Melbourne’s best pizza restaurants
BOY do we love pizza. From thin crust delights to deep pan specials oozing cheese, here’s 20 of the hottest pizza places in Melbourne and around the state.
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WHETHER it’s margherita or meat lovers that’s top of your order (or perhaps a new-wave vegan pie), Melbourne has had a deep and abiding love of pizza. Here’s 20 of the best spots in Victoria to hit up for a slice of nice.
NEW
SMALL PRINT
388 High St, Windsor. smallprintpizza.com.au
Feel-good food has never tasted so good. Pizza boxes_ made from recycled cardboard from a company who donate part sales to St Vincent De Paul charity _ are also council approved as recyclable, with a greaseproof sheet of paper to keep the box clean. (Oil-stained boxes end up in landfill.) Vegan pizza sales have almost tripled since Small Print opened in November, and are now outselling most other types. Wash down your pumpkin, vegan feta and caramelised onion pizza _ cooked in a stone-base, gas-fired oven for light and fluffy semi-thin crust _ with house-made soft drinks. Or have it all delivered with a picnic rug to Victoria Gardens park across the road.
THE LAST PIECE
38 Portman St, Oakleigh. lastpiece.com.au
Their Waverley Park cafe has been kicking goals in Mulgrave for nearly six years, now a sister venue by the same name is bringing some Italian love to Greek-hearted Oakleigh. A stone-base pizza oven churns out a dozen or so first-rate pizzas, including the Mark Philippoussis — laden with layers of San Daniele prosciutto, parmesan and rocket — name checking the tennis ace for his mixed Greek and Italian descent.
FIGO
73 Brighton Rd, Elwood. figoelwood.com.au
Since opening last year, Figo (which means “cool” in Italian) has doubled in size, expanding next door with a corner canting which will soon house a new daytime deli offering salumi, cheeses and breads. Figo celebrates Italian street food but pizzas are a strong suit. Get 18 styles on excellent bases made from 72 hour-raised dough that hold their own without being dense. — There’s an easy, irreverent vibe to the place as you sink a simple Margherita of San Marzano tomato, bocconcini and fresh basil or a Viva Australia with shaved Virginian ham and fresh (never tinned) pineapple.
CONNIE’S PIZZA AT HEARTBREAKER
234A Russell St, city. heartbreakerbar.com.au
It’s the dive bar with top-shelf pedigree, now late-night haunt Heartbreaker also comes with New York-style pizza to eat in or go. Keeping decision making to a two-negronis-in manageable level, just three pizzas — classic cheese, pepperoni and a thick square-cut deep-pan Sicilian — are offered by slice or “by the pie”. While the pepperoni looks like an edible emoji it rocks a good spicy kick, but it’s the super crunchy, deep dish dough of the Sicilian that will save many a morning after the night before.
SHOP 225
225 Melville Rd, Pascoe Vale South. shop225.com.au
There are many good things to know about the pizza at this humble little pizzeria nestled in among the strip shops at the Bell St end of Melville Rd. That the wood oven fires bright turns out bases charry crisp and chewy, for one. Or that they’re topped with such clever combos as plump porcini mushrooms with house-made sausage (Il dottore) or the power of gorgonzola and njuda (Sud). And that those bases are also offered gluten-free, while so, too, is the small range of pastas straight from nonna’s stove.
SPQR
26 Liverpool St, city. spqrpizzeria.com
Never mind that it takes its name from the initials of the ancient Roman republic, SPQR dishes up a mighty fine line in wood-fired Neapolitan style to bustling Liverpool St in the city.
Here you’ll find pizzas that fly out of that oven in 60 seconds, with traditionally wet, slightly soupy bases that rock a chewy savoury “cornichons” — or crust — as tasty as the toppings, of which just a dozen red or white-based options are on offer. With DJs spinning tunes on vinyl in the corner — and pizza by the slice to grab, eat, and go — SPQR is a funky slice of pizza heaven.
RED SPARROW
406 Smith St, Collingwood. redsparrow.com
With a menu sprouting such offerings as the pepperoni, the BBQ sausage and the ham and porcini, you have to look way down into the fine print to see that Red Sparrow is, indeed, Melbourne’s first all-vegan pizzeria. Who knew vegan pizza could taste so good? But one slice of that pepperoni that comes covered in a “mozzarella” made with coconut cream could turn the most hardened meatlovers into a meatfree lover thanks, mainly, to an excellent base that’s blistered and chewy in the right places. Packed with a quorum of Cool Collingwood sipping craft brews, Red Sparrow serves up delicious pizza that plants a seed.
WITH A TWIST
PIZZA PIZZA PIZZA
16 Meyers Pl, city. pizzapizzapizza.com.au
So good they named it thrice, this hole in the wall brings New York-style by-the-slice pizza to town with a secret cocktail bar out back. Get your cheese-and-carb fix in five flavours including pepperoni, mushrooms and truffle oil, and a triple cheese with parmesan, mozzarella and bocconcini.
