Quest for the best

I'm officially on a quest to find the best pizza in Sydney.

Following on my post about eating pizza all week, I've decided to separate the men from the boys of Sydney's pizza community and find what we estimate to be the finest pie and the finest place to eat it up. I have to admit that I'm fairly easily pleased but not often impressed by pizza having been a piazzaioli myself for a year or two.

The pizza pictured above from Pizza Mario at Republic is our current favorite. They only do traditional ingredient combinations with no substitutions according to a sworn Italian blood oath of some sort. They are fantasticly thin, crispy and alive with the best quality ingredients. Sitting in the courtyard at the bottom of the Republic building however is a bit less than inspiring.

On the other hand, we love the environment at Haberfield's Napoli in Boca. It's bustling, warm and friendly as discs of delicious Naples-inspired topping combos wisk by. The pizza here is very good but the lower oven temperature leaves the crust softer and thicker than Pizza Mario.

Our next stop is La Disfida which looks to have put together the whole package.

Any suggestions of potential contenders would be welcomed and appreciated. And yes, we've been to Arthurs and although we liked it, it's really outclassed here.

Comments

[Prosperina]

I personally like the pizza at the Leaning Tower (the actual restuarant doesn't lean, and neither is it a tower, fortunately) in Lidcombe. There's also a place just around the corner from Napoli in Boca that's quite nice too... I forget the name, though. Same sort of stuff, soft and thin base...

[Sean]

I think you may be talking about La Disfida which does look really good.

I'd be more excited if it lived up to it's name but I'll definately check out the Leaning Tower before coming to a verdict. ;P

[jafa]

You're on the money with Haberfield's Napoli in Boca. Best pizza in town. Though the pool table and kids out back, was different. I guess that's Italy...Only went cause I'd picked up one of the brothers in my cab. On his insistence, I later went for a pizza, and it truly was sensational. I remember the crust being fairly light and crispy, back around 2000.
There's a sultry little Asian cafe, oozing atmosphere down on Regent Street. Tacked onto the cab garage. From $5-10 one gets a fast taste of Redfern, accompanied by a bowl of uncertain broth. Heavily patronised by Asian and Persian cabbies.
After food like this, your blog reads like heaven. Welcome to Sydney folks. You're on my Blogroll. Cheers.

[Sean]

Hey thanks for the welcome, for the linkage and especially for the tip.

[Prasad]

The snowball grows (along with the blogroll). I'm joining this quest.

[estee]

zia pina's at the rocks does good pizza too. i had a canadian visitor recently who proclaimed it "the way pizza should be". and i gather he's had a few in his time :)

[Lili]

Hi.. I TRIED to go to Mario in east sydney today, but after 20 min of search for the right building, I saw a notice saying that the Pizza Mario Republic is closed until further notice. So I keyed in haberfield in my GPRS and luckily Napoli came up in the list of restaurants there. Went there instead and had to wait til the 5.30pm opening. the food was alright, maybe I didnt know what to order?

Mario is kinda hard to find since Palmer st has 2 ends. so pplz.. try calling Pizza Mario before going to avoid disappointment, as it doesnt really say when they are re-opening.

[simon]

Try pizzacutters in Wahroonga or Castle Hill.
Check out their menu at www.pizzacutters.com.au

[Web site design - Sydney]

I've just been to Pizza Mario and it was really, really good