Italian food is massively popular across Australia. Pizza and pasta are both staple selections for the majority of pubs, but don’t garner a lot of attention. That’s now changing.
Italian food is having a bit of a moment in pubs right now. Bangor Tavern has launched Roberto’s, Bonnie’s at Crossways Hotel gives an Italian spin to pub grub, and Feros Group are about to launch a terrace eatery at Parc Pavilion with Italian cuisine.
With so many pubs getting into Italian cuisine – not to mention competing multitudes if Italian restaurants across the country, let’s take a look at pubs that have done Italian food well, and how they’ve created a point of difference.
It’s all in the dough
One such example is Delfino Pizzeria, the pizzeria component of the Dolphin Hotel in Sydney’s Surry Hills. Over the last five years or so, the hotel has developed a reputation for having some of the best pizzas in the city with dedicated following that returns not only for its permanent pizza menu, but the fortnightly specials as well.
The pizzeria is so popular, that there’s a pretty even split of food sales between it and the broader bistro at the hotel. Run by hospitality group The Point, group executive chef Danny Corbett says that the Delfino Pizzeria embraces Italian food culture within it’s team, without shouting it from the rooftops to its customer base.
“We’re not pretending to be Italian… but we are pretty driven, and we do live and breathe that kind of Italian food culture there. We really embrace the pizza culture and the history of it. We take it extremely seriously behind the scenes, but then we don’t want the customers to be bogged down with it either.”
The Delfino Pizzeria has always had some talented pizzaiolos working in its kitchens, but in mid-2023 Sasa Smiljanic (ex-Bella Brutta) came on board as head pizzaiolo. Around the same time the venue upgraded to a wood-fired oven. Corbett says Smiljanic’s attention to detail have taken the venue’s pizzas to the next level.
“He’s got this obsession with dough that we’d never seen before. He’s extremely meticulous – everything is to the gram, he keeps an eye on hydration, the temperature of the dough, the different types of flours that he uses, and the ratios and the strengths of the glutens and stuff,” explains Corbett.
“I think we just hadn’t really experienced that kind of level of detail before. He’s got extremely high standards – not much really gets past him. So, yeah, we got very lucky with that.”
Pasta power
It’s not just pizzas that make Italian food a real hit in pubs – most pubs include at least one pasta dish on the menu. At Social Dining within Verandah in Sydney’s CBD, pastas proved to be so popular, that about twelve months ago the pub restaurant introduced its ‘Pasta Selection’ – a highlighted component of the menu of three pasta dishes that rotate seasonally.
The pastas are all made in-house, using three different pasta styles, and generally follow a rule of one fish/seafood pasta, one meat pasta and one vegetarian. The current Pasta Selection is made up of: Gnocchi Acqua Pazza, with NZ snapper, tomatoes, garlic, chili, basil, sugo and pangrattato; Ricotta Ravioli, with zucchini, broad beans, sofrito, lemon, and pecorino romano; and Paccheri Pasta with pork ragu, cime di rapa, and grana Padano.
Verandah head chef Anthony Musa, says the pastas have been very popular at the venue.
“We do push quite a bit of pasta every day. We probably sell about 80 covers of pasta per day.”
All the pasta is handmade in-house, with Musa saying that not only is it a good skill for kitchen staff to learn, but changing up the pasta styles keeps it interesting for the staff and diners alike.
“It really allows us to play with the pasta shapes, and change them up fairly regularly. Plus, you can’t really compare store-bought pasta to fresh pasta.”
In Melbourne, Australian Venue Co (AVC) has had plenty of success in the last two years with Louey’s, a high-energy Italian-American restaurant within the famed Espy in St Kilda. The concept shows that Italian food can not only be classic, but a lot of fun as well.
“We wanted a menu that matched the overall concept we had in mind for the space. Louey’s is colourful, neon-lit and with art lining the walls, so we wanted a menu that matched it in personality, and the Italian American influence really resonates with that. Our cocktails and food are fun, packed with flavour and easy to share!” explains Espy venue manager Ben Burgess.
Stone-baked pizzas, generous portions of a 30-layer lasagne and Italian-style cocktails (think Negronis or an after-dinner Amaro) are massively popular at the venue while live music is playing.
Also popular are its mid-week dinner specials, like Lasagne Night, where patrons pay $30pp for a big slab of lasagne, along with unlimited garlic bread; or Slices and Sides nights, where $35pp gets you unlimited servings of classic pizzas and sides like wedge salad and parmesan fries.
“Our offers have been a hit with customers!” states Burgess.
“It’s an opportunity for us to inject more of the Louey’s personality into different sessions throughout the week and is something that we’re regularly revisiting and reviewing. For example, making seasonal updates and tweaks that suit what customers are looking for throughout the year, this could be something heartier in winter, or more live music sessions during summer. It’s all about maximising our customer’s experience.”
No matter how you slice your approach to Italian cuisine, there’s no doubt it’s a hit among Australian diners, as Musa attests.
“It’s just filling, comforting and delicious. People love it.”
This is an excerpt of a feature that was first published in the April/May issue of Australian Hotelier. You can view the feature below.