Pizza and wine are just the beginning at this rollicking neighbourhood trattoria serving up freewheeling riffs on Italian classics, a great spread of wine styles and a serious sense of fun.
This quiet achiever is turning out some of the best food in Adelaide right now. Italian might be the blueprint, but the menu is colouring outside the lines with snacks like Mayura Station wagyu skewers coated with anchovy and Japanese mustard, Abrolhos scallops dressed with mornay sauce, pickled peppers and citrusy yuzu-kosho chilli paste, and grilled sourdough flatbread smothered with a next-level spicy smoked-tomato ’nduja sausage spread (which takes two days to make) and freshened up with pops of pink finger-lime pearls.
As the name suggests, pizza’s the main event. Chewy, leopard-spotted and puffy-edged Neapolitan-style discs come with toppings that range from a classic Margherita and a glistening pepperoni to a moreish combination of pickled mushrooms, onion and cheddar the staff liken to a Big Mac. Shane Wilson and head chef Antonio Pruner have thrown tradition out the window, so don’t expect a tick of approval from the True Neapolitan Pizza Association, but it’s a resounding “yes” from the diners in the room.
If you’re riding solo or in a pair, sit up at the bar overlooking the action at the hearth and hulking pizza oven (twice the size of the one at Anchovy Bandit), or if you’re with a crew, slide onto a cushy green banquette – either way, we suggest you settle in. This is a place best experienced in full, with a procession of snacks and drinks. The Hyde Park locals who stop in regularly, though, will tell you it’s a place just as suited to drop in for a drink and quick pizza.
