Penshurst’s newest pizza joint, Bsp’eria, might look more at home on the backstreets of Brooklyn than next to a Sydney train station. The brick building, with its retro ’70s charm, street-facing bright industrial kitchen, and original red cloth awning attracts hordes of hungry diners, who perch on milk crates on the footpath devouring fresh pepperoni pies drizzled with hot maple syrup and other varieties from the six pizzas on offer.

Pizzas are made Neapolitan-style on an electric stone pizza oven, with chewy sourdough bases and twists on more traditional toppings. The gamberi ($29) pairs prawns with dollops of fresh stracciatella cheese and thin slivers of almond, while the Uncle Charlie ($25) features spicy ’njuda and creamy ricotta on a white base sweetened with a touch of honey.

“We really pride ourselves on using high-quality ingredients,” says co-owner Michael Sgourdas, who opened the spot with business partner Mick Abboud in mid-March.

“We’re sticking to a small menu so we can be really consistent and make sure we’re putting out a great product every time.”

There’s also a small selection of antipasti (including whipped ricotta dip, $9, and garlic crunch, $12) and a simple rocket salad ($12) to balance out the menu.

The hospitality veteran, who also runs Fifteen Coffee in Mascot during the day, says he consulted co-owner of Surry Hills restaurant Cicerone Cucina Romana, Stefano de Caro, in developing the concept.

“We knew [this type of pizza] had a lot of potential in Penshurst,” he says.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive. For the first four weeks, the shop sold out and had to stop taking orders by 7pm.

“We’re learning every week and we’ve had to add more dough balls, so we don’t disappoint people,” says Sgourdas.

While staff have been difficult to come by, Sgourdas says they’ve managed to score some chefs who previously worked at Frankie’s Pizza by the Slice and Via Napoli.

While Bsp’eria works through its “growth phase”, customers are restricted to ordering over the phone or in person. Inspired by Newtown pizzeria Westwood, Bsp’eria now opens its phone lines every day at 4.30pm and carefully schedules each pie according to how many it is able to cook each hour.

Open 5-9pm, Wed-Sun
2 Bridge Street, Penshurst; instagram.com/bsp.eria