The Surf n Turf is worth ordering. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Pizzeria Officina opened late last year next door to Bar Outro on Lonsdale Street. Deliberately rough and ready, the converted garage is decorated with automotive ephemera: tyres out front, posters of cars on the walls, and the whole thing has a distinctly old-school mechanics vibe.
This building is designated for redevelopment soon, so the owners (also the team behind Terra and Recess) have kept things deliberately low-key: they’re not investing in long-term equipment or fancy fit-outs.
Visiting on a stinking hot Saturday, I didn’t envy the kitchen staff sweltering next to the pizza ovens! A temporary kegging system wasn’t quite ready to pour tap beers, so instead we grabbed a couple of tinnies out of the fridge to quench our thirst.
Continuing the automotive theme, the menu is split into classic and custom pizzas. I was immediately taken by the surf n’ turf: prawns, nduja salami and stracciatella cheese on a vodka tomato sauce base.
The Big Mac pizza comes covered in shredded lettuce. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Curiosity got the better of us, and we also ordered the Big Mac pizza. Seasoned beef mince, pickles, burger cheese, and ‘mac sauce’ are baked onto the sesame-seed-crusted base, and a mountain of shredded iceberg lettuce is piled on top afterwards. It sounded like a good idea, but perhaps didn’t live up to expectations (much like a late-night Big Mac …) I reckon the ‘mac sauce’ might have been better applied on top of the shredded lettuce, which might have helped it stay in place.
The surf n’ turf, on the other hand, definitely delivered. The prawns were evenly distributed – one per slice – and the tomato vodka base was tasty. Vodka sauces have become quite trendy recently: the point is not to get everyone drunk on pasta but rather to use vodka to amplify the flavours of the tomato. It’s got something to do with volatile molecules, but that’s as much science as I’m willing to bear today. Cool, creamy stracciatella cheese contrasted with hot, spicy nduja salami, which dripped red-hot oil down our fingers. Again, quite a messy pizza to devour, but nobody was judging.
The best part was the addition of dipping sauces for your pizza crusts: we opted for garlic mayo, which was very delicious and made finishing my crusts a breeze (I anticipate a corresponding curl in my hair any minute now).
You could be forgiven for thinking this space still houses a mechanic! Photo: Lucy Ridge.
We pretended to be healthy by ordering the side salad of endive, woodfired peach, parmesan and a tarragon vinaigrette. The peach could have done with either a little more ripening or a little more woodfiring (potentially both). Side plates match the theme: only the finest plastic here! The cutlery also has plastic handles, although the cups were blessedly glass.
The whole thing was fun and a bit kitsch, but in a self-referential kind of way. But the price tag stung a little: if I’m paying over $30 for a pizza, I’m going to have pretty high expectations.
We rounded out the evening by popping next door to Bar Outro for a cocktail – although it’s worth noting that there’s a drinks menu from Outro available at the pizza shop. Pizzas can also be ordered at the bar.
Pizzeria Officina is located at 4/9 Lonsdale St, Braddon. They are open from 5 to 9 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, and from 5 pm to 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. They are also open for lunch from 12 noon to 2.30 pm on weekends. Follow Pizzeria Officina on Instagram.
