack Packs, a dessert the couple invented when they were working at Pizzeria Express 18 months ago.

Chef Mark Micheli makes ‘monster’ glazed doughnuts as big as someone’s head.

Inspired by the Halal Snack Pack, the boxes of classic doughnuts are lashed in sweet toppings centred around chocolate bars.

The Snickers DSP features Italian doughnuts covered in crushed peanuts, pieces of Snickers bars, nutella and caramel sauce.

Vegan doughnut-fans are also catered for at Pizza Republica, with the chefs omitting eggs from their doughnut dough and offering a vegan-style Nutella.

The pizza dough is fermented for 48 hours.

The Michelis opened the Surrey Hills store on July 23 and they’ve been run off their feet — even ahead of the grand opening party they’re planning for Sunday, August 11.

Ms Micheli was instore cooking six days after she gave birth to their second child.

“It’s been so much fun,” Mr Micheli said.

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The family business is all about providing the best hospitality, with a series of their family members also employed in the shop.

“We want to have good service right from the start,” Mr Micheli said.

Pizza Republica is open from 5.00 — 9.30pm Tuesday to Sunday, except for Fridays, when the treats are on offer from noon.

The shop can be found at 668 Canterbury Rd, Surrey Hills.

More info: pizzarepublica.com.au