The Hem-azing pizza lives up to its name! Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Pizza Artigiana has been a Macquarie staple for over 10 years now, and they’ve just got a new lease on life with Chef Hem taking the reins at this Belconnen institution.
Hem (short for Thapa Magar Hemnath) has become something of a local Canberra celeb after becoming internationally recognised for his pizza skills, and operating a dinky little mobile pizza food truck Hem & Co. He had been working at Pizza Artigiana for four years when boss Silvio Miceli offered to sell, stating he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Hem jumped at the opportunity to take on Pizza Artigiana, while also developing by-the-slice takeaway Sliceria in the city, which is due to open in May in City West.
I decided to visit Pizza Artigiana to see how the busiest man in Canberra does it all.
Take my advice and get extra arancini. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Arriving on a cold evening, the restaurant had a comfortable buzz of diners enjoying their dinner and a steady trickle of folks collecting takeaway orders. At some point in the history of this space, it was two separate restaurants, which means there is a large, open dining space and two kitchens. The team has cleverly designated one kitchen for pizza, and the other for entrees, pasta and desserts, which allows them to work quickly and efficiently.
Perusing the menu, my friend and I were tempted by the pasta dishes, but ultimately, we knew we were here for pizza. We ordered one Hem-azing and one Pollo pizza to share, and also treated ourselves to a serve of quattro formaggi truffled arancini balls to start. There is a respectable list of local wines and beers, but we enjoyed a non-alcoholic evening with a choice of flavoured Italian sodas.
Chef Hem is opening Sliceria, which will feature Roman-style pizza slices. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
The arancini balls come three per serve, and although we had the option to add an extra (or two, or three), we stuck to one and a half each, figuring we’d leave more room for pizza. A commendable strategy, but one that I wouldn’t repeat. They were so goddamn good: crispy, cheesy, truffle-y and moreish when dipped in garlicky mayo. We should have ordered more.
Our pizzas arrived not long after we regretfully finished our arancini. The Hem-azing is a complex mix of flavours: spicy salami, gorgonzola, whipped ricotta and a hot honey drizzled crust.
At first glance, I thought, “Is this really going to work?” but all the flavours marry together perfectly. My friend found the salami quite hot, so she especially appreciated the twee rosettes of whipped ricotta to smooth out the burn. The Pollo pizza was also delicious, with sweet capsicum and red onion. It is not as inventive as the Hem-azing, but it is still a thoroughly good pizza.
We enjoyed both, and I finally appreciated our choice to limit the arancini when I realised I could still squeeze in a dessert.
The tiramisu is a classic done well, and the cute lemon sorbet is refreshing and tasty. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
I couldn’t resist the tiramisu, and my friend opted for a refreshing sorbetto di limone (lemon sorbet) which was cutely served inside a whole lemon. The tiramisu was flavourful without being too rich, and the layers of sponge had soaked up every drop of coffee. There was nothing avant-garde or reimagined about it: just a traditional slab of tiramisu made to perfection (cue ‘chefs kiss’). I snuck a taste of the sorbet, which was lovely and managed to nail the sweet/sour balance.
I was pleased to see that Chef Hem went home at 8 pm, leaving his friendly and capable staff to finish the night and close the kitchen. Running three businesses is only sustainable with a good team backing your vision, and Chef Hem seems to have that in hand.
I’d happily return to try the other pizzas, give the pasta dishes a go and (of course) get myself another serve of that arancini …
Pizza Artigiana is located on the corner of Bowman and Wiseman Streets, Macquarie. They are open from 5 to 9 pm seven days a week for dine-in and takeaway. Follow Pizza Artigiana on Facebook or Instagram.