WOODSTOCK
Brunswick East, Essendon, Chadstone and Fitzroy North. woodstockpizza.com.au
Love or loathe sweet pizzas, the ones from Woodstock come with clout. Chef Giovanna Alberti won best dessert pizza at this year’s Australian Pizza Championships for her creation on a chocolate and coffee custard base with lemon mousse and mint.
LAZERPIG
9-11 Peel St, Collingwood. lazerpig.com.au
Part pizza parlour, part bar, part late-night space for DJs and a dance, Lazerpig ticks many boxes. Owned by the same team behind St Andrews pizza joint A Boy Named Sue, punny-named pies like the Prawn Fraser and Broc Steady emerge from a 400C wood-fired oven.
A25
South Yarra and city. a25.com.au
Say ciao to the best carbonara pizza in town, dialling up the richness with pancetta, free-range egg, cream, for di latte, caramelised onion, pecorino, parsley and cracked pepper.
HALL OF FAME
DOC
295 Drummond St, Carlton. docgroup.net
It’s hard to believe, but it was 10 years ago that Tony Nicolini opened his first DOC restaurant in Carlton and the rest, as they say, is pizza history. Faultlessly consistent pizzas served with Italian brio remains the DOC DNA and is on show whether enjoying at the original, the Mornington or Albert Park stores.
LA SVOLTA
450 Hampton St, Hampton. lasvolta.com.au
Their mantra is “mangiare e felicity” or eating is happiness — and eating the pizzas at this always lively trattoria sure delivers happiness in spades. Smoky, thin, puffy and charily blistered, the excellent bases are as consistent as the happiness of a perfect margherita.
SCOOZI
136 Union Rd, Ascot Vale. scoozi.net
Scoozi, run by the Bruno family, was named Melbourne’s best by the Herald Sun in 2014, and with master piazziolo Phillip still putting the naturally leavened 30-hour dough through its wood-fired paces, it’s still one of our best. Try the classic margherita for a true taste of Naples.
ZERO 95
904 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster East. zero95.com.au
With his name inscribed on the Caputo Cup — awarded to the best competing in Naples’ largest pizza comp — Andrea Cozzolino knows his dough and how to turn it into a winning pizza that beats the world. The popular Doncaster pizza bar is permanently packed — with a huge 400-seat addition to the family set to open next year as part of the Pentridge development in Coburg.
MR WOLF
9 Inkerman St, St Kilda. mrwolf.com.au
Since 2004, Karen Martini’s pizzeria has been serving up the south’s best Roman-style pizza — thin crisp bases, judiciously topped in the chef’s signature produce-first style — and, 13 years on, remains the full-to-bursting case-in-point that simple done well will always find fans.
COUNTRY SLICE
GIANT STEPS
336 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville. giantsteps.com.au
While its ex-stable mate Innocent Bystander has moved out and is now slinging a fine line in pizzas in its new digs just across the car park, the wood fires still burn bright at Giant Steps, now turning out just three versions of their famous pizza. They remain the biz: crisp, sourdough bases blistered around the edges topped with simple, superb produce. Don’t miss: the sweet-sour tang of San Marzano tomatoes, Shaw River buffalo mozzarella and a hint of heat to salami on the Pamplona.
COFFIN SALLY
33 Sackville St, Port Fairy. www.coffinsally.com.au
This improbably named bar has brought a cool slice of Fitzroy to Port Fairy. Coffin Sally’s her name, and great pizza’s her game. Here you’ll find crunchy crisp thin bases with a good touch of char around the edges from the hot electric oven, with 20 different options of toppings judiciously but generously applied.
EPICUREAN RED HILL
165 Shoreham Rd, Red Hill South. theepicurean.com.au
The pizza oven is proudly on show in this huge space that showcases the best food and wine of the peninsula. Simple and delicious toppings — pork sausage with onions and radicchio, smoked chicken and heirloom tomatoes, or the classic margherita — on chewy charred bases are even better when teamed with a glass of Mornington pinot.
CLOGS
106 Pall Mall, Bendigo. clogsbendigo.com.au
A fresh lick of paint late last year gave Bendigo’s favourite pizza joint a new mint-green lease on life. For more than four decades the family-run pizzeria has kept Bendigo in fine slices and alongside such faves as the meatlovers and super supreme they offer an extensive gourmet offering — white wine chicken, scallop and prosciutto, or prawn and chorizo some of the tasty and creative flavour combos.
MATT PRESTON’S PIZZA PICKS
400 GRADI
99 Lygon St, East Brunswick (also Essendon, Crown, Eastland). 400gradi.com.au
“Wonderful Neapolitan-style pizza with excellent crusts.”
MAMMA MIA
1450 Malvern Rd, Glen Iris. mammamiapizza.com.au
“Sammy was one of Melbourne’s pizza pioneers and his pizze are puffily delicious. We order the American hot and a Vegetarian with hot salami as the extra veggies make it a real meal. Our local.”
FRATELLINO
415 Malvern Rd, South Yarra
“Simple room, good wood-fired pizza. Who needs any other trimmings?”
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